PORT TOWNSEND — Three teams, all sailing multihulls, have taken significant leads in the Race to Alaska.
All three chose to sail on toward Ketchikan, Alaska, rather than wait out a storm that was projected to roll up the West Coast on Wednesday night, said race boss Daniel Evans earlier in the day.
‘They’re all good racers with some boats that can take some abuse,” Evans said.
Leading on Wednesday evening was Team Pure & Wild from Marblehead, Mass. After 4:35 p.m., the tracker at r2ak.com showed them sailing on the east side of Aristazabal Island at just over 11 knots.
Right behind them was Team Bad Kitty, also cruising at just over 11 knots along Prince Island.
Team Big Broderna was in third place and just rounding the north side of Dufferin Island at roughly 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
All three teams are north of Bella Bella, Canada, which is just past the halfway mark on the 750-mile race from Port Townsend to Ketchikan, which began last Thursday.
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 to Victoria — and the second stage, “to the bitter end,” which began Sunday. Forty-one boats originally signed up for the longer leg.
Teams are racing without motors or any outside support in an attempt to earn the Race to Alaska’s $10,000 grand prize.
The second-place team gets a set of steak knives.
Evans said he expects the teams to keep to the channels along the east side of the islands along Haida Gwaii to avoid the larger waves that could be whipped up by the storm that was forecast for Wednesday night.
Evans said he estimates it will likely take another day for one of the three teams to cross the finish line in Ketchikan, putting them way behind last year’s record-breaking pace.
Team MAD Dog can rest assured that its record of three days and 20 hours will be safe until the 2018 race.
The remaining 31 teams still in the race were expected to camp along Vancouver Island rather than sail through the forecast storm.
“Everyone is battening down for the big blow,” Evans said.
According to Evans, most of the teams have docked in Campbell River. A few teams Wednesday were south of Campbell River, including Team Sistership, and were still sailing in an attempt to pull out of the back of the pack.
Team Sistership left one crew member in Nanaimo, B.C., due to illness and then was forced to do some emergency repairs to its boat Tuesday.
Crew members livestreamed from their boat at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, and Capt. Michelle Boroski said they planned to keep sailing but were sticking close to shore to find a place to pull out should the weather turn.
Paddleboarder Karl Kruger, aka Team Heart of Gold, was still ahead of the pack, camping just on the east side of the Seymour Narrows, which is a notoriously fast-moving channel.
Kruger was in the lead for the paddlers, followed closely by Rod Price in his kayak, who was camped just south of Kruger.
According to Evans, a number of sailing teams shot through the Seymour Narrows earlier Wednesday but were later trying to find places to wait out the storm.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
Stephanie York from Team Sistership cranks in a sail on the second leg of the Race to Alaska. (Liv von Oelreich/R2AK)
Team Big Broderna sails through calm seas and sunny skies on Day 3 of the Race to Alaska. Team Big Broderna was one of the three trimarans battling for the lead on Day 4. (Katrina Zoe Norbom/R2AK)
Karl Kruger, the sole member of Team Heart of Gold, paddles into the sunset on Day 3 of the Race to Alaska. Kruger, along with most of the other paddlers, camped at Campbell Creek to wait out an evening storm that rolled in Wednesday night, on Day 4 of the race. (Liv von Oelreich/R2AK)
