VICTORIA, B.C. –– The second leg of a grueling water race to Ketchikan, Alaska, is now underway.
The 38 teams still competing in the second-annual Race to Alaska started the race Le-Mans style at noon in Victoria, B.C., on Sunday, with racers having to run down the dock to their boats before leaving the harbor.
“The start of the race was awesome,” said Jared Scott, communications manager for Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, which organized the event.
This is the second year of the race, which was open to nonmotorized craft racing from Port Townsend to Victoria in the first leg and then on to Ketchikan under their own power.
Now teams are racing across a 710-mile stretch of water to be the first to arrive to Ketchikan, in hopes of earning the $10,000 first-place cash prize.
Those relying on wind were off to a slow start Sunday, with little wind as racers left the harbor.
Team MAD Dog Racing held a strong lead Sunday evening and was about 6 miles ahead of the nearest vessel.
There are many types of vessels competing in the race, including a paddleboarder who was in the top 10 on Sunday.
Scott said the paddleboarder, Karl Kruger, estimated he could travel between 40 and 50 miles a day.
“That’s just mind-boggling,” he said. “The paddleboarder is just an incredible athlete.”
On Thursday, racers started the qualifying leg of the race in Port Townsend. Racers had 36 hours to qualify for the next 710-mile leg from Victoria to Ketchikan.
On the way to Alaska, racers will have to go through two waypoints: one near Campbell River, B.C., and another at Bella Bella, B.C.
Other than those two waypoints, racers can travel any way they want, as long as there’s no engines and they are self-supportive, he said.
According to the rules of the race, as long as the boats lack motors, they can carry a crew as large — or as small — as they wish.
“That’s as simple as we can make it and that’s how we like it,” Scott said.
While the rules are simple, the race is anything but.
“This is an extremely difficult race — there’s no way to get around that,” he said.
“Cold water, all sorts of drift wood and debris. This is a dangerous stretch of water.”
For that reason, all racers are vetted before they can participate.
Once vetted, they must successfully complete the first leg of the race before taking on the 710-mile journey from Victoria to Ketchikan.
Exactly how long the race will take is difficult to say, Scott said.
Last year, the winning team finished in a little longer than five days, while the last team to finish took 23 days.
Some teams will be sailing 24/7 while others will be camping along the coast.
A real-time map showing racers’ progress is viewable at http://tracker.r2ak.com.
For more information, go to www.R2AK.com.
________
Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
