Blog posts for the 2025 WA360

The day after has come…. Trish and I (or PandaBob as Mary referred to us) finished the WA360 yesterday.

First, I want to thank my wonderful wife, Mary, for keeping everyone up to speed during the race. She jumped right in and did an amazing job, especially considering she had never used Linux, VSCode, Markdown, or Jekyll; and had never written any HTML before. After a 15-minute crash course, she just figured it out! She kept friends and family updated on Slack, Signal, Telegram, Facebook, text, and probably carrier pigeon. She was also an incredible source of emotional support throughout the race! She went above and beyond, and I can’t thank her enough.

Mary left off with us in Bellingham. We woke up on the morning of July 5th (day 8) to a Windy forecast that basically said, "Terrible, don't go paddling until 2pm." The problem? We needed to get to Point Roberts. Our original plan was to try for Birch Point, where there’s a Marine Trail campsite, spend the night and then make the open water crossing to Point Roberts from there.

The problem was that getting to Birch is over 26 miles. If we waited until 2pm to leave, we’d be paddling into bad weather predicted for the evening—never a good idea. From the public dock next to CBC, we could see the third waypoint, Bellingham Bay Buoy FL Y 10s PRIV, and the water was relatively calm between us and the buoy. The plan: tag the waypoint before 2pm, then head back to CBC to wait out the bad weather. As a backup plan, we also considered just making it to Lummi Island and calling it a day, instead of pushing all the way to Birch. This race is all about making backup plans for backup plans.

Leaving Bellingham Ahead of Schedule

All these plans went out the window when we were looking at the tracker app and saw Team 5.1428 making their way across Bellingham Bay at about 9:30 am. If they could do it, so could we! High winds be damned! Teams Trishkabob, Zunderdog, and I started packing up, said our goodbyes to Mary and CBC, and hit the water about an hour later.

As we approached the Bellingham Bay Buoy, the waves started to pick up. Sadly, I couldn’t get my phone out of its case for a photo op. We immediately headed for the south side of Portage Island. The wind and waves were pretty intense as we crossed the bay, but there was a rhythm to it, almost like the water was daring us to keep going. As we rounded the south end of Portage Island and paddled into the wind shadow of Lummi Island, the wind and waves almost disappeared, and the current was suddenly on our side.

Thanks to our earlier than planned start and the current speeding us along Lummi’s east coast, we reached the end of Lummi Island by about 3pm, including a much-needed break. At this point, we debated: continue to Birch, or make the 22-mile open water crossing to Point Roberts? With the current slightly in our favor, we decided to skip the overnight at Birch and make a beeline for Point Roberts before sundown.

Crossing to Point Roberts

Early in the crossing, Team Zunderdog decided to take his own path, but Trish and I stuck together. Earlier in the day, Jesse (the Race Boss) let us know my tracker was running low on charge. Trish communicated with him while we crossed and learned we needed to reach out to Heidi (in Point Roberts) to charge the tracker, and that we could camp on the lawn at the marina. Luckily, the wind and waves behaved for most of the crossing. We made it to the Point Roberts Marina around 9pm, with just enough light to find J dock and set up our tents before dark. Amazingly, Team Zunderdog beat us there by 30 minutes. Heidi stopped by to grab our trackers, and we caught up with Brian and Clayton from Team Nothing to Sea Here. Trish and I managed to grab showers, ate in the dark, and enjoyed being so far ahead of the plan we’d made just that morning.

Leaving Point Roberts

Heidi arrived early with coffee, oranges, and a freshly charged tracker. Heidi and her husband, Tor, have been involved with the R2AK for years, providing great race photography. They also set up the fourth and last waypoint, a big yellow buoy offshore from the Point Roberts lighthouse. While we were packing up and chatting with Heidi, Tor was with Team 5.1428 at the primitive marine trail campsites near the lighthouse. They called and asked if they could join our group for the open water crossing to the San Juans and maybe the rest of the race. Of course, we were excited to have them join our merry band. We all came together at the Point Roberts Buoy at approximately 9am Sunday morning (Day 9).

Our next stop was Sucia Island, which was only a 15.5 mile open water crossing away. We knew the currents near Sucia might work against us, so Patos was our backup plan in case things got hairy. Sure enough, as we got close, the current between Sucia and Patos was northbound at 1.4 knots. We spotted a perfect landing spot on Patos and decided to save our energy by stopping there. It was 2pm on Sunday, and with a flood tide coming in for a few hours, we had no choice but to hang out until the currents changed direction.

Patos Island

The tide wouldn’t turn for a while, so we enjoyed some time on the beach watching the local seals. The highlight? A baby seal and its mom came up on the beach near us. We had front row seats to the cutest wildlife show in the San Juans. Not a bad way to wait out the currents!

As we enjoyed the break on Patos, we knew the finish line was finally within reach. After so many miles, challenges, and unexpected moments, it was time to hatch our plan for the last stretch of the WA360. Stay tuned, my next post will cover how we made our final push to the finish, with all the emotions, surprises, and celebrations that came with crossing that line!