The Race to Alaska (R2AK) is an unusual 1200 km “adventure” in which any type of boat — from stand-up paddle board to 70′ foiling trimaran this year! — aspires to be the first to reach Ketchikan, Alaska, under wind- or human-power. The rules are very simple: no motors aboard; no support other than what’s available to everyone; and no adding or changing crew. The full race starts in Victoria, B.C. a few days after a shorter race from Port Townsend, Washington, to Victoria which serves as a qualifier for the full race.
Below is a quick “guide” to key web sites and extra information about the R2AK 2016. (It’s also available as a Google document and PDF for easy editing and printing…)
Schedule:
2016 Qualifier: starts on Thursday 6/23 at 6 a.m. in Port Townsend, WA. Must reach Victoria Harbor by noon on Friday 6/24.
2016 Full race: starts on Sunday 6/26 at noon in Victoria, B.C. Must transit Seymour Narrows and Bella Bella en route to Ketchikan, AK.
Key web pages:
See handy links at the top of this web site, too!
Official Race web site —
Facebook page —
https://www.facebook.com/racetoalaska
Track the progress of your favorite teams during the race (location updates every 15 minutes) —
Don’t miss Jake’s hilarious descriptions of race teams!
https://r2ak.com/full-race-participants2016/
And his accounts of many of the 2015 teams and adventures:
http://r2ak.com/daily-updates-2/
Compare the promo videos and watch the Larry Ellison throwdown —
Other web sites of interest:
Small Craft Advisor forum on the R2AK
http://smallcraftadvisor.com/message-board2/viewforum.php?f=10
Google spreadsheet with team data from 2015-2016 that underlies tables in the talk
Scott’s San Juan Sailing Club presentation about R2AK 2015 (web-based slide presentation) —
https://www.emaze.com/@AFZWZRRO/r2ak-2015-2016
— with links to more slide shows, videos, web sites, and 2016 racers.