March 13: Bering Sea
Kaltag: Sørlie was the first to arrive at Kaltag on March 13 at 3:43 am. He left Kaltag in first place at 8:44 am, followed by Brooks about an hour later, Buser another hour later, and John Baker yet another hour later. The top 10 are within slightly more than 6 hours, and the top 30 are within 26 hours. On March 16, Karen Ramstead scratched here, citing concerns for her team and trail conditions. Her teams is composed of Siberian huskies, instead of the more common mixed-breed Alaska huskies.(pdf)
Unalakleet: Sørlie won the Alaska Gold Coast Award for reaching Unalakleet in first place on March 13, at 20:45 pm.(pdf) Sørlie was the first to depart at on March 14 at 0:11 am. The top 10 departed within 8 hours, and the top 30 within 27 hours. Sørlie said, "it's still a long way to Nome".
The trail normally runs down the Unalakleet River into town, but shifted 7 miles (11 km) due to water overflowing the ice.(pdf) The xtrail markers led through a 1-foot (0.30 m) deep over flow, which several teams went through. Temperatures are expected to hit the 40s (F, or 5–10 °C) through March 16. Unalakleet is on the shore of the Norton Sound, and the race normally picks up pace and intensity as the leaders start the long final dash north and west along the shore of the Bering Sea to Nome.
Read more about this topic: 2005 Iditarod
Famous quotes containing the words march and/or sea:
“What if there’s nothing up there at the top?
Where are the captains that govern mankind?
What tears down a tree that has nothing within it?
A blast of wind, O a marching wind,
March wind, and any old tune,
March march and how does it run.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The only sin is limitation. As soon as you once come up with a man’s limitations, it is all over with him. Has he talents? has he enterprise? has he knowledge? It boots not. Infinitely alluring and attractive was he to you yesterday, a great hope, a sea to swim in; now, you have found his shores, found it a pond, and you care not if you never see it again.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)