About three weeks ago, the whole team met in Arlington, WA, to get to know each other, work on Fast Forward (our race boat – a gorgeous Hobie 33), and get some time on the water together.

On the hard, we washed and waxed FF’s hull, installed sponsor logos, and refined the design for our pedal drive system. We took team photos, recorded thank you videos for some of our sponsors, reviewed the race route, watched aerial video of a recon flight up the race route, and tested our freeze-dried meal preparation system. And we laughed. A LOT.

On the water, we worked on team communication, basic maneuvers, navigation, night sailing, and spinnaker flying.

In general, we had a great time building a strong team dynamic and identifying areas for growth – as individuals and as a team.

In the time since our training camp, Capt. Chris and I have discussed at length some necessary and desired updates to Fast Forward’s rigging. We’ve received an estimate on the work we expect needed, and we Fly Girls want you to know that every cent you and our organizational donors have contributed thus far will be applied to making Fast Forward a faster, safer vessel for the R2AK next June.

We hope you’ll share the story of our planned adventure with your friends and family, so they can follow along too…