Race to Alaska 2026

• Race to Alaska official website
• Race to Alaska official daily updates
• Official R2AK Race Tracker
• R2AK Facebook page (some great videos)
• LCRK Flickr - album of all the maps and photos below, and some video

Race to Alaska is a 750-mile boat race from Washington to Alaska - starting at 5am June 14 2026

First place gets $10,000 cash. Second place gets a set of steak knives. Everyone else gets to find out what they’re made of. Any vessel that’s human-or-wind-powered can enter. The only way to win is to cross open water, navigate through tidal rapids, hug a coastline carved by glaciers, and keep going until you reach Ketchikan.

LCRK's Esther Wheeler (recently exported to Canada) is undertaking this adventure in a single kayak. We will be tracking her progress below including relaying her (short) daily updates and progress maps. (newest posts will appear up the top, Esther's timezone is 17 hours behind Sydney time - so most of the posts are 'yesterday' Sydney time!)

The Hecate Solo Star Award

The official prizes for the Race to Alaska are $10,000 for 1st, and a set of steak knives for 2nd, and that’s it. However there are a number of ‘side bets’ to recognize different achievements. Team Oracle have for 2026 introduced an award for which Esther is eligible with their explanation quoted below:

For 2026, Team Oaracle have introduced the Hecate Solo Star Award, a one-time award to recognize the first woman (ever) to successfully complete the Race to Alaska solo.

Since its inception, the Race To Alaska has become renowned for its demanding route, unpredictable conditions, and uncompromising spirit of adventure. Covering more than 700 miles from Port Townsend, Washington along the rugged British Columbia coast to Ketchikan, Alaska, competitors face powerful currents, cold water, open crossings, fatigue, challenging weather, and isolation — all without engines or outside support. No woman has yet finished the race alone. The Hecate Solo Star Award has been created to recognize this bold achievement.

The award is named for Hecate, an ancient Greek goddess associated with navigation, crossroads and the night sea; known as a "liminal" deity, she acts as a guardian of boundaries and a protector against negative spirits.

The winner gets a cash purse ($2000 or more) and a star named in their honour!

Right up until the last 24hrs there were still 2 eligible paddlers for this award - Esther was one, and the other was Lillian (Signed up to Suffer). An earlier start from Esther on the final push gave her enough of a gap to come in ahead of Lillian. Regardless, congrats to BOTH - Esther as first female paddler (ever) and Lillian as first female rower (ever!)

Stage 2

Day 22 Wed 8 Jul 2026

A quick reminder for those reading in Australia. Esther's timezone has been 17 hours (PDT) behind Sydney and Ketchikan (AKDT) is 18hrs behind .
- So her 4am PDT Wed start time on the tracker for Esther = 9pm Wed in Sydney
- the 12:12pm Thu AKDT finish corresponded to 6:12am Fri 10 July in Sydney...

Esther has had an early start - 4am PDT tracker time (which is 3am Ketchikan time). Reasonable to expect that Esther, Lillian, Eric and Nate will all finish today with ~30nm (~55km) to cover, although tides and wind will no doubt play a part.

And at 12:12pm Alaska time, Esther paddled into Ketchikan and FINISHED! The R2AK livestream of the landing is here (on Facebook) with arrival from 4:40. A couple of finish photos below courtesy of R2AK organisers.

NOTE: Esther will be providing a bit of a wrap-up commentary shortly. She had a once-a-week ferry to catch today (part of the reason for the early start!), and also has some much needed sleep to catch up on.

Day 21 Tue 7 Jul 2026

A good read from todays Race Boss report here which summarises where we're at at the start of today.

From Esther 2pm: OK. Wind further out is W so wind v tide but should be OK. I’m crossing (Dundas to mainland) today. Leaving in about 30 mins – guessing about 3hrs as tide will push me E a bit.

From Esther 8pm: Crossing was fine. Much more challenging now. Going to try another 12km to Foggy Cove and camp there. Current is fast! Yikes… wind is up.

From Esther 10pm: Saw 3 orcas today just swim by. Crazy squalls - so camping, in dry suit, in tent!

Day 20 Mon 6 Jul 2026

The weather forecast for Dixon Strait this morning was "Winds SE 30-40 knots diminishing to S 20 to 30 late this evening" - despite which Esther and Erik were on the water at 6am scurrying through some 26nm to more sheltered (relatively!) waters to Prince Rupert.

From Esther 1:30pm: Stopped at a Coastguard station to charge up electronics and buy a new VHF. This weather ... effing gale and rain. It has been behind us but no way to cross to that island today.

From Esther 1:30pm: Friends of Yota found us. I am having spaghetti and then leaving. Eric is staying overnight then ging

From Esther 6pm: Heading out. Been well looked after. Now rain, cold and wet. 2hr-ish paddle to camp

From Esther 9:30pm: Made it faster than 2hr due to tidal flow. Wind up a fair bit.

When human behaviour gets in the way of doing the right thing: I needed to go to the bathroom urgently on landing, but rain was torrential and I did not want to get my dry clothes wet, as I do having to take drysuit off for those activities! Unfortunately when I finally gave in, drysuit was still on. My human side tried to take it off fast enough. Failed. So now trousers and both warm tops wet. If I’d just focussed on the necessary I’d only have wet leggings. Seems inconsequential in some ways but say I had longer left to go and not enough warm or dry clothes to paddle or sleep in. That’s serious out here. Don’t worry about me, I do have another set of mostly dry clothes and my heavy thermal is dry. But it was a stupid human mistake. One of many I’ve made this trip!

From Esther 10pm: Going to sleep now. Wind due to lighten at 6am so lie in till 4am (almost 6hrs sleep) hope to then make the crossing north west but no hope of Wed ferry. Also hoping taking 2 hrs extra sleep pays off.

Day 19 Sun 5 Jul 2026

So after maybe 5 hours sleep - Esther and Eric were up and on the water by 4am - early bird catches the tide... To put their efforts into perspective - race cut-off is midday Thu 9 July local time when the 'Grim Sweeper' arrives at Ketchikan. Get caught by the Grim Sweeper before that and you're out of the race. The Grim Sweeper covers roughly 75nm a day and left race start on 29 June - it doesn't have a tracker. Esther and Eric are looking to FINISH!

From Esther 3:30am: ''Slept better. Still could be cosier in a bed! Muscles may or may not be relaxed… will find out soon. Up before dawn chasing after the tide. Very long day coming up to get us out of this channel and into the islands north. Ketchikan by Wed is our aim but weather dependent at Dixon Entrance’’

From Esther 1:30pm: Lucky to sleep. I’m exhausted and we are paddling too slow due to current. We are too slow to make the 85km we need today. Having a short nap now before continuing.

From Esther 10pm: Gale warning and then high winds. And exposed coastlines. Plus me running out of battery pack power to charge. 1. Have to stay together. 2. Don’t think Ketchikan may even be possible now. I could just burst into tears…

Day 18 Sat 4 Jul 2026

An 8am start after a very late finish last night. Forecast is for SW winds 15-20 knots veering to W 5-15 knots near noon. Rain in the morning ending this evening.

From Esther 10:30pm: Good day. Some hard weather and low moments. Back hurts like crazy but going okay. Stopped earlier and tried to dry out stuff. Very early tomorrow as channel has tides going both ways and we want them in our favour. No otters today as much steeper terrain and less kelp.

Last nights camp at Butedale on a soaking wet dock. Landing in the dark, thought I couldn’t get wetter but then I did.

Day 17 Fri 3 Jul 2026

6am on the water this morning constituted a lie in! And then paddling all the way through to 11pm! So that's another 17hr paddling day - 3rd one in a row and with ~86km paddled (40nm crow flies)! Paddle, Eat, Sleep, Repeat.

(Esther's tracker was 'stuck' on 1415PDT for some hours. R2AK race control says "no worries, folks. her tracker died, but she's with Apple BB. We'll do some manual updates to her position until she's able to recharge."). [Not sure when/how she's able to recharge - maybe follow Erik's Apple BB track?]

From Esther 10am: We are having a super slow morning. Saw humpbacks feeding but speed is terrible.

From Esther 7pm: Heading to Butedale to camp. 4hrs away. So around 11pm our time. Has docks so hopefully easy to land etc.

From Esther 11:45pm: Day of seeing a humpback feeding 50m away, to rain, to currents we couldn’t find to help us, to miles and miles (50+) 90ish kilometres in far too many hours.

I’m getting very cold. It hasn’t stopped raining since Namu. I am sleeping tonight on a swaying dock. My legs hurt and don’t work any more they just lie flat in the boat, and no use in rotation. My upper back is taking the load and hurts. My hands are good, no sunburn due to rain! We are taking too long getting the distance covered on no sleep. In sleeping bag with down jacket on. Ridiculous how cold I get. Had some very grumpy moments today. Hurts a bit but then need the miles in case of bad weather later. Hopefully 5hrs sleep tonight!

Day 16 Thu 2 Jul 2026

Another early start (<5am) with a solid 61 nautical miles (112km) over another 16 hours on the water. Maxing out advantage of the south-ish wind and staying ahead of the Grim Sweeper (which arrives at finish on 9 July) .

From Esther 4:30am: ''Off again. Hope to find food I like or can eat in Shearwater. Don’t feel great’’

From Esther 3pm: ''We got great current. Ha ha. I ate! 1455 my time. Beer sausage and cheese sticks… OMG’’

From Esther 11:30pm: Good day mostly. Except when we made wrong decision and had to fight cross wind with a southerly pushing onto a windward shore. Rocked out of channels! Coastguard visited and gave us an apple and cookies – just past Bella Bella. Yay!

Gorgeous channels too, big and small. Sunshine, rain and fog. It is cold here. I am mostly cold. Saw Orca fins at a distance. Yesterday saw humpbacks, one blew about 5m from me made me jump a heap. They just cruise on by.

Slight lie in tomorrow. Then a day or so of crazy! Eating better but should have bought more stuff in Bella Bella. Oh well, incentive to finish faster. These long days do hurt a bit. And with over an hour from landing to bed, hardly any time for self care as prioritising eating and sleeping.

Day 15 Wed 1 Jul 2026

And the departure from their enforced layover went as planned - off and running at first light. The following team of three paddlers Alex, Lillian and Nate also set off - about 15 mins after Esther and Eric. A BIIIG day with 17 hours of paddling and 50 nautical miles (nearly 100km) covered. More big days expected to get to the finish before 9th July (ie before the Grim Sweeper!). Esther keen to catch up on time/distance lost due to the weather.

From Esther 1pm: Morning swell was small and not much wind. Trucked without Eric as I made more speed. Tiring paddling after too many days off!

From Esther 10pm: Exhausted. Back very sore. Food urgh as too much sugar and feel terrible. Campsite and sleep not too far away I think. Hopefully a store at our next stop. Or do a double helping from restaurant. Raining a bit now but not too windy

Day 14 Tue 30 June 2026

From Esther 11:30am: Morning report from Tues. Sleeping in till 10! 12hrs in bed is fab. Even used my Kindle last night. Eric and I have been sharing it. Saw bear prints on the beach yesterday. We carry our airhorns and bear spray all the time. Probably feeding at low tide in the rocks. Sea state is a bit calmer this morning but still rougher than when we arrived. We have a loon visiting the cove now. Drizzle is expected but all our gear is now dry. Chillier today so thermals on.

From Esther 8pm: Tomorrow looks better. Wind and swell down. Will still be choppy as we are close to shore. 8 miles to a headland that should have much lower swell. Meaning Eric might be able to stand (on his SUP) and we can go faster. We are both a bit apprehensive and excited to get going. Tomorrow we are heading off around 4:30am at first light. Wind and swell are dropping. First few hours probably still an effort against current flow but early morning winds are lighter. If it all pans out, aiming for Namu to camp as current will be with us from 8:50am

Day 13 Mon 29 June 2026

Still stuck at Indian Cove for 3rd night - due to weather.

From Esther 2pm: we might be able to go out Wednesday morning (or midday) if the weather forecast holds. Make the 8 miles to Jones Cove. Then across and up to Cranstown Point.

From Esther 4pm: Wind is dropping tomorrow afternoon but sea state still likely to be high. I think we have a good chance of leaving Wed morning. Get to Cranstown Point. Then try to get as close to Bella Bella and Shearwater as we can on Thurs when winds change in our favour

From Esther 7pm: Still on beach. Wrote diary. Sat about. Mosied up and down the beach. Watched the sea. Didn't feel like eating much but making myself bit by bit. Slept badly with backache so taking a painkiller tonight. Didn't wash my hair... too many decisions for that! Saw 2 deer. Otters still playing. Eagles still soaring. Talking about how on earth to get to Ketchikan before race cutoff. Also Rocky (the rock) has a partner, Sticky. For rolling my legs. Not that I am doing much. Trying to conserve energy for the next week of sprinting. How many LCRK TT's do I need to do each day - 6 or 7?

Day 12 Sun 28 June 2026

From Esther 11am: Woke up at 5am just to check weather and sea state in case! No go. Back to bed till 11ish. Slept so well. Found little rock like Heidi suggested for my back… awesome rolling on that for pressure points. Porridge for brekkie and tea (kind folks gave me extras!).

Going to call Egg Island on VHF to get sea state and wind report. We think it looks calmer out but probably delusional. We have a great fresh water creek in this bay as well.

I’m expecting at least another day here and am mentally preparing for 8-9 days for 14hrs paddling at least after that. So some re-organising of boat is happening, different stuff in new bags based on sleeping less, eating more, paddling more at night when it may be calmer water.

From Esther 8pm: Have had a good day. Explored nearby beach. Beach meandering. Watching rookpools and eagles. Dried out all clothes. Had a wash in fresh stream. Charging devices although surprised trackers need charging so frequently. Good stretch session. Eric has an environment background so knows tracks and plants and this type of coastline quite well. Hard to figure out eating as all the high sugar snacks for paddling are unpalatable while sitting on land. Sun out all afternoon. Idyllic if not for the looming challenge of 9th July race finish. Waves and wind have produced higher swell today as well. And likely until Tues. But lucked out with this beach to stay at.

Day 11 Sat 27 June 2026

An early morning indeed - on the water by 5:10am ready for slack tide and hopefully a rounding of Cape Caution and up into more sheltered waters. It wasn't to be though...

From Esther 8am: Conditions are quite large and we aren’t making enough speed so had to call it.

From Esther 1pm: Right, Sat just before 1pm. Waves, winds and lots of weather have Eric and I beach bound. Race wise we might not be able to leave till Monday. Making that cut-off a hard challenge indeed. Nice to be with Eric. Good calm presence and we help each other. Beach is lovely. We were welcome by sea otters playing in kelp. After coming through a narrow gap between rocks of very challenging water. It’s been an interesting paddle. We made good decisions today for sure.

From Esther 7pm: We've had a very good beach day. Dried everything. Talked, watched sea otters. Sun Came out. Need to do some stretching and eat dinner. Highly unlikely we can paddle tomorrow as supposed to be windier! Have to see reality when we wake up.

From Google: Cape Caution is a prominent and often treacherous headland on British Columbia's rugged central coast. It marks the boundary where Queen Charlotte Strait meets the open Pacific Ocean. For mariners navigating the Inside Passage, rounding this 40-nautical-mile stretch is a major milestone

Day 10 Fri 26 June 2026

Mission accomplished - made it to the staging point to get around Cape Caution at slack tide early Saturday morning. Paddling with Apple Bottom Boy (Eric on the Sup). A group of 3 trailing by ~8nm Alex, Nate and Lillian - wouldn't be suprised if all 5 have a crack at Cape Caution tomorrow.

From Google: Cape Caution is a prominent and often treacherous headland on British Columbia's rugged central coast. It marks the boundary where Queen Charlotte Strait meets the open Pacific Ocean. For mariners navigating the Inside Passage, rounding this 40-nautical-mile stretch is a major milestone

From Esther 8pm: Long, cold, tiring day. Early tomorrow to make tide around Cape Caution.

Day 9 Thu 25 June 2026

A big day today with 44 nautical miles (=81 km covered) - crow flies. And finally out of the Johnstone Strait, with new challenges ahead.

From Esther 1pm: I am heading to Polkinghorne islands or somewhere on the mainland nearby. Dead flat right now and a bit of rain.

From Esther 4pm: Arrived and camping here. Early night although raining. Polkinghorne is not advised for camping I have discovered. Boulder strewn beaches. Staying here anyhow. But can't get up till daylight cos of the beach. Plan is a longish day tomorrow if possible. Get to Burnett Bay ~66km. I think tides and wind might be OK for going around Cape Caution Saturday morning - tbc!

Day 8 Wed 24 June 2026

From Esther 3pm: And for those worrying!! I have turned up this channel to get out of the crazy wind. Current behind me and easier paddling. 10 miles longer maybe. Boogie Barge did it as well.

From Esther 7:30pm: I made it to a marina... they gave me dinner, an inside place to sleep, a shower. Someone from a yacht made me second dinner, gave me soap etc for showers. I might sleep in slightly and recover. Todays wind paddle hurt a bit. And I find paddling in a dry suit a bit restrictive for my technique

Day 7 Tue 23 June 2026

A tricky day with a gale warning in the area and the NW winds making for heavy going - particularly with the outgoing (favourable) tidal current.

From Esther 5:30pm: We were aiming for Port Neville but have stopped now. It got too windy and wind over current (= steep waves). So we are on a lovely beach for the night. Have a short crossing tomorrow we might do at 4am and have brekkie later!

Neck is a bit chafed. I am a bit sunburnt (not too much). Few blisters starting to appear so will probably wrap some tomorrow. It is really hot on shore and out of the wind. Much too hot for my thermals and -10C sleeping bag. Sleeping on beach tonight amongst great piles of washed up and bleached logs. Had a dip… water is much colder up here I’m probably not eating enough. I named my kayak Squeezy (the fit). It is not so Squeezy now.

End of week 1 and I am a day behind where I want to be. Need to crack out some 60km days if weather allows.

Day 6 Mon 22 June 2026

Another long paddling day today - successful having caught the slack tide. Campsite is an unnamed bay to the north of Walkem Islands photo below from Google Streetview! Esther is now relying on Inreach for comms now being well out of mobile/wifi range.

From Esther 7pm: Not really sleeping well enough most nights. Had to rush this morning to get slack tide at Seymour. Jim, on shore at Copper Bluffs, offered me a cuppa. I didn't dare cos of time. But have an invite back! Teamed up with Alex again (The Bristol Bear). Rode tide all the way. Still long days and need to get to 12hr paddling and 4am starts!

Day 5 Sun 21 June 2026

An early start this morning - setting off at ~6:10am destination Campbell River. Making good progress ~9 hours later and within ~15km of Campbell River. Shaping up to be a 12hr paddling day with ~72km paddled. And keeping it in perspective progress to date is around 1/3 race distance...

From Esther 9pm: Hot today. Also long. Needed to get to Campbell River to stage for seymour narrows tomorrow. Need to get through at slack tide, less current. Then current picks up behind us

Paddled on my own today. Hard to push through the heat but managed it.

Now calling headlands by names relating to how much i need the bathroom. As that impacts route choices etc

Sunburnt despite zinc. Chapped lips. Only 1 or 2 emerging blisters.

Got given pizza by Team Jackalope... sailing boats crazy impressed i'm here.

Sleeping on a dock. Oddly cosy. Most folks here know about the race and are welcoming

Day 4 Sat 20 June 2026

Better progress today by the looks - bit of a tailwind and now out in the Strait of Georgia. 4 boats all in at Ford's Cove for overnighting.

From Esther 11:30pm: Long and quite tiring day. Another long day tomorrow aiming for Campbell River. Got to be up a bit earlier!!! 1 seal sighted. Now bed.

Day 3 Fri 19 June 2026

Esther left Boat Harbour Marina around midday - no doubt timed to negotiate the tidal gate she mentioned yesterday. At 3:30pm she was 6nm progressed and within ~2nm of the two lead kayaks (who've been holed up on Victoria Island for ~24hrs)

From Esther 9pm: ''Inside Passage is only headwinds, no matter where we are!! 4hr paddle for only 15km. My kayak is very stable though.

From Esther 11:30pm: Headwinds again today. We had to wait for slack tide to get through Dodd Narrows. Several sailboats tried and couldn't get through with just their pedal drives. Had a burger at some dock pub. Was nice. Didn't feel like dessert... which is weird

Hopefully can push a bit more tomorrow but depends on wind and sea state. I am often faster than Alex in headwinds and lumpy seas. He's faster when its flat. We'll see though. Not too sore but haven't had any really long days yet. Need to average 50km a day at least so work to do!!

Campsite is the Pulpstone Quarry on Newcastle Island with all 4 kayaks now within 100m of each other! (Pulpstones are the large grinding stones used at paper mills to make pulp from wood). Still all pretty civilised - not into the wild country yet...

Day 2 Thu 18 June 2026

A tough day by the sounds of it against current and wind. 22 nautical miles progress for the day and safe at the Boat Harbour Marina (who don't usually get R2AK visitors apparently).

From Esther 10:45am: windy morning. Slept in... not ideal. Wind and tide against us. Plodding on to get through False or Dodd Narrows close to slack. Heaps of wind again tomorrow apparently.

10:45pm: Tomorrow forecast for 19kts gusting 35. And a tidal gate to get through. Might be a lie in. Bed time now.

Day 1 Wed 17 June 2026

Race start was midday their time (which is 5am Thu 18 June Sydney time). The first few hours saw the paddlecraft making good headway with a lack of wind impacting sailboats. However, once they reached more open waters they were able to stretch their legs.

Esther has made great progress for the day (as shown in the pop-up in the map below) and is camped at O'Reilly Beach.

Mon 15-Tue 16 June (lay days)

Stage 2 begins from Victoria BC midday (local time) on Wed 17 June. That'll be 5am Thur Sydney time.

From Esther: I will probably have signal the first few days and will try and send slightly more info!!! I am likely to paddle the first few days with Alex, The Bristol Bear solo rower from the UK. He is faster than me long term but first few days be nice to work on camping and logistics together.

It's also possible we'll paddle at night as the tide flooding in, goes north, and is around midnight onwards. The tide here isn't a regular 6hr-6hr switch. And as we have N and NW winds - headwinds predicted, paddling when we have more tide with us is a great idea. But means getting up midnight-2am and being on the water before 4am!

Stage 1 Sun 14 June 2026

The first task is 'Stage 1' a ~40 mile crossing to Victoria BC which must be completed in 36hrs to be eligible for 'Stage 2' the remaining 710 miles! The race started at 5am local time - with minimal wind at the start line giving early advantage to the paddlecraft. Esther clearly taking advantage of conditions and placing herself 4th outright in the first 5 minutes - and maintained that position through to the finish at Victoria BC around 11:30am local time!

Esther reports: Crushed it!! No wind really. Drafted a rower for a bit... worked effin' hard to avoid as much of the tide turn as I could. Sprint leg 1 done!
Link to tracker is up the top

Course Map