Most people don’t assume Odin Smith is only 16 years old.
When you encounter the Port Townsend High School sophomore working in the boat yard, he comes across as a serious, focused young adult, maybe 20 years or older. He holds a concentrated expression while working hard to revamp his newest sailboat (yes, he’s owned more than one in his 16 years on this Earth) and can talk shop with the most experienced shipwrights in town.
Last year, when he sailed with Team Ziska as the youngest person to complete the Race To Alaska, Smith said most of his fellow racers assumed he was older than he was.
But when you ask him how he feels about the most recent challenge the high schooler has set for himself—doing the Race To Alaska with Team FAST, the “Freaking Awesome Sailing Teens,” who will be the youngest team in the race’s history—a youthful smile breaks out across his face.
“I’m excited,” he said, his dog, team mascot Roxie, wagging her tail by his side outside of the Lower Hadlock Shipwrights building where his newly-purchased Santa Cruz 27 sits, waiting for new fiberglass reinforcements.
Not nervous?
No, not really, he said.
“Obviously I have my worries,” he added. “But I’m trying to focus on sailing our best race. Plus, I believe that if you think something’s going to happen, then it’s gonna happen.”
There’s a lot that can go wrong on the Race to Alaska. As the R2AK website says: “It’s like the Iditarod, on a boat, with a chance of drowning, being run down by a freighter, or eaten by a grizzly bear.”
Teams must get from Port Townsend to Ketchikan on any kind of floating vessel, under one condition: no motors.
R2AK is North America’s longest human-and-wind powered race. The winning team gets $10,000; second place gets you a set of steak knives.
“It’s totally nerve-wracking,” said Daniel Evans, the “race boss” of R2AK. He’s never had such a young team approach him about racing, and said Team FAST has to prove they are really prepared before he will officially let them join.
“Part of the creation of this race was to push other people’s boundaries, not mine,” he joked.
But Smith, who will be 17 by the time the race begins on June 8, believes he has a team that can handle whatever the race throws at them.
“I put together the people I have based on how I believe they’re going to react in high-pressure situations,” Smith said. “They are people who have their own mind, but will listen when something needs to happen.”
Team FAST includes PTHS seniors Luca Gesinger and Dylan Tracer, junior Willow Hoins and sophomore Oscar Levine.
All have sailed on the high school sailing team in the past, and many are involved in school sports, such as football, wrestling and track and field.
Not only that, but Smith said they’ll be training with their “sailing Yoda,” local sailor Piper Dunla, once they get their boat fixed up.
Smith, who has been sailing for three years, said he got the idea to put together an all-high-school team last year during the “Ruckus”—the party that proceeds the start of the race—when he was getting ready to sail with skipper Stanford Siver on Team Ziska.
Ziska, the largest, heaviest and oldest boat in the race’s history, was the 22nd team to finish last year, pulling into Ketchikan a cool 16 days and 11 hours after the race began.
“It was a beautiful boat, but it was slow,” Smith said.
This year, he wants to win.
That’s why he used his sponsorship money to purchase a Santa Cruz 27. The lime-green racing boat was named the “Limey Bastard,” but Smith is going to change it to “Surge,” because the color reminded him of the popular 90’s soda with the same name. Right now, it’s on the hard in Boat Haven, parked next to Lower Hadlock Shipwrights—one of the team’s many local sponsors who is also helping with the renovation of the boat.
According to Smith, more than a dozen shipwrights have offered their services to help renovate the sailboat. In the two weeks since he bought it, they have worked to rip out the interior, and plan to install reinforcements so it has a sturdier rig, turning it into a modern version of the boat it was previously.
“It’s a fast and cool boat,” Smith said. “It’s definitely going to be a serious competitor. Santa Cruz’s have come in the top five finishers every year of the race. That’s why I chose this one.”
They don’t need to install a motor since the race rules forbid it, but they will install a pedal-drive to propel the boat when the wind cannot.
In true Port Townsend community style, all the local shipwrights and marine tradespeople have jumped in to help, either with work or sponsorship.
“I saw their post on Facebook and came over here one day after work and asked, ‘You guys need any help?” said Kyle Mackey, an electrician with ACI Boats. “They said they needed help with electrical wiring, and it just so happens that that’s what I do over at ACI.”
Now Mackey, who graduated from PTHS two years ago and played on the football team with FAST team-member Dylan Tracer, is designing the electrical wiring of the entire boat, working weekends and evenings outside his normal schedule.
ACI is one of many local sponsors of Team FAST, including the PT Shipwrights Co-op, Admiral Ship Supply, Sea Marine, Haven Boatworks, the fuel dock, Satch’s Autoworks and more. Their biggest sponsor is the Port of Port Townsend itself, donating $2,000 to their cause and covering all moorage and launch fees for the team.
“Young kids with ambition,” said Jesse Osborn from Seven Seas Sailing Logistics, who is also helping Smith with sailboat renovations. “It’s great to see that.”
Beyond reaching out for local sponsors, the teens plan to raise funds by selling stickers, coasters and magnets.
They also plan to host a spaghetti feed at the Blue Moose, although the date for the fundraiser has not yet been set.
Whether or not the teenage team will win the race is “anybody’s guess,” Evans said.
“Two years ago everyone said there’s no chance a monohull would ever come in first,” he said. “Then Team Sail Like a Girl proved everyone wrong, coming in first place. And again last year, a monohull won first place.”
But whether they take home the $10,000 or not, Smith’s team has the support of some of Port Townsend’s most knowledgeable maritime experts, from sailing legends to longtime shipwrights to the port commissioners, travel lift operators and sailmakers alike.
“Port Townsend is the best place to be the catalyst for something like this,” Smith said. “Everyone’s excited to see someone young in the community doing something that’s good.”
