KETCHIKAN, Alaska — Team Elsie Piddock has won the Race to Alaska stakes — but who’ll get the second-place steak knives remained to be seen Saturday.
The 26-foot trimaran sailed into Ketchikan harbor at 12:55 p.m. Friday after 4 days, 23 hours and 55 minutes under sail from Victoria. It had left Port Townsend on June 4 in a race sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center.
Elsie Piddock’s three-man Seattle crew won a split piece of wood for their efforts, but nailed to it was a $10,000 stack of cash, first prize for the first nonmotorized Race to Alaska.
Meanwhile, two boats were dueling up the Inside Passage on Saturday for the second prize: a set of steak knives.
MOB Mentality, a 28-foot catamaran, and Por Favor, a 33-foot Hobie Cat, were in “a pretty good battle” that was expected to end sometime today when one of them reached Ketchikan, said Carrie Andrews, spokeswoman for the maritime center.
As of 4 p.m. Saturday, Por Favor was about midway up the west coast of Bonilla Island, some 186 miles south-southwest of Ketchikan, with MOB Mentality off the island’s southern head, about 30 miles behind. Both boats were making about 6 knots.
Winds were out of the north-northwest at 17 knots, and the temperature was about 52 degrees.
The third-place boat’s crew will win nothing but the T-shirts issued to all 53 boats that started the race in Port Townsend.
Eighteen other surviving craft trail them, with a Port Townsend monohull boat, Hexagram 59, turning back under sail Friday as the most recent boat to leave the race.
As for the winners, Al Hughes, Graeme Esarey and Matt Steverson — all of Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood — looked weary and salt-stained as they doffed their dry suits, according to the Ketchikan Daily News.
Jake Beattie, the maritime center’s executive director, was in Ketchikan to greet them.
“We’re very proud of Elsie,” Hughes said on the dock. “That thing was a weapon for us.”
The triple-hulled craft was new to its crew, having been borrowed from a friend whose daughter named it for a children’s book, Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon.
The trio who sailed her had only four hours of practice before they left Port Townsend, Hughes said.
Elsie Piddock proved faithful to them, however.
The crew told the Ketchikan Daily News they had no equipment delays on the 750-mile race while other competitors were plagued by mechanical issues.
Steverson said he didn’t know how the trio would spend their winnings.
“We didn’t do it for the money, bottom line,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve talked about it.”
Team Elsie Piddock took the early lead by catching an “open door” of favorable winds and tides in the Seymour Narrows and then in Johnstone Strait along Vancouver Island.
“The door opens and shuts behind you, and we just barely got there,” Hughes told the Ketchikan sailors who greeted him.
It stayed shut for most of the other racers, who had to battle through churning waters in the narrows.
Still in the running as of midday Saturday were teams Barefoot Wooden Boats, Blackfish, Boatyard Boys, Coastal Express, Discovery, Excellent Adventure, Golden Oldies, FreeBurd, Grin, John, Kohara, MOB Mentality, Mike’s Kayak, Mau, Por Favor, Puffin, Sea Runner, Soggy Beavers and Un-Cruise.
Only rowers, sailers and paddlers were allowed to compete. Motors are forbidden.
The craft followed no set route on the Inside Passage to Alaska. Of the 75 boats that registered, 53 started the race, but only 40 reached Victoria, with another 29 setting out for Ketchikan and 18 lasting into the final leg.
For details on the race, competitors and finishers, visit www.r2ak.com.
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Nick Bowman of the Ketchikan Daily News in Alaska contributed to this report.
