Repeat offender to the Barefoot Raid, the best kid’s camp of the year! Learned all about dinghy cruising thanks to the fine crew participating here. Fantastic that we get to go again!!!

The Boat

The first year I showed up in the wrong boat for this job, so I built an Angus Sailing Rowcruiser. Perhaps if the captain had more skills, this would be a perfect boat for the Raid.

Angus Sailing Rowcruiser
The Sailing RowCruiser by Angus Rowboats is a 19-foot trimaran that combines efficient sliding-seat rowing, a performance ketch sailing rig, and a small weathertight sleeping cabin in one lightweight stitch-and-glue plywood design. With planing amas (outriggers), it can sail at 11–12 knots, row comfortably at 4 knots in calm conditions, carry up to 880 lbs, and even competed successfully in the Race to Alaska.

Dale has sailed every-Barefoot-but-one… and has lost count of what that number might be.

The Boat:

Luna, SCAMP number 162, an 11′ 11″ cruising dinghy designed by John Welsford, participates in the live-aboard class… a rarified group within the fleet! She’s short, and well burdened with full cruising kit aboard, but she’s never last.

SCAMP Sailboat

Upwind Tak Team, We love sailing downwind and across the wind. This will our third Barefoot RAID. Our goal is to have fun and remain upright, I’m sure we’ll have fun.

The Boat:

“Ruth” is a 15 ft plywood/fibreglass Flint, designed by Ross Lillistone a Gaff-headed Knockabout Rig

Therena joined her first barefoot raid 2 years ago on her father’s boat, she loved it so much she bought her own little boat, “Hard Mode”, and decided to bring her husband, Chris, along for its maiden voyage. When not floundering in the water she’s an author and artist, and her husband keeps their life afloat as an electrician. (He’s the actual expert on wind as he is a windsurfer, Therena just knows how to swim.)

Chris’ story: “I dunno, my wife is the storyteller”

The Boat

Mirage Tandem Island
The Hobie Tandem Island is a fast, versatile trimaran kayak that blends sailing and pedal power into one adventure-ready package. Built around a stable twin-seat hull with folding amas (outriggers) for extra stability, it carries a powerful furling sail and Hobie’s MirageDrive pedal system so you can sail, pedal, or do both at once. It’s quick off the wind, surprisingly capable upwind, and stable enough for coastal exploring, fishing, or even light expedition camping—yet it folds down for trailering and beach launching with relative ease.

Respectful of ocean (especially the shallow parts), and eager to compete against the skill and character of the world’s finest skippers. Those with cut throat strategy to cross the start on time and master the paddle. This season, SS Barnes is committed to fortitude over afternoon G+Ts!

The Boat

SS Barnes is a 1965 Wayfarer Mark I Glass Reinforced Plastic – fractional Bermuda rigged sailing dinghy. Over two thousand copies of this model were made and many are still in use through the world. She was a gift and treasured as such.

Wayfarer Dinghy
The Wayfarer is a sturdy, versatile 16-foot sailing dinghy known for its stability, seaworthiness, and adaptability. Designed by Ian Proctor in 1957, it can be raced competitively or cruised comfortably, even carrying camping gear for coastal adventures. With a roomy cockpit, forgiving handling, and solid performance in a wide range of conditions, the Wayfarer has earned a reputation as a dependable family boat that’s equally at home on sheltered lakes or open sea passages.

5th time Raider. This time I will do it alone and finally has my boat the way I want it . Still prefer to camp on shore but ready for sleeping on the boat at anchor. Looking forward to seeing new and old Raiders. Not a fast racer and more a dinghy cruiser but enjoy the racing with other Lug sailors

The Boat

TOKOL -O -SEA : meaning playing on the sea. Chesapeake Light craft South Wester. Balanced lug sail Dory. Home build from kit and very beautiful

Southwester Dory

The Southwester Dory from Chesapeake Light Craft is a versatile, lightweight cruising dinghy designed for both rowing and sailing. Inspired by traditional New England dories, it features a stable, flared hull that rows efficiently and handles chop with confidence. Built using modern stitch-and-glue plywood construction, it’s available as a kit or plans and can be customized with sailing rigs and simple cruising gear—making it a capable little boat for coastal exploring, camp-cruising, or harbor days under oar and sail.

This will be my third time in the Raid, but the first with “crew” on my boat. Martine is coming along this time, and she keeps talking about how she’ll likely need to tow my boat with a kayak. (She knows me too well.)

The Boat

As I submit this form, my R2AK hopes are hanging by a thread. IF I get in for 2026, then I’ll have returned from some form of R2AK adventure in this boat. If I DON’T get into R2AK, then look for me to have a metric tonne of something to prove. Prove what, I don’t know.

Anyway… the boat: It’s a Boston Whaler Supercat 17. A beach cat, it was the designers answer to the fact that Hobie 16s have a tendency to pitchpole. So these hulls are eliptical in cross section, with lots of reserve buoyancy up front.

Oh… and I’m not using stretchy standing rigging like last year’s raid. 😉

This will be our third raid. I’ve sailed since I was 4 years old on an opti.
Reasonably experienced racer but still learning about the whole seamanship thing. Anchoring still stresses me out and I’ve been known to misread the tide table.

The Boat

The Diam 24 is a 24-foot trimaran. It was designed in France by VPLP Design and built by French builder ADH Inotec
The Diam 24 is built for speed. It regularly exceeds 14 knots upwind in good breeze and can go much faster downwind under gennaker.
However… in August there’s usually no “good breeze”, so we will likely be drifting with the current, glued to the water, struggling to make it move with our paddles.

We camp onboard by putting a tent on the trampoline. This year, I’m hopping to add a hatch so we can actually store something inside!

This is what happens when you don’t wake up for the tide…

Diam 24 One Design

Emily finally has a sailboat after joining the raid for 2024 and 2025 as a boatless traveller!

The Boat

She is an oversized bathtub toy with beautiful sails and a lovely name.

This is what our AI overlords think Emily’s boat will look like…

Hi, sailed since I was 13 in Sea Cadets. Owned and crewed on many boats over the years with a recent focus on the Hobie Tandem Island. Looking forward to incorporating camping and raiding with you and all the crew.

The Boat

Hobie TI, is a two person sailing kayak with outriggers and a pedal drive system. Carries up to 600 lbs. Tested on the Everglades Challenge.

Having grown up in one of BC’s finest coastal communities (never mind which one), Dylan built his Newfoundland Trap Skiff while a student at SBSS.  Having crewed aboard “Dick Smiley” in the ‘15 R2AK, and many raids since, Dylan is returning with his crew of elite seafarers whoever they may be..

The Boat

Traditional lug rigged ketch when the wind is blowing, and rice, bean and rum powered four legged water strider when it aint.

A Newfoundland trap skiff is a sturdy, open wooden fishing boat traditionally used along the rugged coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. Built for working in cold, rough North Atlantic waters, it has a wide beam for stability, a flared bow to shed spray, and a flat or slightly rounded bottom that makes it steady at rest—perfect for hauling cod traps and nets. Typically rowed by two people, the trap skiff is simple, tough, and deeply practical. It’s an icon of Newfoundland’s inshore fishery—humble, hardworking, and perfectly suited to rocky coves and foggy mornings.

I got into dinghy cruising late in life and have been doing it for a couple years now. I did an 8 day trip in the Broughton Archipelago last summer with 3 friends in two other small boats. That was the highlight of my dinghy cruising so far. We are another long trip this summer.

The Boat

I decided to get into dinghy cruising by building my own Long Steps, designed by John Welsford. It took me 2.5 years to build and I launched it April 2024. It is a cat yawl 19.5 ft long, 5.5 wide, with a lug main sail. I use 9.5 ft oars I made myself as secondary propulsion, motor.

Long Steps

Kilian has been sailing Sylvia up and down the Salish Sea for the past 10 years. Megan hopped on board in 2017 as crew and hasn’t looked back. We call Denman Island home but are happy anywhere in the woods and on the coast!

The Boat

Sylvia is a 15′ Gartside 148 with gunter rig. She was built by Kilian and team in the final year of the Silva Bay Boat School, launched in 2011.

Team Oaracle is Janice Mason and Ian Graeme — long-time adventure partners who don’t know how to say no to physical discomfort and human-powered suffering. We’ve completed the Race to Alaska (R2AK) together three times in our rowboat and kayak, yet still genuinely enjoy each other’s company. This summer, we’re looking forward to the more civilized pace and the camaraderie of the Barefoot Raid. Between us we have backgrounds in rowing, paddling, swimming, and sailing. We like to train hard, pack light, laugh often and believe that forward motion, however slow, is a beautiful thing. Our racing style is steady, stubborn, and fueled by coffee, dark chocolate and optimism.

The Boat

Our Liteboat XP20 is a simple, light-weight adventure cruiser designed by Sam Manuard and inspired by the R2AK. She has a ballasted centerboard, sliding seat rowing station, unstayed mast, boomless mainsail and “luxury accommodations” for two.

https://www.liteboat.ca/

Team Lugger Nuts, returning for their second year in their boat, Swallow, Drascombe Lugger #801. We’re hoping to take her out with a new (borrowed) sail plan with a larger gaff and drifter to try and catch those light winds we missed last year. Our goal this year is simple: sail more, row less.

Jason

The older, but less-experienced sailor of the Lugger Nuts team, my job is mainly to keep my son from trimming the sails every 10 seconds like we’re in some damned buoy race, and to provide the brawn when the wind fails. I share my son’s interest in small, gaff-riggers; my ideal boat has more sails than a ship of the line, while still managing to fit in a driveway.

Jayden (aka Traffic Cone)

My name is Jayden, a kid who found a bathtub in an alley and thought he could sail it. Fortunately, he was right. I’ve been sailing for 6 (I think) years, in an optimist dinghy, and now in a Drascombe Lugger with my dad. I love camp sailing, and failing to camp sail, and I also race!

I have been a big-boat (27–42 feet) sailor for many years and am now enjoying sailing and learning on a smaller platform—my 20-foot-long Liteboat.

I spend my summers sailing in Southeast Alaska.

I just returned from an attempt to sail and row this new craft up the Texas coast, from Port Isabel at the Mexican border northward, with limited success but lots of fun and loads of learning. I describe my journey here: adventuresofcharley.com.

I am looking forward to joining my first Raid and to the camaraderie that is often mentioned in the reviews. I have sailed a big boat and paddled a kayak in the Desolation Sound area, but this will be my first small-boat journey there.

I enjoy long-distance adventures—sailing, bicycle touring, backpacking, and rowing—traveling at less than ten miles per hour. I wouldn’t want to ruin that pace in this Raid, so you speedsters are safe from any challenge.

The Boat

The boat is a 20 foot long Liteboat XP20, originally designed for the Race to Alaska and successfully sailed there. It offers a small cabin for sleeping and with the cockpit tent is quite comfortable for camping.
It only weighs 330 pounds empty and my challenge will be to keep it light and not carry enough supplies to cross the Pacific.

https://www.liteboat.ca/

The Boat

18’6” Angus RowCruiser, a covid project, that is still floating! Even with its mistakes, it is wonderfully forgiving, sails beautifully and is the most comfortable boat to sleep on. Whether sailing or rowing, it is a delight to cruise the West Coast waters. It is likely the best out of the myriad of boats I have owned. Should have built it sooner!

Can you do it?

The Boat

It’s a Hobie 16.

Sebastian Berg and Nic de Cosson are cousins, combined they are nearly 12 feet tall. Both have been sailing tall ships from a young age, and have been working down in hull length ever since. Nic is an artist, Seb is fairly confident he can spell art.

The Boat

Trimaran, branded supernova, 15′ designed to be car toppable, has potential to stay afloat with two grown men aboard. Very light and tender boat.

I’ve always been living on and in an island while often pushing the boundaries from dry through soggy and land in saturated. I look forward to traveling amongst the Armada of smiley-eyed catered Salty’s.

The Boat

not sure what craft shall be my flying carpet ~~~_/)~~~~

Second édition of the barefoot but this time on my floating shell, still working on it but should be ready on Time.

The Boat

Beautiful wooden schooner from the 1950 , need a bit of work to get on the water tough

(Written by Abby)

We are a father-daughter team returning for our second Raid. Times Hobie sailing with my dad have been some of my favourite moments for almost as long as I can remember and there is no one I’d rather sail with. We are excited to make new memories and have an adventure that gets us out of our everyday routine back on Denman Island. Looking forward to seeing familiar faces, meeting new people, and making amazing summer memories with all you Raiders!

The Boat

Our boat, Falkor, is a 1970’s era HobieCat 16. It’s been Frankenstein-ed together with parts from three or four different old boats over the years and has been through her share of mishap on the rocks around her home on Denman Island but… there is a rumour going around that she got new sails and can’t wait to try them out! Falkor is named after a legendary Luck Dragon of note. We’ll take all the luck we can get.

Our little family is so stoked to join you all this year. Joining on the 3rd night onwards after coming straight from a wedding in Ontario. While our sailing skills are the same as usual our enthuiasm is what guides us & we can’t wait to have little Quill along to experience the magic you all create.

The Boat

To accommodate little quill & make sure he is safe & were all comfy, we are cruising in on our newly acquired 26ft international folk boat. We are just getting to know her & looking forward to this bonding experience.

I am a washed up paediatrician living in the mountains and dreaming of the sea. I am the current custodian of Solveig, who is always looking for new adventures. My sister, Stina, and I and Solveig have complete the R2AK twice as well as the WA360 and some other less easily summarized adventures. Now I hope to show my partner Marianne that salt water sailing is always easy-peasy, fun, comfortable, safe and convenient. A perfect second date, right?

The Boat

Solveig is always the most beautiful boat on the water. She is a sort of an intersex creation based on the lines of a norwegian faering built in the manner of a modern sea kayak- epoxyglass over cedar striplank, with a red canvas lug sail on carbon fiber spars. Modern or nostalgic, she can’t decide. She rows better than most sailboats and sails better than most rowboats and if that sounds like a couple of big compromises then you’re just a big grumpy cynic. The nastier the sea state the happier she becomes. I have spent a few years rebuilding almost every system on board, therefore she is now the picture of perfection, nothing more to be done, all good, no suggestions needed. Thanks for the compliments!

Birthed from the smell of low tide in Shediac Bay, went on to love floating over top of said smell .

The Boat

Mothir is a good mother and has two hulls but the port side is her favourite child.