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  Of steak knives and foiling cats—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond
 | | Race to Alaska Race to Alaska |
June is always an exciting time in the sailing world's busy calendar, but when one stirs in the 35th America's Cup, which is currently unfurling on the island nation of Bermuda, an already harried month can feel downright hectic. Still, compared with the alternative (read: January in North America), busy is great, especially when the activity du jour involves sailing, adventure and wide-open water.
If this sounds like a wind-up to ACC boats foiling across Bermuda's Great Sound, we'll get there. But first, a trip to Alaska.
For those not familiar, the Race to Alaska (R2AK) began as the brainchild of Jake Beattie, the executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center (one of the R2AK's main sponsors); Daniel Evans, the R2AK's race boss, and some friends during the 2014 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival when someone had the bold idea to race small, engineless, self-supported boats to Ketchikan, Alaska, by way of Victoria, British Columbia and the inside passage that separates Vancouver Island from mainland British Columbia.
 | | Jake Beattie, Race to Alaska Race to Alaska |
Teams can use shoreside assistance, so long as it's a publically available resource that all teams can access (read: not a team van), and there's nothing requiring the use of sails (read: oars or peddle drives are A-OK). The rules were simple-run what ya brung-and the first team to Ketchikan would claim a $10,000 cash purse, while the runner-up would receive a lovely set of steak knives.
For everyone else, there are Kodiak moments.
 | | 2016 Race to Alaska Race to Alaska |
This year's R2AK began on Thursday, June 8, and brought a fleet of 64 boats from Port Townsend to Victoria, with some of the fleet just participating in the first leg and some 32 boats pressing on to Ketchikan. The winds out of Port Townsend at the start proved considerably lighter in 2017 than during the race's inaugural run, but strong winds kicked up a few hours later, presenting teams with big waves and potential second thoughts about pressing on to Alaska.
While these conditions likely created some real hardships, this first leg was simply a qualifier (however it certainly sounded like it did its job as a shakedown leg), with the real push from Victoria to Ketchikan beginning on Sunday, June 11.
 | | 2016 Race to Alaska Race to Alaska |
As of this writing, teams are experiencing 15-20 knots of breeze from the north as they battle their way up the Johnstone Straits, with Team Pure and Wild/Freeburd and Pear Shaped Racing currently leading the charge, followed by Bad Kitty. Traditional R2AK wisdom holds that the first team to make it through Seymour Narrows, a spot where the current can run 15-16 knots (and where even whales are forced to wait for slack waters), will claim the $10K, and it will certainly be interesting to see if history repeats itself for a third time in 2017. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, on Bermuda, the action has been fast and furious in the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoffs Final, with Land Rover BAR and SoftBank Team Japan now eliminated (however Land Rover BAR has already committed to funding Sir Ben's challenge for the 36th America's Cup, which could take place as early as 2019), leaving just the battle between Artemis Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand to determine which team will meet Oracle Team USA in the actual America's Cup Match (June 17-27).
 | Emirates Team New Zealand sailing on Bermuda's Great Sound in the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Challenger Playoffs Finals
Richard Hodder/Emirates Team New Zealand |
As of this writing, the Kiwi-flagged team commands a scoreboard lead of 4-2 over Artemis Racing in a first-to-five contest that will be decided on the waters of Bermuda's Great Sound today (Monday, June 12).
So, while there are plenty of great races to divide one's sailing-related bandwidth this month (and that's to say northing of the ongoing Marion to Bermuda Race!), it's fair to say that the America's Cup and the R2AK are about as polar opposite as two races that both involve fast multi-hull sailboats can be. That said, while there's zero question that the Cup has the fastest, most sci-fi boats afloat, there's also zero question that the R2AK wins the prize for offering the far bigger adventure quotient.
 | | 35th America's Cup Ricardo Pinto |
After all, the water is warm in Bermuda, the shoreside amenities are sumptuous, and the odds of encountering a grizzly bear on the beach are zero.
May the four winds blow you safely home,
David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor
A QandA with Andrew Howe about winning the 2015 Marion to Bermuda Race
David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor, 
In 2015, skipper Greg Marston and the crew of Ti, a 1967 Alden Mistral, racing under celestial rules, were the overall winners of the Marion Bermuda Race Founders Division, beating boats that were enjoying GPS accuracy. On the eve of the 2017 edition of the race, I reached out to Andrew Howe, the team's co-navigator, to gain perspective on this impressive win and hear about his 2017 plans.... [more]
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