VIFF review: The Race to Alaska explores the continent’s hardest human-powered adventure
No motors, no support: this ocean voyage is no cruise
Photo by Liv von Oelreich.
Streams September 24 to October 7 as part of the Vancouver International Film Festival, via VIFF.org.
WHAT DO YOU get when you combine adrenaline and exhaustion with complex marine navigation, violent weather, and some of the most dangerous ocean currents in the world? The answer is the Race to Alaska, a 750-mile course from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan along the Inside Passage in a boat with no motor and without any support along the way.
A project of the Northwest Maritime Centre, it’s the longest human-powered race in North America. Zach Carver’s The Race to Alaska follows some of the characters who are skilled, brave, crazy, and stupid enough to enter, complete with footage that would strike fear in the heart of Captain James Cook.
Boats—some tiny, more like rafts—that have plied the Pacific waterways since the inaugural 2015 event have had sails, oars, paddles, and pedals as engines. Among the hazards along the way are freighters that could run you over, logs and rocks that could smash your hull, whirlpools 30 feet wide and 10 feet deep that can take you any which way except the direction your boat is pointing, and unpredictable winds that can snap a mast like a toothpick. Then there’s the risk of encountering grizzly bears on shore, getting hypothermia, and facing an icy death. The scenery is stunning, though.
First prize is $10,000; second is a set of steak knives. Last year, out of 45 teams, 25 finished.
After watching this bracing adventure film, B.C. Ferries never looked so good.
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