sailing Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

The ‘Best Worst Idea.’ Race To Alaska For Engineless Boats Returns After Pandemic Hiatus

By Tom Banse June 14, 2022

Race to Alaska entrants of many shapes and crew sizes were getting ready for the 750-mile engineless, unsupported boat race in Port Townsend on June 12, 2022.

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.”Read More

Sailing Around the World with BJ Rollison

By Murrow News - Derek Strom December 7, 2021

BJ Rollison loves sailing, and in the decades he’s spent on a boat, he’s been almost everywhere you can imagine. “She’s sailed the Atlantic, the eastern seaboard, the ICW, sailed […]Read More

Around The World By Boat: Pandemic, Fires, Smoke Can’t Change Plans For Northwest Couple

By Tom Banse October 2, 2020

Sarah Laidlaw and Rob Martin are sailing around the world on the 38-foot cruiser Mapache, seen here before departure at the Port of Ilwaco, Washington.

There is probably no better place to social distance than on a small boat in the ocean. But you do have to go into port occasionally, provided it's not closed. The risks and unknowns created by the ongoing pandemic have put off some people's plans to sail around the world right now. But not for one Northwest couple.Read More

Alaska Or Bust! Racers Set Out On Paddleboards, Canoes, Skifts From Port Townsend

By Tom Banse June 3, 2019

Supporters of Team Sail Like A Girl held a dockside blessing ceremony in Port Townsend Sunday for the defending champions before racing started Monday.

The starting horn echoed bright and early Monday morning across Port Townsend Bay to launch the fifth annual running of a madcap maritime marathon. The 750-mile Race to Alaska has been compared by its organizers to the Iditarod sled dog race, but with a chance of drowning or getting eaten by a bear.Read More

Adventurers Aplenty Line Up In Washington For Fourth Running Of Race to Alaska

By Tom Banse June 14, 2018

Racing craft filled the Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend on Wednesday, the eve of the fourth running of the Race to Alaska. CREDIT: TOM BANSE

The starting gun fires bright and early Thursday morning for the fourth annual running of the maritime Race to Alaska. The 750-mile adventure marathon has been compared to the Iditarod but with a chance of drowning, being run down by a freighter, or getting eaten by a grizzly bear.Read More