Skipper Miles Moore will be sailing his 18-foot/4.5-meter Malbec18 sportboat in the WA360, a race around the Puget Sound of WA state USA this June 2025 and then in the R2AK, all the way from Port Townsend WA USA to Victoria CAN (Vancouver Island, across the Strait of Juan De Fuca - Called the proving grounds, about 40 miles), and onto Ketchikan Alaska (750 miles/1207 km).
The June 2025 WA360 is technical prep for the R2AK. However, the WA360 is no slouch when it comes to a long-distance race, with its challenging tides and current, varied weather and water conditions, navigation skills and physical strength needed. This race starts and ends in Port Townsend WA, racing around the Puget Sound.
Miles will be dedicating his efforts in the WA360 and R2AK to
men's mental health and suicide prevention. One of the 4 core values for men's
health is An Adventure to Live. See more below...
Miles experience spans 55 years of sailing from his first solo
sail as a 5-year-old aboard an El Toro sailing dinghy (similar to Optimist or
Sabot bathtub like sailboat of 7.92 ft / 2.41 m), to surfing Hobie 14's and
16's on the Pacific Ocean at Grays Harbor (Westport Washington USA) and other
bodies of water, to sailing a 33' Reynolds high performance racing catamaran,
sailing many designs of boats - both monohulls and multihulls. Currently he sails his Malbec18 sportboat and has a fleet of Hobie
Wave's for his sailing school, and a West Wright Potter 15 for adventure camping
trips with wife/kids. He has taught sailing for
almost 50 years on board both multihulls and monohulls. He is also a National
Safe Boating instructor.
One of Miles' specialties is teaching people with spinal cord injuries how to sail. He has had students from all over the world, from South Korea, England, and all of North America. He placed 2nd in the world with his teammate James Hatchfield at the Hobie 16 Trapseat Worlds and has won many races in his area of the Inland NW. Most of his sailing involves going on many small boat sailing adventures to small and large lakes, and coastal areas, particularly on the Washington state coast USA. Miles does assessments of boat launches and other marine sites for his Marine Guide, so those with disAbilities can determine if a site is accessible for them or not.
He has a background in ultra endurance cycling, riding 422 miles
in 24 hours. Carrying the Idaho Olympic torch from the top of Idaho to
Pocatello in 2 days (717 miles). In high school he really enjoyed running and
ran a 4:14 mile.
Miles is hearing impaired and did not learn to read until he was
14 years old due to dyslexia. In spite of his dyslexia, he graduated from
college with a BS in Recreational Therapy and a Master of Education in
Vocational Rehabilitation from the University of Idaho. What is amazing about
this is he graduated from High School with a special education 1.09 GPA but
graduated from college in the end with a 3.8. Miles went on to work for the
Idaho Department of Vocational Rehabilitation for 4 years, after that has ran
his own business starting out as the Center for Assistive Technology (CART) and
finally specializing in sailing via his business FunToSAIL.com . He also
created a historical Lake Coeur d'Alene chart with his son. Friends call Miles
the map man due to his mind being a map/chart and always knowing where he is
without any maps/charts (secret, Miles studies charts so that info is logged in his mind).
His love of the outdoors, particularly the marine environment
inspires him to teach people how to keep the marine environment clean through
education, teaching people to not use plastic disposable bottles, instead using
glass or other long-lasting bottles; and of course, he especially loves
teaching others to learn to sail, decreasing the need for gas or battery
powered boats. We all know that using less gas is better for the environment,
but it may seem strange to some to hear that not using batteries is also
helpful. This is because the battery manufacturing process is quite destructive
to the environment as is the energy it takes to charge them. Thus, the R2AK and WA360 are the perfect races for the environment and very agreeable
to Miles because rules require not using gas or battery powered motors, using
only wind and/or muscle (and Miles is very adventurous!).
Reality suggests gas mostly and batteries on various levels is
needed but if we can sail and paddle more, then we are making less of an impact
on the environment. His idea is not so much to Go Green as much as it is to Go
Clean, as much as possible... being a less disposable society is key.
Donating and/or sponsoring these trips will enable Miles to apply
what is learned from this race to his accessible/disAbled (and those without) programs
and small boat coastal sailing classes and education.
To top it all off, the experience and education gained from this
trip will also aid Miles in developing nutrition education with his master
nutritionist herbalist wife, he can share with others to help them know what to
eat for strength, energy and practicality on their future sailing trips/adventures.
Miles will begin a monthly video series in 2025 about the process
of getting ready for this race. He will also be video recording as much of his
trips and races as possible.
A sailing log will be posted on the lower section of this page
with text and video links, etc.
You can follow this adventure by subscribing to this page/website and on his YouTube channel.
BUY Click here to buy your own sailboat, safety gear, and accessories, etc.
MEN'S SUICIDE PREVENTION... Miles has spent most of his life dealing with depression. Those who have dealt with or still dealing with depression know how challenging it is to overcome, especially today when many it seems minimis men's mental health challenges.
I (Miles) want men to know that you are not alone, that I know your pain, and I know how incredibly challenging it is to overcome. My dear brothers I want you to know it can be overcome, that Christ can heal you. How might you ask? By realizing what man's 4 core values are or should be... 1. Men need A Battle to Fight, we need to feel we are warriors, fighting the good fight via taking care of our family, fighting against corruption, stand up for those who need us to do so, defeat our demons, etc.; 2. Men need An Adventure to Live. Go for a challenging hike or bike ride, or some adventure that challenges you, yet is beautiful to experience. Train for it, get in shape or stay in shape; 3. Men need A Beauty to Love. Love your wife and family, love others, love life. Whether you have a family or not, serving others puts us on the Christ like path; 4. Faith and Trust in Christ. Its only in and through Christ we can be healed, by reading his words, going to church, keeping his sabbath holy, keeping his commandments, serving others, truly having faith and trusting him. Make Christ your focus and everything will fall in place via your effort to be Christ like. Learn about Jesus Christ.
The first 3 cores noted comes from A Warriors Heart boot camp and the last, number 4 is obvious, what I have added to the cores. There is no healing without Christ. My brothers if you can apply these 4 cores in your life you will overcome and then be able to help others do the same. Let me be clear overcoming does not mean being lax once you feel you are healed and/or better, it means you understand your challenges and then apply and keep applying what you learn. It means helping others to also find healing. There is a lot that goes with the word "healed," what it is, how it happens, and how it feels, etc. Healing requires one to be a warrior, to fight your demons and to help others discover their warrior spirit, and it means to be a warrior for Christ.
To start the path of healing remember to apply the 4 cores in your life and do the following.
1. First get counseling by a competent Christian counselor who understand a man's place in the world, in Christ kingdom, and in family. Just because a counselor is Christian does not mean they understands men's needs. I do not recommend accessing counseling via the American Psychological Association and the American Counseling Association as these organizations have become corrupt and rejecting Christ. Please, again seek only faithful Christian counselors. I cannot express this enough, how important it is to get a faithful, believing Christian counselor. To acquire you strong Christian counselor, contact your local churches.
2. Second, once you are stable enough, your counselor will let you know, then attend A Warriors Heart boot camp by visiting and signing up at this link. The boot camp is not meant to be therapy but is a camp meant to build a brotherhood that will facilitate your continued path toward true healing.
3. If you are suicidal right now, please call this number immediately and/or your counselor/phycologist help number. Call 988 or 877-870-4673. Click here for other help lines/resources.
Please use the following resources. Remember some motivational speakers, etc. will say the "Universe" has special powers, or whatever, no its "NOT THE UNIVERSE, its GOD! God is all powerful, only he heals, only through him can we become the men of God that he wants us to be.
TRAINING LOG...
Training, gear selections, videos etc. will be posted on this FunToSAIL.com website/blog. Every time I post an entry; I will write it below (page is going to get long) and also put a link to additional post and/or videos. I should note that basically I have been training for the R2AK all my life, I just did not know it up until year 2023. I will post logs here until I find a better way to post online logs and when I do find a better way I will put a link here.
12/18/2024... So, its official I will not be racing a Hobie Wave in the upcoming 2025 WA360 or 2026 R2AK. I have changed boats due to my wife wanting to race with me, also having a small cabin to sleep and get out of the weather in sounds super nice. I will be using my favorite boat the 18-foot/5.5-meter Malbec18 sportboat. My wife wants to race with me in the WA360 as a test to see if she could do the R2AK with me. This was a surprising development; I would love to do the races with her.
8/25/2024... Hello fellow sailors and enthusiasts. Sorry for such a long delay in posting here. My summer has been a constant effort of preparation, etc. Due to such a long past dealing with depression I have had to do a lot of work on my home/land, rebuild relationships, etc. I also note the biggest challenge of coming out of depression is dealing with all the devastation left in its wake. I am happy to report I have done much to repair it all. I have strong relationships with my family members and my sweet wife who had to deal with a lot over the years. This September I feel like I can get all done that needs to be done and then start focusing on getting some needed gear for the R2AK.
One of my goals for the race is to inspire men to overcome depression as I have. Thus my 2026 R2AK will be dedicated to men's mental health. I will be posting more about that effort soon.
I have sailed mostly this year during my sailing classes. One of my strongest skills is my sailing abilities. Not worried about that but I am now starting on a new physical fitness program. I plan to do a 100 miles bike right soon, do a lot of rowing, jump roping, and weightlifting.
Stay tuned for me consistent posting.
6/28/2024... I will soon be adding deep reason for my entering the race. Some of my close friends know that I have struggled with depression for many many years, even to the point of several hospitalizations. Sometimes I have felt embarrassed this challenge in my life, but no more, now I have great motivation to help others through it, particularly men. Kids and women are no less important, but I feel a call to help men and thus this is what I plan to do. Stay tuned as I will be talking more about my plans in this department.
6/29/2024, Maybe I should have put the date of Saturday 6/22/24 for this post, the day I purchased a 2017 Hobie Wave for the race. I still plan to use purchase a new one but that may not happen if Hobie co. does not get their act together. I also found out that a Chinese investor may have purchased the catamaran production of the company thus the reason they are producing the cats in Mexico. I am not confident in the future of this company and the quality of the product. If I understand correctly the Hobie kayaks are still a US owned company and still built in the USA. For me there is a difference in Hobie Cat of old and the new Hobie company of today. It's all very sad as I have been a big Hobie Cat fan all my life, but on a good note, a new US company can step in to fill the gap. I have an idea of who the US company will be to step in, but I am held by confidentiality not to do so. I have great hopes for the future.
So, I have my Wave for the race and on June 29th I assembled that boat. Next step is to upgrade the boat with a traveler system, extendable tiller, upgraded rudder system, which I have just needs a little tweaking, sail, and other ideas I have. My plan for the race is to have a super durable system, gear to allow few stops (less stops the faster I can get there), and set up to go fast as possible. So stay tuned more info coming soon.
6/28/2024, I have been following the R2AK very closely. My biggest interest was on Team Tippy Top and Team Willy Wild Cat. Tippy Top used a Hobie 16 in the race and thus what I am most interested in because it will closely relate to my boat in 2026, minus one person as I am soloing it. Willy Wild Cat is using some food I am interested in, such as freeze-dried food, etc. He is sailing a Catboat, a 20' long cat rig boat, a single mast, no other sails, with a fabulous rowing system.
On Friday (June 28) I was on Facebook, and I was messaging Team Tippy Top. Turned out right as I was messaging, they were traveling home, and they were just coming into Spokane WA on HWY 90 toward Coeur d'Alene where I live. Man, what timing. They were willing to meet me and so we did. Strange occurrence as I lost my car keys, then lost my phone, all in just a few minutes after messaging them. I think I was so excited to meet them that I lost my mind. Luckily my son came home, and I and my wife were able to meet them.
One the one challenge I have had in the post of trying to get info to prepare for the race was getting racers to follow up to with their gear and detailed experience. I was only able to speak with Team Tippy Top for a few minutes, but I gained more info with then in a few minutes than I had gotten over several years of trying to get info.
One of the big things I wanted to know is how they got their boat home if at all. Maybe they would sell it up there. Turns out they were able to take their boat on the Ferry from Ketchikan to Bellview WA. in just 1.5 days for $800. Cost per person was $350/person. This to me was invaluable info.
I also get to see their custom pedal drive. Make of plastic pipe overlayed by carbon fiber, and metal chain and sprocket. All needed parts for the drive were 3D printed. I plan to build one. Huge advantage is they can tell me what needs to be strengthen, etc.
They won the 20' and under award. The trophy if you can call it is a still spork inside a bit beautiful but heavy piece of wood with a wood lid. And I believe they got $1000 cash. In this race if you win one gets $10,000 and 2nd is a set of steak knives. Obviously, the race is not about the price it's about the adventure, the challenge of putting together what is needed to reach the end.
So anyways I was able to meet the Rock Stars of Team Tippy Top, John Ped & Kaila Pfrang, both from Boulder Colorado USA. I told my wife after meeting them, that Hollywood so called stars simply pretend to be other people in movies, etc. but the racers of the R2AK are the true stars, ones who are not afraid to challenge themselves, etc.
5/1/2024, Change of Boat... A lot has happened sense last I wrote a log. Not to bore you but there were a lot of business challenges and other things I needed to take care of. So here is what is new. After much consideration and looking at all that is needed for the R2AK I have decided not to race a Rocket, a 14-foot-long board boat but race aboard a Hobie Wave. The Wave is ideal due to its durability, stability in strong winds, high hull volume, no boom, etc. More about the Wave soon.
4/1/2024, 2nd Log Post... A change from 2024 to 2025: It was recently announced that the R2AK will now be every other year. I had planned to do the race in 2025, but now that has changed due to this race not happening again until June 2026. However, there is a shorter race, yet still very challenging race happening on the off years. So, in 2025 there will be the WA360 (Washington 360 miles) for those still wanting to do a long-distance race, which I plan to do. The race starts and ends in Port Townsend, WA, going through the Puget Sound. More info will be announced this September.
6/10/2023, Race 2 Alaska (R2AK)... I do not remember the date I decided to do the R2AK but I believe it was some time in 2020. I had heard of this race in 2016 but assumed it was just for the rich. Turns out that is not the case, it’s for the sailors crazy enough to do a race with no motor gas or electric. My kind of race! I was going to do the race aboard my Malbec18 sportboat with a friend but when he capsized my WWP15, this experience made him change his mind. Honestly if a capsize makes you change your mind then it’s a great choice not to do such a challenging race. With that I was stuck with the decision to seek a new crew member or do it solo. Sense I love solo sailing and really did not want someone else to bail on me, I felt the best choice for me is to do it solo. The next decision was to choose what boat to use. I had thought of using my WWP15 but it’s a slow boat and I wanted to do it a bit faster so I settled on the Hobie Wave as its faster than the Potter, a stable boat, with great carrying capacity for gear. I am not 100% sure on this boat selection but currently this is my selection.
VIDEOS... More coming soon related to the R2AK training put for now here is a fun video of me helping a fellow sailor and pitchpoling my Wave a bit. Also, the next video is of me and Scott doing some accessible sailing on the Spokane River in Spokane County, USA.
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