and we have a race! It looks like Team Freeburd overtook the Warrior 29 and the F32 trimaran last night and are running in fourth place with roughly 110 miles to go.

And it looks like they are pulling all nighters.

Racing boats in sight will do that to you. It's a game of sleep chicken. Sun is probably up now and they look like they're stretching away. They will probably finish today.

what's the WX? ideal conditions for Freeburd?

A quick post from the crew of Elsie Piddock on some of the "critical elements of success"

Peter, the most critical was the boat, credit to Ian {designer of the F-25C} for the design and Colorado Composites and Jude Stoeller for the build. Elsie Piddock is extremely solid and light. We spent a lot of time on preparing the boat, new standing rigging, running rigging, deck hardware, sealing hatches, building spare cassette and rudder. We should have spent more time sailing the boat but sometimes that is how it goes. The crew have a lot of monohull experience in those waters so that was not an issue. Critical decisions in the race were made on the fly, but most crucial I believe was stopping just before entering Johnstone Straits. It allowed us to be well rested, alert and basically mistake free for the next taxing 24 hrs.
Rowing was done with two oarlocks mounted on the amas and large sweep.oars from a racing shell. We could maintain 2.5 knots for about 4 hrs. There were no sliding seats, we just sat on the netting. We thought weight and simplicity were key. Al

7 knots and 8 knots of wind reported at the two buoy stations nearest them. Looks like Team UnCruise has been going in circles for a couple of hours so they either have a problem or no wind (which, technically, would qualify as a problem I suppose). Freeburd has been making over 7 knots all morning since I've been checking...up to around 10 knots now...so I'm guessing they have a secondary sail up and driving.

Waterlust, Sperry and GoPro have their video out about the Burd's experience in the R2AK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EMET5lC90s

wow, cool. That looks like a great watch. I'll dial that up on the big screen later.

It was well produced, I liked it.