~San Juan ORCA Challenge...in beautiful ANACORTES~

The San Juan ORCA Challenge will Start and Finish in the waters seen below here in this photo...

• The short, 3 mile 'fun' race will stay in the protected waters of Fidalgo Bay, taking paddlers down along the city shoreline, past two marinas on the Anacortes side- with spectators able to cheer you on most of the way from the shores along the ol' historic train tracks turned into the now popular public exercise path, the 'Tommy Thompson' trail. Participants will round a marked buoy and then return to Finish, a few hundred yards from the Start, inside Cap Sante marina.

• The more challenging long distance, 20-25 mile race will take experienced paddlers out of Fidalgo Bay via Guemes Channel, across Bellingham Channel, and across Rosario Channel and around several islands, including Cypress....

*Note, all 3 of the above listed channels in the Long Distance Race are active shipping lanes with BIG tankers & tugs w/ barges regularly cruising back and forth and through- from every direction at high speeds- who DO NOT YIELD to KAYAKERS!

~ALWAYS EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION & COMMON SENSE WHEN PADDLING IN/ACROSS MAJOR SHIPPING LANES !~

**Additionally- Strong rip currents around island points, funneling winds opposing tides (creating) big waves in the more narrow channels, blinding white-outs from fog banks, massive bull kelp beds linger waiting ready to imprison paddlers or capsize kayaks, shallow rocks/ pilings lurk at low tides ready to eat unsuspecting rudders- these are all examples of Severe Weather Conditions possible to appear at anytime, change quickly and without warning in the San Juan Orca Challenging waters.

Anacortes is a small, maritime town of 15,000, basically at the end of the road as you drive West on scenic Highway 20- providing car w/ ferry boat access to several of the bigger of the nearly 200 islands in the scenic San Juan archipelago. This quaint city boasts 6 marinas around its small island shores, the most centrally located to 'downtown', Cap Sante Marina is where we will finish the races, and also the annual site of the Anacortes Waterfront Festival....so bring your mom & dad, wife & kids, girl/ boyfriend to this kayak race, they'll be plenty of booths to educate, entertain and feed them all, live music, as well as other festival events they can participate in while you are racing!~

The indirect beneficiaries of this fundraising event are the Southern Resident Orca Whales- listed as Endangered Species since 2005.

• There are currently 83 whales between 3 Orca families - J, K, and L pods- who seasonally live here in the protected waters of the San Juan islands.
• They can occasionally be seen from San Juan island rocky shorelines- frolicking in local waters, breaching, spy hopping and tail lobbing- when they get together and unite into a big family reunion, aka 'superpod', to eat and mate. (Because, like us, they do not mate within their own families:/)
• They will often travel 60-100 miles every 24 hours around the San Juan islands and up to B.C. waters to the mouth of the Frasier River, in search their favorite food- Chinook Salmon.
• This year, we lost 7 of these whales, from an infant to a matriarchal grandmother. ( ~That's nearly 10% of the southern resident, San Juan ORCA population, scary indeed :0 ~)
• Humans are the #1 threat to these Orcas survival and the reason why these 'gentle giants' who share the love of these local waters as much as we do are rapidly going extinct :(
• Our practices of 1. over-fishing and 2. polluting the Puget Sound are creating a dire situation for these Orcas to fight for survival in.

~ How can you help? Get involved! Join us! ~

The San Juan ORCA Challenge is a fundraising event for the Orca Network. http://www.orcanetwork.org/ The "Orca Network is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization registered in Washington State, dedicated to raising awareness about the whales of the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of providing them healthy and safe habitats. We are part of an emerging community that is increasingly attuned to the orca population, that cares about and tries to understand the needs of the resident and transient orcas that inhabit the Salish Sea."