Where to start? What part of the story? 

    - Jeff Franklin, WA360 victory interview with Northwest Maritime Center, June 2021

My name is Mark Bostrom and I've been a member of High Seas Drifters since inception.  I will recount, as best I can, the short and glorious history of a scrappy little sailing team of extra ordinary magnitude. We are based out of Wilsall Montana and sail Dark Horse, 1981 Olson 30, Hull #101.

     M-      

Pre-HSD: Dark Horse Racing

Before the heady days of High Seas Drifters was Shad Lemke, alone with his trusty yellow steed, Dark Horse (Olson 30 Hull #101), sailing to Hawaii in the 2018 Single Handed Transpac.  The preparation of Dark Horse at Shad's shop in Wilsall, MT for the 2018 SHTP is memorialized at Dark Horse Sailing on Facebook.  Anybody planning to "fix up" an older boat should review the photos and imagine how much time, effort, and money went into Dark Horse prior to 2018 SHTP.  To say that Dark Horse is a "solid" Olson 30 is an understatement.   

Dark Horse, 2018 

Shad on Dark Horse, SHTP 2018

I've never asked Shad much about 2018 SHTP.  I think, a person who dedicates as much time, effort and resources to accomplish a personal goal such as SHTP doesn't have to explain his/her self to anyone.  Respect!

At nearly the same time Shad was rebulding Dark Horse, I was working across the Continental Divide, 75 miles away in Helena, MT, on a similar effort to restore Black Aye (Olson 30, Hull #008).  We'd never met.  Black Aye had similar issues such as rotted balsa core, etc which made my project a massive undertaking, particularly since it was being completed in a driveway instead of a heated shop.  My approach was totally different, build a mountain lake sailing rocket, keep the boat as original as possible, and go light.  

Watching the 2018 SHTP with a renewed interest in all things Olson, I was blown away to see a boat from Wilsall, MT competing!  TRACKER JUNKIE BORN!  

Through the miracle of the modern technology I tracked down Shad after he returned from Hawaii and invited him to come sail on Black Aye at a small club race with Canyon Ferry YC.  Shad agreed and came with his girlfriend Kali for a couple of runs around the buoys, and burgers after at the Dam bar.      

One race at a little Montana club...

Then a text from Shad four months later in December, 2018 ...

Shad: "Want to do Race to Alaska?"

Me: "Fuck yeah!" 

Also Me (inside voice): What's Race to Alaska?

In retrospect, I should have answered the question from my inside voice prior to agreeing. 

High Seas Drifters, R2AK 2019   

The original Drifters were a ramshackle bunch.  Here's how I recall the team formation.

Shad knew Steve Hocking from his time in Richmond, CA while getting certified for SHTP.  Steve is a solid sailor.  A ton of offshore experience racing, cruising. 

Amber Hocking is Steve's Daughter, and like me, learned sailing from her father through years of shared experience.  

Matt Kertesz is a friend of Amber Hocking.  Matt hadn't sailed much (ever?) prior to our R2AK 2019 Stage 1 run.  But Matt had experience working on barges in the Vancouver area and had done some MMA fighting, Mountain Biking, Snowboarding, etc. so...qualified.  

Sam Keefer came from a small village north of Cambell River.  I'm not exactly sure who knew or invited Sam to join, I just know his truck broke down on the way to Port Townsend and he had all this gear in garbage bags, which included a fishing pole, some dried fruit, etc, and a nasty gaff hook with a cork on the business end.  

That was the 2019 R2AK team.  Our first time racing together would be R2AK 2019 Stage 1.

        

The 2019 R2AK was an amazing adventure.  The Drifters managed to make the Seymour Narrows tide gate with minutes to spare and finished with the "fast crowd" 10th overall.  The 2019 race set a record with 10 boats arriving at Ketchikan before the awards party, we being the last, and party crashers. That moment resonated with Shad and I as the crews of all the previous finishers came down to greet us, a tradition and spirit of commardare that is incredibly important for anyone finishing this race.           

The Doldrums (2020)

Just like December 2018, I recieved a text from Shad in December 2019. 

Shad: R2AK 2020!

Me: OK, but we need to be lighter, faster.

At this point, Covid was just starting to make news.  We paid little attention.  Big mistake.  I'll complete this history narrative by pushing through the Covid topic and focus on Team High Seas Drifters.

In the adventure racing format of R2AK there is a balance between being a sailboat and being a human propelled boat. After R2AK 2019 I watched the replay of the 2018 R2AK where Sail Like a Girl (Melges 32) managed to stay just ahead of Lagopus (an Olson 30) to win.  That was the gap we needed to close.  That one condition of light wind where an Olson 30 excels...close the gap...and don't let the fleet disappear when the wind picks up.

To be lighter, faster you need a small crew who can run any position on the boat and pedal for hours.  That was the first decision point. Also, with no disrespect to the original Drifters crew, a Montana based R2AK campaign should have most of the crew from Montana. Shad set out to develop just that.

#1 Draft pick - Scott Wood: Scott Wood sails his Capri 30 out of South Flathead YC in Dayton, MT.  SFYC is where Dark Horse hangs out in the summer and scott was vice-commodore of the club.  So it made sense that Scott and Shad might connect. Scott is experienced at any position on an Olson 30 with super powers on foredeck and rigging. Scott also brings vast knowledge of media, computers, drones, skiing, mountain biking, punk rock. Qualified!

Free agent trade - Jeff Franklin: There was a short stint where Patrick Heaney was going to be on the team but he blew his knee, so Scott suggested Jefferson Franklin from Wilson, ID, a friend of his from time in Jackson, WY. Aside from having a name and living in places that are super presidential, Jeff had experience sailing O30's in Hawaii, can run any position on the boat, and is a mechanic!!!  Qualified!

Next stage - Make Dark Horse a rocket!

We unloaded everything from Dark Horse, weighing everything we took off. Then we took her down to the grain elevator scale in Wilsall, MT to get a nominal weight...4,400 lbs.  A bit hevy compared to my lake Olson, but more sturdy by far.  A number that makes sense for an Olson modified for Offshore.  

New bottom - We stripped the bottom of Dark Horse, down to the barrier coat and laid four coats of Black Widow that we wet sanded to 1200 grit. 



New Sails - Quantum loves Shad.  Carbon Sport Main with three reef points, Code zero #1, and 1.5 oz Shy kite for heavy air. 

Go LiFePO4 - Four 170 Ah Renogy to replace the 2x4D AGMs. This allowed us to drop the hard mounted solar panels and associated stainless steel structure.  Not only did this reduce weight, it reduced air drag.  The stainless steel frame and hard panel array from 2019 were replaced with 2x100 watt flexible panels.

Added Watermaker - Acquired used Katadyne power survivor 40 to save the weight of carrying 12 x 3 gallon jugs.  Rebuilt by Jeff Franklin.

There is one more fix we did, to our pedal drives.  This is a trade secret of High Seas Drifters and cannot be published.  Suffice to say, we won WA360 on the strength of our non-sail power.  

Below are the race results of Dark Horse/High Seas Drifters through the years. As you can see, despite the setbacks, High Seas Drifters continuously improved.

WA360

WA360 delivered the type of race the we had labored to build towards for two years, light air. This is best described in the pictures in our gallery, which are worth 1000's of words.

Special thank you goes out to all our friends, families, sponsors, and especially our significant others who support our crazy adventures. On to R2AK 2022!  

- Team High Seas Drifters