Sea Otter Classic

Neighboring Ham Radio groups

The 2023 Lifetime Sea Otter Classic will be held on April 20-23, 2023.  Help from amateur radio operators has been a vital resource for communication in the Fort Ord National Monument backcountry.  Thank you to those of you who have volunteered in the past.

The Lifetime Sea Otter Classic attracts thousands of athletes and spectators and is now regarded as the world’s premiere cycling festival.  The areas where we assist have little or no cellular or repeater coverage.  It is an excellent opportunity for demonstration and practice of emergency communications and help build readiness for a real disaster.

This year help will be needed for the following times:

Thursday 4/20 – Enduro Support – Morning through mid afternoon

Friday 4/21 –  Back Country Support –  MTB Gravilla Backcountry Radio – Very Early Morning to Mid Afternoon.

Saturday 422 – Back Country Support –  MTB Fuego Backcountry Radio – Very Early Morning to Late Afternoon.

Sunday 4/23 – Back Country Support  – MTB Fuego Backcountry Radio, and Robles Tour –  Very Early Morning to Late Afternoon

Camping is available directly from the event (https://www.seaotterclassic.com/camping/ – subject to availability and sells out quickly – some campgrounds are already sold out) or we have the option of camping for no charge in the Laguna Seca paddock.

Ham radio operators will be primarily working radios including ham radios and/or commercial/public safety radios  (i.e. You may be asked to coordinate on a public safety frequency to guide in an ambulance while the medic provides care).  We’ll always try to pair experienced hams with new hams as needed. First aid and course marshal support will be provided by National Ski Patrol as in the past.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you’re interested in volunteering.  We’ll need a volunteer waiver signed and we will have more details available soon.

Volunteers receive a volunteer T-Shirt, a pass to the Sea Otter Classic Festival (a $70 value), and a lunch.

Please note that the times and details are subject to change, but we will keep you updated if you volunteer.  Please keep in mind that end times are estimates.  In most cases the event will end earlier, but if we have a significant incident, demobilization may go much later and especially in the backcountry, exit routes are closed to vehicle traffic during the event.  Updates will be available at http://sbcara.org/otter (It is still early and this page is still being updated for this year – 2022’s information is here for reference).

To sign up please go to this link https://tinyurl.com/soc2023hro or if this doesn’t work for you, feel free to just reply to takeuchi@sbcares.org via e-mail.

Also, please go to https://sea-otter-classic.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=68024 and in the password field, enter the word “Radio” (without quotes) do not enter anything else on the page and click on “Submit”. The page will update with the Amateur Radio shifts. Click on the check box to click on if you’re available and interested in that volunteer activity. All the events are for the backcountry at Fort Ord. For “Group – Organization Name” please select “San Benito Amateur Radio Association”. You can fill out your information. Under “Is anyone volunteering with you” please enter “None”. We need a separate submission for each volunteer. Sign the disclaimer by clicking the check box and entering your name and submit. You’ll receive an email from Jeff Lindenthal to confirm your registration.  This process needs to be done for each volunteer.

Like many ham radio groups, we’re migrating to groups.io for our email system. If you’re volunteering this year, please go to https://sbcara.groups.io/g/soc and sign up for our email system so you can get updates. The nice thing about this is that this year, you can see emails, even those before your sign up, and don’t have to store them on your own email system. I send out the information about on-line volunteer registration as soon as it is available.  I can also sign you up for updates, but you must confirm your email in order to receive updates.

Please pass this email along to anyone you think might be interested.  We’re going to have challenges since some of our regular volunteers aren’t available this year due to the change of date this year.

Thanks & 73,

– Timothy S. Takeuchi – sbcares.org
San Benito County (XBE) COM-L: Communication Unit Leader – W6TST
Chief ACS/RACES Officer / ARES DEC: District Emergency Coordinator / ARRL PIO

Sea Otter Classic Volunteer Communications Leader