The 'best worst idea.' Race to Alaska for engineless boats returns after pandemic hiatus

A Northwest adventure race that some call "the best worst idea" has returned after a long, pandemic hiatus. The 2022 running of the Race to Alaska for engineless boats cast off at the first light of dawn Monday amid high winds in the Strait of Juan de Fuca that the organizers characterized as “between seasick and dangerous.”

The race stretches 750 miles from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska. The first leg, dubbed "The Proving Ground," covers the 40 miles to Victoria, British Columbia. The name was apt this year as the rough weather quickly caused three small boats to capsize and dismasted a fourth. All crew members were safely rescued.

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a helicopter from Air Station Port Angeles to hoist two men who were flung into the choppy water from their overturned 14-foot C-Lark sailboat. Two other solo skippers whose small trimarans capsized were pulled from the hypothermia-inducing seas by a Coast Guard boat crew in one case and in the other case by a civilian vessel.