R2AK: Enough nonsense, race time

The 7th edition of the 750 mile Race to Alaska (R2AK) began June 5 with a 40-mile “proving stage” from Port Townsend, WA to Victoria, BC. For those that finished within 36 hours, they were allowed to start the remaining 710 miles on June 8 to Ketchikan, AK. Here’s the Stage 2/Day 1 report:

Publishing schedules being what they are, by the time you read this there will be far more interesting things to pay attention to than whatever happened Wednesday, thematically the most boring day of the week and the lay day before the start of the Race to Alaska.

Today, you should be watching the live stream of the Victoria start on our Facebook or Instagram accounts, cheering on your favorite teams, and swearing at the tracker. For the racers, Wednesday was the dockside open house where fans from the global corners of R2AK Nation came down to bask in the presence of the hearty adventurers about to venture forth on the world’s longest and most engineless Race to Alaska.

Like the racers, the four boat, 20 person media armada was chatting with fans, making final equipment checks, stocking up on foods, talking strategy, and preemptively swearing at the tracker. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, best to put a few of those in the bank.

With everyone dockside, Wednesday was content light, so we thought tickle whatever part of your body enjoys these updates by cracking open the black box and letting you peek at a never before revealed bit of secrecy: Race to Alaska’s Secret Service code names.

According to movies we’ve watched and Wikipedia, US presidents’ bodyguards have code names for the first family. Jimmy Carter was “Deacon”, Ronald Reagan was “Rawhide” (there are others that are interesting but not as funny).

Did you know that R2AK teams have Secret Service code names? Us either, but if they did we’d probably start with these—which may or may not be names that members of media crew sputter when we can’t remember the actual names. Some of our favorites:

Team Pestou: Pesto Pasta, Pesty Festy

Team Unsalted Nutz: Team Deez, Testy Festy

Team Toybox Express: Toybox Surprise Inside, Jack in the Box, Insta Bait

Team Flow State Wing Foil: Wingfoil Guy, Picnic Face

Team We Brake for Whales: Jeanne Goussev and the Whalers

Team Madame Oaracle and the Prairie Porch Pirates: Madame Ovaries, Janet Ian and the other people

Team Fisheries Supply Monkey Fist: Sock Monkey, Questionable George, Monkey Fisting, The best team in the history of R2AK (Fisheries Supply are our sponsors too)

Team Mojo: Mojito (pronounced with a hard “J”), San Fran Frenchies, Ou est la Bibliothèque?

Team Duke: Blue Devils, Duke Nukem, Baron Von Tim

Team Supernautiloid: Stranger Rangers, Super Not Annoyed, Super Not a Lloyd, Super Duper Bois, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Team Buckeye: Black Eyed Peas, Team Ribeye, Ohio

Team Lillian’s Vacation: Lillian

Team Bella Bella and Beyond: Bella Bella and Beyonce, Bed Bath and Beyond

Team SeaSmoke: Up in Smoke, Cheech and Chong, Smokey and the Bandit

Team Ruf Duck: Rubber Ducky

Team Zen Again Dog: Zen Dog

Team Ship of Fools: Jester boat, Plato Fun Factory

Team Dacron and Denim: D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Team Fashionably Late

Team SUP N Irish: Paddle Boy

Team Mike and Marty’s Big Day Out: Rick and Morty, Mork and Mindy, Cagney and Lacey, Weekend at Bernies

Team Sporting Chance: Sporty Pants, Sporty Spice

Team Hornblower: Horn Boy, Lil’ Nas Toot Toot, Horatio Jones and the Rowcruiser of Doom

Tres Equis: Dos Equis, Tres Leches, Quattro Formaggio

Enough nonsense, race time. R2AK: out.

Race details – Entry list – Tracker – Facebook

The 7th edition of the Race to Alaska in 2023 will follow the same general rules which launched this madness in 2015. No motor, no support, through wild frontier, navigating by sail or peddle/paddle (but at some point both) the 750 cold water miles from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska.

To save people from themselves, and possibly fulfill event insurance coverage requirements, the distance is divided into two stages. Anyone that completes the 40-mile crossing from Port Townsend to Victoria, BC can pass Go and proceed. Those that fail Stage 1 go to R2AK Jail. Their race is done. Here is the 2023 plan:

Stage 1 Race start: June 5 – Port Townsend, Washington
Stage 2 Race start: June 8 – Victoria, BC

While the Stage 1 course is simple enough, the route to Ketchikan is less so. Other than a waypoint at Bella Bella, there is no official course. Whereas previous races mandated an inside passage of Vancouver Island via Seymour Narrows, the gloves came off in 2022. For teams that can prove their seaworthiness, they now had the option of the western route.

There is $10,000 if you finish first, a set of steak knives if you’re second. Cathartic elation if you can simply complete the course. R2AK is a self-supported race with no supply drops and no safety net. Any boat without an engine can enter.

There were no races in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In 2022, there were 45 starters for Stage 1 and 34 finishers. Of those finishers, 32 took on Stage 2 of which 19 made it to Ketchikan.

Source: R2AK