Ketchikan or Bust!
February 23, 2016 11:35 PM Subscribe
The Race to Alaska: the rules are simple: captain a boat from Port Townsend to Ketchikan along the Inside Passage of British Columbia, with no motors and no support. Don’t get eaten by a bear. The first boat wins $10,000 cash. The runner-up gets a set of steak knives.
NYTimes: No motors, but no limits on imagination.
Our Race to Alaska.
NYTimes: No motors, but no limits on imagination.
Our Race to Alaska.
Third prize is you get eaten by a bear. Put that coffee down. Coffee is for finishers.
posted by duffell at 3:26 AM on February 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
posted by duffell at 3:26 AM on February 24, 2016 [15 favorites]
Aaand duffel beats us all to it. Grats - can't favorite your comment enough. Great variation on cofree is for winners. What's more is that a race that long damn well requires a cup of coffee. So no coffee would be like ARRRGGGGHHHH.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:07 AM on February 24, 2016
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:07 AM on February 24, 2016
"Alan Hartman paid the $650 entry fee in beaver pelts."
posted by oheso at 4:37 AM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by oheso at 4:37 AM on February 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
The faq (the Race to Alaska link) is pretty funny reading.
posted by achrise at 6:20 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by achrise at 6:20 AM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
Third prize is you're fired? (On preview: beaten like an old rug. Read comments before commenting yourself, hm?)
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 7:02 AM on February 24, 2016
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 7:02 AM on February 24, 2016
Really hoping Ellison enters. My buddy Josh in the Subterranean Homesick Blues role here.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:17 AM on February 24, 2016
posted by humboldt32 at 10:17 AM on February 24, 2016
The faq (the Race to Alaska link) is pretty funny reading.
PT's a pretty funny place. ;-)
posted by humboldt32 at 10:19 AM on February 24, 2016
PT's a pretty funny place. ;-)
posted by humboldt32 at 10:19 AM on February 24, 2016
The whole website is fun. *Legal counsel has advised us to to remind you that this could be pretty dangerous. You should probably just forget about the whole thing.
posted by TreeRooster at 10:57 AM on February 24, 2016
posted by TreeRooster at 10:57 AM on February 24, 2016
Should anyone from Metafilter decide they're going to participate in this: I can see the finish line from where I'm sitting at my table right now -- contact if you would like a person to help you see some of Ketchikan and meet some locals after the race. I can also help you resupply in town before your return trip or take you to the airport or ferry terminal if your boat is not traveling back with you.
I have previously traveled most of this route in the opposite direction (Ketchikan to Anacortes, WA) in a powered 26' boat with a top speed of 8 knots -- it took us 14 days, including two days holed up in a cove waiting for conditions to allow us to make it across the south end of Queen Charlotte Sound . It's an unforgettable trip in one of the most beautiful parts of the planet and the route one follows is mostly protected water (but pick your conditions carefully when crossing Queen Charlotte Sound and Dixon Entrance.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
I have previously traveled most of this route in the opposite direction (Ketchikan to Anacortes, WA) in a powered 26' boat with a top speed of 8 knots -- it took us 14 days, including two days holed up in a cove waiting for conditions to allow us to make it across the south end of Queen Charlotte Sound . It's an unforgettable trip in one of the most beautiful parts of the planet and the route one follows is mostly protected water (but pick your conditions carefully when crossing Queen Charlotte Sound and Dixon Entrance.)
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
Larry's boys are pretty pre-occupied for the next year or so.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 3:06 PM on February 24, 2016
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 3:06 PM on February 24, 2016
My guess is the winner will be an offshore racing team, maybe one with experience competing in the Vic-Maui race. If the weather is anything other than bizarrely calm, I have a hard time seeing how any other type of vessel could win. Winding through the inside passage would be far slower than making a consistent 10+ knots on the outside of Vancouver Island and through the Hecate Strait.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 4:40 PM on February 24, 2016
posted by [expletive deleted] at 4:40 PM on February 24, 2016
It does make a lot more sense (if you have the right kind of boat) to sail outside, but as the race rules require you pass through Seymour Narrows entrants are at least going to have to sail the inside of Vancouver Island. Once north of Port Hardy, though, you're right that the quickest route for an ocean-capable sailboat and crew is the outside. The inside route is pretty damn cool, however, so if you're just in it to finish and not to win, inside would be my pick.
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:55 PM on February 24, 2016
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:55 PM on February 24, 2016
The inside route is pretty damn cool, however
I took the twenty-two hour Inside Passage winter ferry trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy a couple weeks ago, and what scenery I could see in daylight was stunning.
The summer express trip races through in twelve daytime hours to maximise the view, but is much more expensive.
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:40 PM on February 24, 2016
I took the twenty-two hour Inside Passage winter ferry trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy a couple weeks ago, and what scenery I could see in daylight was stunning.
The summer express trip races through in twelve daytime hours to maximise the view, but is much more expensive.
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:40 PM on February 24, 2016
I missed the rule requiring any route to go through Seymour Narrows. That definitely complicates things. Still thinking this kind of team would have an advantage unless some crazy team enters some kind of oared longboat with a sloop rig and canting keel. That would be awesome.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 6:40 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by [expletive deleted] at 6:40 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Still thinking this kind of team would have an advantage unless some crazy team enters some kind of oared longboat with a sloop rig and canting keel. That would be awesome.
Vikings?
That would be pretty awesome.
posted by clawsoon at 8:32 AM on February 25, 2016
Vikings?
That would be pretty awesome.
posted by clawsoon at 8:32 AM on February 25, 2016
I sailed a small boat from Victoria to Kitimat one summer and it was a blast, but then we had a cranky outboard for use when it got weird. Trying to sail through Seymour Narrows would be, umm, interesting, and you might well have to hole up for days to get it right, or run with minimal control on the currents, dodging all the other traffic. Even without ripple rock that's a frightening piece of water. Speaking of Waypoints, you also have to go past Bella Bella, so that somewhat deters the fully offshore route from Cape Scott to the Panhandle.
I wouldn't want to have any disincentive to fire up the iron chicken in some of these waters. Crossing Queen Charlotte Sound (rounding the aptly named Cape Caution) was, as Nerd of the North suggests, one of the more harrowing bits. My companion was seasickin the bilge so I helmed for 10 hours or so to get to Egg Island and in one of the more memorable split seconds of my life saw the pontoon of the trimaran come off a wave at force and land inches away from a 3 foot diameter drift log that would surely have sheared it off.
posted by Rumple at 9:27 AM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
I wouldn't want to have any disincentive to fire up the iron chicken in some of these waters. Crossing Queen Charlotte Sound (rounding the aptly named Cape Caution) was, as Nerd of the North suggests, one of the more harrowing bits. My companion was seasickin the bilge so I helmed for 10 hours or so to get to Egg Island and in one of the more memorable split seconds of my life saw the pontoon of the trimaran come off a wave at force and land inches away from a 3 foot diameter drift log that would surely have sheared it off.
posted by Rumple at 9:27 AM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is wonderful - reminds me of the Continental Divide bike race.
I found the 2015 race reports fascinating. They're best read with the silly team bios open in another tab for reference, so you can verify that the "Soggy Beavers" are in fact a half-dozen twenty-somethings in an outrigger canoe, the "Boatyard Boys" are rowing a 19th century wooden boat that they restored after it spent a decade buried in bushes, and "Team Discovery," which keeps passing people with proper sailboats, is just Roger Mann in his pedal/sail powered outrigger kayak.
I'm eagerly looking forward to this year's race.
posted by sibilatorix at 4:39 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I found the 2015 race reports fascinating. They're best read with the silly team bios open in another tab for reference, so you can verify that the "Soggy Beavers" are in fact a half-dozen twenty-somethings in an outrigger canoe, the "Boatyard Boys" are rowing a 19th century wooden boat that they restored after it spent a decade buried in bushes, and "Team Discovery," which keeps passing people with proper sailboats, is just Roger Mann in his pedal/sail powered outrigger kayak.
I'm eagerly looking forward to this year's race.
posted by sibilatorix at 4:39 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by boilermonster at 11:50 PM on February 23, 2016 [1 favorite]