Please select your home edition
Edition
North Sails Loft 57 Podcast

Six minutes from cash to cutlery—Sailing in North America & beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 19 Jun 2017
Team Pure and Wild/Freeburd in the 2017 Race to Alaska Pure and Wild / Freeburd
While the America’s Cup is offering viewers an amazing look at what happens when the world’s best sailors, designers and engineers conspire to create the world’s fastest multi-hulls, there’s something downright predictable about two teams meeting each other on flat waters and with enforced wind ranges. Of course, this makes sense in the context of the America’s Cup, where boats are fragile and all extra weight is stripped from the vessel in the design phase, but to remove a lot of the question marks that make sailing an adventure also removes some of the event’s magnetism. Place it in Bermuda, with its sky-high, exclusive pricing, then place it on hydrofoils that are driven by high-dollar airplane wings, and the event quickly becomes something that makes for a hell of a spectacle, but that is also well outside of the mainstream spectrum. Don’t be too surprised when eyes start glazing over.

Anyone who has read this newsletter for a while knows that I am a huge fan of the Race to Alaska (R2AK), a high-adventure, run-what-ya-brung affair that starts each year in Port Townsend, Washington, and crosses the Strait of Juan de Fuca (or, as it’s known locally on many of its rough-hewn days, the “Straight of Iwanna Puka”) to the charming city of Victoria, British Columbia, a distance of 40 nautical miles that serves as a qualifier leg to ensure that the brave-hearted are not in fact the foolhardy.

From Victoria, and following a two-day rest to repair boats and confidence levels (Victoria is home to many great pubs), the R2AK then punches 710 bold miles north to Ketchikan, Alaska, where the first boat in rings a bell and collects a $10,000 cash purse.



Sound easy? Be sure to factor-in the Johnstone Strait, where the wind seems to always blow hard from the north during R2AK windows; Seymour Narrows, where the tide can run 15-16 knots (literally forcing whales to time their passages; this has historically been a significant gatekeeper in this race); Queen Charlotte Sound, where the waves can be huge, and the water temperature, which perpetually hovers around 48 degrees Fahrenheit, and which doesn’t do wonders to the body’s core temperature over long hauls.

Oh, and don’t forget-no engines are allowed. Period.

Instead, teams can row, peddle or sail, and they can stop ashore for repairs or sustenance, but they are only allowed to use publically available resources (read: the chandlery or the local watering hole, not a team van), and any time spent ashore is time that their competitors can be making pure VMG towards Ketchikan.

Grizzly bears frequently patrol British Columbia beaches, glaciated peaks stand sentinel in the sky, and all traces of civilization largely linger south of Campbell River (or, as the libation-loving locals call it, “Scrambled Liver”), meaning that in the R2AK, sailors are striking-out on a real adventure, outcome unknown, survival anticipated-but-unknown, with no wind limits, no umpire boats and certainly no television cameras nearby (although the R2AK does employ a tracking system and offers fantastic updates on their website).



True, the wind machine can shut off for lengthy spells (welcome to the Pacific Northwest!), making the R2AK a human-powered endeavor rather than a pure sailboat race, but accounting for the light, sticky stuff is an important part of the pre-race experience. Get it right, as the past three winners have done, and the race seems marginally sane; get this choice wrong, as I experienced in the R2AK’s 2015 inaugural race, and those 40 miles from Port Townsend to Victoria can feel downright nautical, especially as you’re bailing like mad to keep your boat afloat.

While each edition of the R2AK has been unique, 2017 was one for the record books. Not only did the fleet experience near-biblical winds on the qualifier leg, but multiple boats made it through Seymour Narrows at the first reasonable tide window (rather than years past, when only one boat made it through and then enjoyed a private ride to Ketchikan), making the entire northern section of the course a serious fight. This culminated in two boats-Team Pure and Wild/Freeburd, an eight-meter customized trimaran sailed by the brothers Burd (Chris, Trevor and Tripp) from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and Team Big Broderna, from Anacortes, Washington, which included the brothers Strandberg (Nels and Lars), as well as Sean Huston and Marshall Lebron, aboard a Corsair F-31R-finishing within six minutes of each other.



After 710 miles of British Columbian and Alaskan coastlines, countless deadhead logs, likely a few bear and whale sightings, no wind limits (but plenty of air!) and full dry suites (mandatory).

(Full editorial disclosure, I’m proud to call the brothers Burd friends, so it’s possible that I was glued to the R2AK’s website for days, hitting refresh and-towards the end- praying that the wind machine would shut down and turn the race from a waterline contest to one that was determined by peddle and oar strokes, as there was simply no way that Team Big Broderna-with all due respect to a fantastic bunch of competitors-were going to touch the fitness level that the brothers Burd brought to the fight…and I speak from personal, ego-humbling experience here, as Chris Burd is a frequent hiking partner of mine, and one who has hiked me into the ground on many an occasion on Washington State’s glaciers and trails.)



In all, Team Pure and Wild/Freeburd covered 710 miles in four days, three hours and five minutes, slower than Team MAD Dog Racing’s 2016 record-setting time of three days, 20 hours and 13 minutes, but six critical minutes faster than I>Team Big Broderna, who is now the proud owner of a set of R2AK steak knives (no kidding) for their troubles.

“We finished in half the time as year one with twice as much work,” reported Tripp Burd after claiming the purse money. (N.B., Chris and Tripp Burd sailed a 22-foot, “vintage” beach cat in 2015’s inaugural race and finished in fourth place after nine days, seven hours and 24 minutes.)



As for Bermuda, yes, there’s an America’s Cup on, and the racing has been fantastic, with Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) claiming the first two wins on Saturday, followed by another two back-to-back wins on Sunday, bringing the scoreboard to read three points ETNZ, zero point Oracle Team USA (yes, you read that right). Racing now pauses until Saturday, June 24, giving Oracle Team USA time to make their boat faster (we’ve seen this before, but there’s no denying that the Kiwis look fast this year).

While it will be fascinating to see if Oracle can conjure the same juggernaut magic that propelled them to one of the biggest comebacks in sports history during the 34th America’s Cup (2013), I personally will be spending these days between racing hitting refresh on the R2AK’s website, as there are plenty of great teams out there, and plenty of adrenaline left to vicariously enjoy.

May the four winds blow you safely home,

Cyclops Marine 2023 November - FOOTERBarton Marine Pipe GlandsV-DRY-X

Related Articles

GKSS Match Cup Sweden & Nordea Women's Trophy D1
Sunday's storm winds cleared to deliver ideal conditions for the opening race day Sunday's storm winds cleared to deliver ideal conditions for the opening race day of the 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women's Trophy, official championship stages of the World Match Racing Tour and Women's World Match Racing Tour.
Posted today at 4:33 am
World Sailing announces split venues for LA28
The boards will be at Long Beach, with the dinghy events at the Port World Sailing has said it welcomes the confirmation of sailing venues for the Olympic Games LA28 the boards will be at Long Beach, with the dinghy events at the Port.
Posted on 30 Jun
NYYC International Women's Championship update
The first group of invited skippers have been announced Elite-level international women's keelboat competition will return to Newport, R.I., in late summer of 2026 when the New York Yacht Club hosts the inaugural International Women's Championship.
Posted on 30 Jun
Luna shines bright in 2025 Morgan Cup Race
This was a truly international fleet with the majority of the teams from the UK and France The start of the Morgan Cup Race was a spectacular sight with over 100 boats beating to windward into the Western Solent for the fourth race of the Cowes Offshore Racing Series and the 11th race of the 2025 RORC Season's Points Championship.
Posted on 30 Jun
Freestyle Pro Tour Paros day 1
Kicking off with a nuclear single elim The opening day of the Freestyle Pro Tour (FPT) Paros kicked off exactly as forecasted - nuclear winds from morning till late afternoon, accompanied by nonstop freestyle action.
Posted on 30 Jun
New Zero Weight 2-in-1 Shorts from Henri-Lloyd
When the weather's hot, there's nothing better to keep you cool on or off the water When the weather's hot, there's nothing better than Henri-Lloyd's Zero Weight 2-in-1 shorts to keep you cool on or off the water.
Posted on 30 Jun
2025 Tiedemann Regatta
Experience shines alongside the brightwork at the Nw York Yacht Club A century ago, R Class yachts were the sports cars of the yachting world, sleek and low to the ground, nimble in the corners and quick around the course, and, above all, demanding to drive.
Posted on 30 Jun
Bronze breakthrough for Liddell and Brown
Nacra 17 duo claim their first international podium at Kieler Woche Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown have claimed their first international podium in the Nacra 17 class, securing bronze at Kieler Woche, the third Sailing Grand Slam event of the season.
Posted on 30 Jun
Foiling Week Malcesine 2025 concludes
Champions crowned and records set during the twelfth edition The twelfth edition of Foiling Week came to an end today in Malcesine with the awarding of the first BirdyFish World Championship title, showing the largest fleet ever for the occasion.
Posted on 29 Jun
Team Malizia starts Course Des Caps
Challenging race around the British Isles Team Malizia set sail today from Boulogne-sur-Mer, kicking off the inaugural Course des Caps race in light winds and challenging conditions with a solid start.
Posted on 29 Jun