Six navy members from CFB Esquimalt are in Port Townsend, Washington, ready to row and sail 1,200 kilometres just for the fun of it.
The team set out for Port Townsend early Friday for the “Proving Ground” portion of the Race to Alaska, after spending the day before packing up and stowing the sails.
Teams in the Race to Alaska must use vessels with no motors, with the 64-kilometre opening leg between Port Townsend and Victoria beginning early Sunday.
Racers who finish in fewer than 36 hours without having to be rescued can then continue Wednesday at noon with the second and final leg from Victoria to Ketchikan, known as To the Bitter End.
Ellery Down, skipper of the navy team, dubbed Victory Oar Duff, said he has been following the race since it started eight years ago and considers it “a bucket-list item.”
Sailboats have always won the race in a matter of days, but winning and losing is not the point, said Down — who is looking for his team to take about 18 days to get to Ketchikan, Alaska in a 27-foot Montague whaler.
“The least interesting part about the race is the winner,” said Down, who maintains it’s really about the camaraderie, laughs and friendly rivalry among teams.
Members of the Victory Oar Duff team range in age from early 20s to the 43-year-old Down. (“Duff” is a naval expression for dessert.)
At the very least, the sailing part of the journey should go well, since Down is in charge of the navy’s sailing-training program on the west coast.
The race website has a special take on the navy team, saying members are intent on proving once and for all “that Canadian politeness is a super power.”
Theirs is the first-ever entry by a group of active navy members. The trip qualifies as “adventure training” that sailors have the option of doing, Down said.
“Most people do a week of hiking on the Juan de Fuca Trail or some other hike,” Down said. “Our idea is probably the largest example of adventure training ever proposed.”
The Race to Alaska isn’t for everyone — organizers from Northwest Maritime in Port Townsend promise a race that will subject participants to “squalls, killer whales, tidal currents that run upwards of 20 miles an hour and some of the most beautiful scenery on Earth.”
First prize is $10,000, second prize is a set of steak knives, and for anyone else completing the course there is “cathartic elation,” according to organizers. Just 18 of 31 entries completed the course in 2022.
Down said the team’s chosen mode of transportation is a type of boat that’s been around for over 100 years and was carried on frigates and steamers into the 1990s. The whaler they’re using has a ceremonial pedigree — it’s used once a year to transport high-ranking officers ashore during change-of-command activities.
They will be at the starting line at 5 a.m. Sunday with the rest of the 44-entry field to take on the Proving Ground portion of the race.
Seven of the entries are racing in the opening leg only.
Included in the field is a contingent of several other Vancouver Island/Gulf Islands racers and participants from all over the United States.
Competitors will begin Wednesday’s portion of the race from Victoria with a mass sprint from Government Street to their vessels at the docks off the Inner Harbour causeway.
Prior to that, there will be a racers’ party Monday beginning at 6 p.m. at Swans pub, with the public welcome to join at 7 p.m.
The public can also visit the racers and their vessels at the docks on Tuesday from noon to 6 p.m.
• The race, which will take place every second year from now on, can be followed online at r2ak.com.
Note to readers: This story has been updated to correct the meaning of "duff," which is navy slang for dessert.
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