R2AK (Race to Alaska)

shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,934
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
A head's up to those interested: The start of the first leg is June 14th.
For those who don't know the race is from Port Townsend to Ketchikan AK. No power allowed. No outside assistance (Of an organized type. Participants can accept assistance from non-racers ashore). Sail, row, paddle or a combination of all three. The race is more of a wildlife adventure than a regatta. Few boats go non-stop. Some racers camp nightly or sleep at anchor. Some stop to re-provision some not. No handicaps or classes. First prize $10,000. Second prize - a set of steak knives.
There will be a tracker on the web site r2ak.com. I think there are about 70 teams.
If anyone has a good source to track currents on the course I'd like to hear about it. I've been setting up my Luckgrib on my MacBook Air so I should be able to see wind etc. I'm sitting this event out here in Florida.
 
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Hello Below

Hello Below

.
May 7, 2012
1,603
Hunter e33 Maple Bay, BC
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shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,934
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Thanks! Both are useful. It would help if I knew the geography better. But in poking around in Open CPN, imaps, the “Official” Chart I’m getting better at finding places. I’ve never been anywhere near these places.
A curiosity I have is whether participants will navigate out to the Straight of Georgia proper or use some of the passages along and between the islands there such as the Swanson Passage. I wonder if there is relief from an adverse current there. And it appears to be a shorter route.
I’m also trying to gage at approximately what time the average boat, say a Santa Cruze 27, would get to the Seymour Narrows and what the tide will be there. This seems to be a critical point in the race.
Another area of interest is where the current will change from being primarily influenced by the Straight of Juan De Fuca to being influenced from Queen Charlotte Sound.
 
B

BCsailor-skier

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Aug 6, 2025
31
Sceptre 41 Vancouver
You can get digital currents of BC from:

OceanConnect (web or app): OceanConnect

and

GRIB Downloader - West Coast (BC)
(select "E" upper right for English), which provides grib2 files which can be read into OpenCPN.
(A benefit of downloading these gribs is they remain viewable even without internet.)

Weather forecasts in the above 2 are from HRDPS model, by far the best for BC waters.
 
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shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,934
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Thanks! The OceanConnect helped. It's a nice arrangement of information.
I have to put some Canadian charts in my Open CPT. I may or may not figure out hoot do that.
 
dLj

dLj

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Mar 23, 2017
5,024
Belliure 41 Back in the Chesapeake
shemandr said:
Thanks! The OceanConnect helped. It's a nice arrangement of information.
I have to put some Canadian charts in my Open CPT. I may or may not figure out hoot do that.
Click to expand
Open CPN allows you to install Canadian charts but you have to buy them. The less costly way is through O-charts. If you haven't used it. Take notes as you go. It's not difficult but it's not overly transparent the first time you do it. I don't remember the details as it was several years ago that I did it on my system.

dj
 
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B

BCsailor-skier

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Aug 6, 2025
31
Sceptre 41 Vancouver
Yes, O-Charts Pacific Canada charts are identical to official CHS vector charts, and much much cheaper.
€20 for whole BC coast, includes 1 year of updates. (Charts remain useable after 1 year. They do not "disappear".)

(The equivalent official CHS S-57 ENC chart packages cost over C$1200! Raster charts are no longer available. )
 
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shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,934
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Well I've successfully downloaded and installed the whole BC coast for the E20 from the Chart site.. It looks a little funky but I'll clean it up. dj was right. It wasn't particularly intuitive. The naming of my system threw me for a loop. Thanks for the heads up.
I figure it's less than 200 nm from Victoria to the Seymour Narrows area. That means about 24 hours of sailing. So looking at the current in Seymour Narrows on the 18th, the Ebb (North flowing) ends around mid-day with a Max velocity of 17 Knots?!!! So some of the faster boats could make it.
It will be interesting to follow.
Now I'll see if I can clean up the display.
 
B

BCsailor-skier

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Aug 6, 2025
31
Sceptre 41 Vancouver
~160nm

Official CHS Seymour Narrows June 18th (in PST): bold = time of slack
SmartSelect_20260606_090602_Adobe Acrobat.jpg

Remember: Seymour FLOOD flows SOUTH... against you

OpenCPN Vector Chart Clean up:
  • set "Display Category" to "All" (hamburger, lower right corner)
  • go to Settings, Charts, Vector Chart Display: set as you like (perhaps start with less, such as "Decluttered text" and "reduced detail at small scale" (to get to settings, go to hamburger upper left)
  • also: set depth colours and shallow etc settings
  • also: metres vs feet vs fathoms set in Settings, display, units
 
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MikeHoncho

MikeHoncho

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Dec 28, 2015
1,944
Laser, Hunter H30 Cherubini Tacoma
shemandr said:
A head's up to those interested: The start of the first leg is June 14th.
For those who don't know the race is from Port Townsend to Ketchikan AK. No power allowed. No outside assistance (Of an organized type. Participants can accept assistance from non-racers ashore). Sail, row, paddle or a combination of all three. The race is more of a wildlife adventure than a regatta. Few boats go non-stop. Some racers camp nightly or sleep at anchor. Some stop to re-provision some not. No handicaps or classes. First prize $10,000. Second prize - a set of steak knives.
There will be a tracker on the web site r2ak.com. I think there are about 70 teams.
If anyone has a good source to track currents on the course I'd like to hear about it. I've been setting up my Luckgrib on my MacBook Air so I should be able to see wind etc. I'm sitting this event out here in Florida.
Click to expand
Lucky Grib has current models specifically for Salish and Alaska. They are called OFS in the model options. Luckily, the app owner lives in the PNW and has relocated to our area.
 
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B

BCsailor-skier

.
Aug 6, 2025
31
Sceptre 41 Vancouver
NOAA doesn't do currents for most BC waters.
See OceanConnect for all of BC

Also available in grib format: GRIB Downloader - West Coast (BC)

See also CIOPS-West

Coastal Ice-Ocean Prediction System for the West Coast of Canada (CIOPS-West) - Open Government Portal

The Coastal Ice Ocean Prediction System (CIOPS) provides a 48 hour ocean and ice forecast over different domains (East, West, Salish Sea) four times a day at 1/36° resolution. A pseudo-analysis...
open.canada.ca open.canada.ca

This pdf may be of interest (for JdeF and Georgia Straits) :
 
jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
24,453
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Seymour Narrows is about 140nm from Victoria.

Sailing the inside passage, Porlier Passage (at the North end of Galiano Island) may be one of the first hurdles.

A copy of the Canadian Sailing Directions may be helpful as you try to understand what the racers will be facing.

The routing options may favor getting out of the islands and sailing in the open waters of the Strait of Georgia.

Here is a look at a 6 June start using LuckGrib based on current weather.
1780767365839.jpeg
 
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Hello Below

Hello Below

.
May 7, 2012
1,603
Hunter e33 Maple Bay, BC
BCsailor-skier said:
This pdf may be of interest (for JdeF and Georgia Straits) :
Click to expand
I find the Atlas in conjunction with the annual current Atlas tables, to be quite useful, of course for areas South of Campbell River. As @jssailem has noted in the past, Ocean Connect seems to be a work in progress from the University of British Columbia. While cruising the Broughtons last summer I didn’t find it to be that useful when off the main arteries. Wind direction was usually consistent with the forecasted direction but not velocity.
@Michael Davis may have some more experience as he rounded Vancouver Island.
 
shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,934
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I may dive into the Grib tomorrow. I’ve downloaded a grib file in Luck Grib. One thing I’m at a loss about is whether a grib file uupdates itself or if you have download one for each time period you want to look at?
 
dLj

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
5,024
Belliure 41 Back in the Chesapeake
shemandr said:
I may dive into the Grib tomorrow. I’ve downloaded a grib file in Luck Grib. One thing I’m at a loss about is whether a grib file uupdates itself or if you have download one for each time period you want to look at?
Click to expand
You need to update them - at least on my system that's the case.

dj
 
jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
24,453
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
A grub file has a variable multi-day use. Depending on the data base used, it could be 24 hours to 144 hours.

LuckGrib has a simple way to upgrade the grib file very quickly.
 
shemandr

shemandr

.
Jan 1, 2006
7,934
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I did download a GRIB file from within the OpenCPT app on my MacBookAir. I don't know if I used the best one for the area. There were choices that are unfamiliar to me. I downloaded the XYGrib. Maybe another would be better. It didn't have the detail that the LuckGrib did. But I didn't spend much time configuring the download.
Other choices were:
Under the Global tab - ECMFW
Under the Local Tab:
MET.NO
Open Skiron - ICON - D2
Open Skiron ICON
Open Skiron WRF 4 KM
Open Skiron WRF 12 KM
Haronie (NL). New Zealand?
Current (BSH)
Email Tab:
Saildocc GFS
XYGrub

I thank those who have encouraged/ coached me in this learning excursion. The info I seek may be on the web site for OpenCPT but I wasn't able to find it or understand it.
So which is the best option for me - i.e. following a race with real time data. Pretending I'm the navigator on one of these competitors boats.
 
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