R2AK 2028 tide and current planner

Port Townsend to Victoria to Ketchikan. Pick a start date and how many days you want to take to see what the stream is doing at each tidal gate when you get there.

Storm contingency: test this plan against storms →

Start

Stage 1 start Time Stage 2 start Time

Rowing plan

Victoria to Ketchikan:

For reference: the human-powered record is Boogie Barge (pedal boat, 2026) in 11 d 6 h 58 min. Human-powered boats usually take 2.5 to 3 weeks; the last 2026 finisher, a rowboat, took 21 d 06 h.

When to row

Row from Rowing hours a day Keep rowing into a head current up to (kn) Pick the cutoff for least effort Watts vs a racing shell (×)

Hull length (waterline, monohull) ft

Hull speed: (1.34 × √length in ft)

Most hours from one camp to the next (snack/rest stops count) Snack/rest break after rowing 4 h Snack/rest break length 1 h (at a past campsite) Docks and floats count as stops (purple on the map), not just beaches No rowing at night: ashore at a past campsite From 0.5 h after sunset to the same before sunrise

North of Bella Bella Wait for slack at gates when the stream against you is over 1.5 kn

Map time

Flood Ebb Slack (<0.5 kn) Tide station Night stop

Tidal gates on your track

Arrival times include any waits for foul current. Times are Pacific Daylight Time.

Stops

Camp when a stop is at least hours

Camp: 6 hours or more. Snack/rest: 1 to 6 hours, and a snack/rest break after each spell of rowing (set above). Stops of an hour or more (waits at tidal gates too) go to the past campsite that costs the least extra rowing, rowing back up to 4 nm if none is ahead; when the day's rowing hours run out the stop is made a camp there. A few short pauses stay on the water where no past campsite is in reach. Click a row to set the map time.

Day by day

Past human-powered races

Loading past tracks.

Data

Predictions: NOAA CO-OPS and Canadian Hydrographic Service. Charts: CHS and NOAA ENC chart services. Imagery © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics.

Tracks are shortest-water lines for distance and ETA only. Planning aid, not for navigation: use official CHS and NOAA tables and current charts aboard.

Stop close-ups

Each stop on 0.25 km square of satellite imagery: your planned track in yellow (the trip in to a campsite and out again in pale yellow) and past human-powered tracks in their class colours. Click one to set the map time.

Storm contingency

Runs the plan from the planner page many times, each with storms dropped in at random. When a storm warning comes the crew makes for the nearest past campsite or beach and stays ashore until it has blown through; then the plan carries on under the same rules, so the tides, gates and camps all move. Stage 2 only (Victoria to Ketchikan).

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Scenarios

Storms

Where the storms come from

Go ashore for Shortest blow that sends you ashore Shorter spells of wind are rowed through. Shift the calendar up to Each scenario takes one past year's weather in every area along the route, moved this many days either way at random, so 50 years give many different races.

Storms per race Shortest storm Longest storm Each storm lasts a whole number of days, picked evenly between these. Storms can start from day to day Days after the Stage 2 start, any hour of the day. A storm that comes after you finish does nothing. At least this long between storms

Crew

Warning before a storm hits The crew heads for shelter this long before it hits, and waits ashore from then on. Furthest to row for shelter Along the route, ahead or back, not through a tidal gate. Nothing in reach: the storm is sat out on the water and the table flags it. Boat speed vs the plan 100% is the speed the planner worked out for your days. Finish target Random seedSame seed and settings, same scenarios.

Not run yet.

Finish, Victoria to Ketchikan

Storm history by area, June–July 1976–2025

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What the storms cost

Days lost against the storm days. A storm can cost more than its own length when the tides and gates no longer line up afterwards, or less when it falls on a stop you were making anyway.

Storm shelters

Where crews sat out the storms, most used first. Cumulative share: how many of all storm stops the list covers down to that row, so a short list can cover most of them. Click a row to see it on the map.

Gaps: no shelter in reach

Stretches where a storm caught the crew with no past campsite or beach within reach, so it was sat out on the water. Worth scouting for a landing, or rowing through only with a good forecast.