RACE TO ALASKA: Leader expected to reach Ketchikan late Monday night

Published 4:45 pm Monday, June 22, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — The question no longer appears who will win the Race to Alaska, it’s now, by how much? And who will finish second?

Northbound Nutters, a trimaran out of nearby Friday Harbor, continued to dominate the race with a huge lead over a small group of three boats roughly 70 to 80 miles behind.

At 3 p.m. Monday, Northbound Nutters was in Alaskan waters, about 25 miles outside of Ketchikan, is projected to reach the finish line at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. Northbound Nutters may win by as much as 36 hours.

Northbound Nutters is crewed by Nigel Oswald, Gavin Brackett, Michael Holt and Rob Woelfel. The boat is a Farrier F-32 Super Race Carbon trimaran with a 51-foot sail to produce additional speed.

The Race to Alaska is a non-motorized race between Port Townsend and Ketchikan. There are various types of sailboats, kayaks and rowboats powering their way up to Ketchikan. A total of 67 boats took off from Victoria, B.C. after surviving the first day. A total of 59 boats were still going Monday afternoon. Not a single human-powered boat has dropped out so far.

Nearly tied for second place in the Hecate Strait between Haida Gwaii and the British Columbia mainland are Wet Leg, a monohull out of Coupeville and Celerity, a Hobie 33 monohull out of Kelowna, B.C. These two boats have been battling for second much of the race with Celerity now officially in second place as Wet Leg took a route far to the west nearly halfway between the B.C. mainland and Haida Gwaii. Wet Leg is now having to backtrack and it cost the Coupeville boat second place.

Close behind just a couple of miles back and still in range of second place is Pas Si Vite, an Olson monohull out of Westport, Conn., which is sticking closer to the mainland than the two boats just in front. These three boats have a big lead on their closest pursuers.

The top human-powered boat was Boogie Barge, a pedal boat from Tacoma pedaled by Blake Hansen, which has just entered the open ocean north of Vancouver Island.

Let’s Wing it, a kayak from North Vancouver, B.C. paddled by Martin Rother, traded the kayaking lead with Rainy, another Canadian kayak paddled by Yota Kano of Prince Rupert. Let’s Wing It passed Rainy on Monday afternoon and at 3 p.m. held a 150-meter lead for the top kayaking spot.

Wherry (a type of rowboat) Lillian Signed up to Suffer, rowed by Lillian Kuehl of Port Angeles, the only local vessel in the race, is still going in the Johnstone Strait well north of Campbell River.

There was a bit of drama late Saturday with a boat needing to be rescued.

According to the Race To Alaska report:

“Later Saturday, Team Against Limits Sailing located a rock of the Nankivell Island chain while executing a lovely set of tracks on the north side of Queen Charlotte Strait. The resulting hole in the boat allowed the water, normally occupying space outside of the hull, to begin aggressively relocating itself inside. The mighty Canadian Coast Guard arrived on scene, and under tow the team made their way to Port Hardy. Special recognition goes to Team Vantucky, who heard the distress call, saw they were the closest vessel, and immediately turned around to render assistance.”

To track the boats live, go to https://cf.yb.tl/r2ak2026.