PORT TOWNSEND —The Race to Alaska festivities will kick off in Port Townsend on Wednesday with the annual ruckus, which includes food, beer, informational talks and free tattoos.
The event will kick off at 3 p.m. and close down Water Street from the Northwest Maritime Center to the Cotton Building and across the street to the American Legion Hall until 8 p.m.
“It’s like a block party,” said Race to Alaska (R2AK) race boss Daniel Evans.
Evans said the celebration will be a good place to meet some of the sailors participating in this year’s race, the third annual.
More than a dozen boats will be on land and plenty of boats will be in the water for people to check out, Evans said.
“The boats will be out all day, so we’re really doing stuff all day,” he said.
The next day, the 750-mile nonmotorized Race to Alaska will begin, with the starting gun going off at 5 a.m.
The race, hosted by the Northwest Maritime Center and sponsored by UnCruise Adventures, has two legs: the “proving ground” — the 40 miles from Port Townsend across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria — and the second stage, “to the bitter end,” which will begin at noon June 11 and wind through the Inside Passage to Ketchikan, Alaska, a 710-mile race undertaken with no support vehicles and no motors on the vessels.
This year’s Race to Alaska has 64 teams entered, but only 41 of those are heading all the way to Alaska.
“The rest are just doing the first stage to Victoria,” Evans said.
Since there are no supply drops, teams have to be completely self-sufficient. Last year, only 26 of the 44 teams racing to Alaska made it to the finish line.
Racers can propel their boats using only human or wind power.
First person to get to Alaska gets $10,000, while second place gets a set of steak knives.
This year, there is an added bonus: R2AK race officials will also buy one boat for $10,000. It will be first-come, first-served as soon as boats cross the finish line in Alaska, and teams will have only a few minutes after finishing to decide to sell.
At the pre-race ruckus Wednesday, race founder Jake Beattie will discuss the history of the race and what to expect this year in a talk at the American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St.
At 5 p.m., Josh Collins, a paddleboarder taking on the first leg of this year’s race, will talk about paddleboards at the Legion Hall. Collins of Merritt Island, Fla., will paddle an 18-foot stand-up paddleboard from Port Townsend to Victoria, with the goal of being the fastest human-powered vassel for stage one.
Live music by Uncle Funk and the Dope 6 is scheduled at 5 p.m.
Beer from Port Townsend Brewing will be available. Chef Arran Stark will cook burgers, and Season’s Catering’s Salmon Wagon, Mo-Chilli BBQ, Kurly’s Fry Cart, Paella House, Java Gypsy, Fiddlehead Creamery and Pane d’ Amore will serve a variety of other food options.
The R2AK staff will bring back the free tattoos, which started at last year’s ruckus.
“If you’re willing to get the logo on your arm, I’ll pay for it,” Evans said.
R2AK organizers started the tattoo tradition last year by offering to pay for people to have the R2AK logo tattooed on them by local artist Clae Welch of Towns End Tattoo.
“It worked out pretty good,” Welch said. “People got some free tattoos.”
Welch said he tattooed roughly 10 people last year. Evans said he knows of six people for sure that got the logo tattooed on them last year.
“The sixth one was this 80-year-old woman,” Evans said. “When I asked if I could see it, she just wagged her finger at me and said, ‘Oh no, no, no.’ ”
For more on the Race to Alaska, see r2ak.com.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
