CRUISE YOUR BOAT TO ALASKA???

10 January 2010

See IPBA Updates below!

Have you ever wanted to cruise your own boat to Alaska? Have you given up on that dream or do you have distant thoughts about still making that cruise but hesitate to do so because of imagined fears of the unknown? Would making that trip seem much more palatable if you could travel with other boats, as opposed to having to venture north on your own the very first time? If this strikes a friendly chord, please read on.

On May 26 of this year, a group of boats (limit of 22) will depart from Olympia for a cruise to the northern destination of Juneau, Alaska, arriving there by July 4th. Stops along the route will include a variety of quaint resorts, secluded anchorages and the major cities of Nanaimo, Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka and Juneau. During this cruise, you will experience the majestic scenery of the Inside Passage including whales, orcas, bears, eagles and much more. Group activities have been planned, as well, consisting of catered dinners and barbeques.

The purpose of this cruise is the Alaska 1000 Navigation Contest which is now run every fifth year. Wait!!!! Don't stop reading yet. This contest is quite relaxed and nothing as intense as the contests we're tuned into around here. There are actually two contests involved with the first occurring within the run from Nanaimo to Prince Rupert B.C. and the second within the run from Prince Rupert to Juneau. Each contest is based on seven legs within a 2-1/2 week span. While our daily travel distances will average 40-50 miles, the contest distances will be only a small portion in each of those seven day total travel distances. These contest legs are all laid out along the normal route you would take if you were cruising north independently and are without any of the complexities we experience in our local contests. And all the help you could ever want to make your predictions will be readily available.

Making your first extended cruise north cannot be any more comforting than going with a crowd of cruisers who have been there before. Registration deadline is March 1. Itinerary and registration information is available on the International Power Boat association website at www.ipbalogracing.org . Give me a call or shoot me an email for more info. Thanks for reading.

P/C Mike Henry
IPBA Rep


 

2010

ALASKA 1000

Presented By

IPBA



Archives

  • Alaska Contest
    The Alaska contest is a special event involving a competitive cruise from US waters to Juneau, Alaska. This historic contest was first run in 1928 as the Capital-to-Capital International Cruiser Race from Olympia, Washington, to Juneau, Alaska. The race is generally run every other year. [Source: IPBA]

  • Final Call for Alaska 1000 [Cruiser Log: North American Cruiser Association: February 2005]

    Final Call for Alaska 1000

  • Historic boat race to Alaska fights to stay afloat: Competition sending 6 skippers out to sea Seattle Times, 30 May, 2005 By Jack Broom It wouldn't be just a good race, or even a grand race. It would be, said Pacific Motor Boat magazine, "easily the greatest motor-boat racing event in all boatdom."

    And why not? When 10 pleasure-boat skippers motored 1,000 miles from Olympia to Juneau, Alaska, in 1928, they braved currents, tides, winds and a largely unsettled frontier to inaugurate the "Capital to Capital" derby, the longest motor-boat contest ever run on the American continent.

    Tomorrow morning, six skippers will continue the tradition, pointing their bows toward Juneau in the first running of the contest since 1999...."

  • CYA Vessels at Edmonds Waterfront Festival 2008 [pdf] WINIFRED - 47' - owned by Greg Gilbert - Winifred, a stock cruiser, sold for $7,125.00 new in 1926-the first year Lake Union Drydock introduced their "Lake Union Dreamboat". She was built for Adolph and Winifred Schmidt of Olympia. In 1928 Mr. Schmidt organized a predicted log race from Olympia to Juneau, Alaska. Winifred had a famous passenger on board for the race: Charles F. Chapman, then editor of Motor Boating Magazine and author of the boater’s bible: "Chapman’s Seamanship and Small Boat Handling". Winifred came in first in the 40-ft and larger class, with a margin of error of only 28-minutes for the entire 980-mile trip...

  • Adolph D. "Skip" Schmidt - Capital to Capital Race, 1928: MS 244 [Alaska State Library Historical Collections] HISTORICAL NOTE
    The famed "Capital to Capital" cruising yacht race was the longest power boat race that had ever been staged and started at 12:30PM, June 26, 1928. The originators of the inaugural race were two Olympia, Washington Yachtsmen, Adolph Schmidt and John Pierce. The race ran from Olympia, Washington to Juneau, Alaska, through the Inside Passage. It was 1000 miles long and there were 10 entries. The boats were limited from 25-65 feet in length. The race was run by handicap rules. The "Dolphin II" was the first boat across the finish line and had the honor of giving a written greeting from Washington State's governor, Roland Hartley to the governor of Alaska, Governor Parks. The "Dell" from the smaller boat division was declared the winner in that division and the overall winner being the boat closest to her handicap time.

    SCOPE AND CONTENTS NOTE
    The items of this collection document the role of Adolph D. Schmidt in the 1928 Capital to Capital Yacht Race. Items include a notebook of correspondence of the Capital to Capital Yacht Race, 1928, Photos (10) and negatives, copies of letters and articles, a scan of a Sydney Laurence painting of the Winifred (a boat), letters from the Mayor of Olympia and the Governor of Washington, and a blueprint of the Gastineau Channel (the downtown Juneau area). Correspondence includes an autographic letter from Washington Governor Hartley.

  • Argosy 65' 1925, E.E. Johnson, builder (Tacoma, WA), J. Murray Watts, designer (Phila. PA) Argosy was commissioned by a prominent Tacoma doctor and used for regular trips to Alaska, including the first Capitol to Capitol Predicted Log Race (Olympia to Juneau) in 1928. In 1933 the Doctor was killed and the vessel sunk following an explosion of her gasoline tanks, while moored at the Tacoma Yacht Club.

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Last Update: January 2010 (gk)