WA360: Lessons Learned

We’ve literally been waiting to race in WA360 again since the moment we called to say we were dropping out of the first version in 2021. We learned some lessons that year that we’re excited to improve upon.

Dry Suit

Last time that we competed, half of us were in a dry suit and half of us were in neoprene and splash layers. There were a couple of times when that proved to be a liability. For example, when the cabin cruiser tossed a wake that soaked us up to the shoulders in Budd Inlet. Or when we had to walk our kayaks around fallen trees against an incoming tide at the bottom of the clay cliffs at Point Defiance.

Cooking (aka: NOT cooking)

We thought that WA360 would be different than SEVENTY48 when it comes to cooking. We were almost right. Washington 360 is different from SEVENTY48 when it comes to how many meals we need. It’s different when it comes to what restaurants we have access to. But it’s not different when it comes to how much time we want to spend dealing with a camp kitchen. We cooked a couple of meals last time around. But our best refueling was actually paddle up restaurants. And with Door Dash, Instacart, and Uber Eats, we probably don’t even have to get ourselves to a paddle up restaurant for a good portion of the racecourse. We will, of course, still bring some emergency camp kitchen supplies and some backup food. We will bring a lot of snack style foods that we can eat as we paddle or as we’re setting up camp. Back country charcuterie is certainly going to feature heavily in our rotation. But we won’t be planning to cook most of our meals this time around.

Getting to know the North Sound… (at least a little bit)

While we had several redundancies last time around, one of the things we did not have was direct knowledge of most of the northern half of the racecourse. One of the advantages of dropping out of the 2021 race about halfway through was that we had a week of vacation left over. We used that time to start scouting for this year’s WA360. We’ve visited the northern Sound multiple times since always with an eye to landing sites, rest stops, and of course campsites. We’ve supported Ski to Sea the last couple of years, which gave us excellent exposure to Bellingham Bay. And just this Spring, we managed our first paddle through one of the sloughs on the route.

Fresh Garmin

Although our old Garmin did come briefly back to life, it stopped picking up satellites sometime over the last few years. Upon further research, we found that model has been discontinued: fatal flaw in the design, perhaps? We have a new Garmin for 2025, with a fresh new design that looks like it’s even more waterproof in the battery hatch. We’ve programmed a ton of information into it already and we’ve practiced our navigation using the waypoints we’ve programmed. We’re looking forward to having it this time around for the stretches where we’re less familiar with the course.

Electronics

One of our limiting factors has also been how many batteries we have with us and how often are we able to refill those. We’ve invested in some fresh new battery packs that can recharge our radios and our phones. We’ve got a power pack that runs on AA batteries that we can replenish at grocery stores or marinas along the way. And if we do end up taking any zero days that have electricity nearby, we’re prepared to re-power everything during those stops. Our camp lighting and some of our navigational lights are also solar powered so those should keep themselves charged pretty well throughout our daylight paddles.

Tracker Junkies

Last time around, we encountered a tracker junkie or two, offering assistance. We politely declined. But I don’t know that we fully considered if we could benefit from those offers. The one that sticks in my head was a moment that we turned down a spot to rest. We got another 10-ish miles in that day. And set up our tent in a downpour, which started the cascade of events that ended with us running the Narrows backwards and ultimately ending our 2021 run at Owen Beach in Tacoma. While this is an unsupported race, the rules clearly state:

Your team must be independent and self-reliant. If the help is available to everyone (like weather radios, stores, or a stranger bearing a piping hot basket of stroopwafels), it’s fair game.

The lesson? Be open to serendipity and carefully consider offers of assistance.

So… We’re All Set?

Eh… maybe. Or maybe taking care of these lessons learned last time around just opens up opportunities for brand new lessons for this year. Only time (and actually running the race) will tell.