Paddle, row, sail or pedal your way to Alaska

Over 30 human- and wind-powered craft departed Victoria on Sunday in the third edition of the Race to Alaska. A few are competing for the sole, top prize of $10,000. One very fast boat will have to settle for the second-prize steak knifes. Everyone else is on a personal journey.

We have been following the race each year and made time this weekend to head down to the inner harbour, as they prepare and then start the race. After the race start, we will be tracker junkies, keeping tabs on the boat’s progress at tracker.r2ak.com and trying to keep the addiction from interfering too much with work.

A few photos of the personalities and boats that make up the race:

Legendary competitor Roger Mann waits out the wind and tide after a breakdown a few miles from the finish of the qualifying leg from Pt. Townsend to Victoria. He is doing quite well in the main event and is one of the top solo sailors.

Repairs, sleep and nourishment (it will be a long time before the next ice cream cones or full night of sleep) occupy the competitors in the two days before the race start.

A few last-minute adjustments and they are off. The paddlers lead the race for the first few hours of the race. The large, fast multi-hulls are now well ahead of the pack, battling it out for the $10,000 and the steak knives.

Images captured with a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and GFX 50S, fronted with appropriate lenses.