Draken, Kraken, and Nuts

Two NoMi sailors and their compatriots race from Washington to Alaska

By Geri Dietze | July 8, 2023

An intrepid crew of sailors, aka Unsalted Nuts, left Port Townsend, Washington, on June 5 to compete in the Race to Alaska (R2AK), a grueling, dangerous, 750-mile run up the inside passage from Washington through British Columbia and Alaska.

The route is a labyrinth of islands with the Pacific ocean’s power creating some of the world’s fastest currents. This race is not for the faint of heart…or for those seeking a comfortable berth, normal sleep, warm food, emergency services, or a motor. We could go on, but suffice it to say that R2AK is sometimes serious fun, and sometimes just straight-up serious.

The R2AK organization does not mince words: “It’s like the Iditarod, on a boat, with a chance of drowning, being run down by a freighter, or eaten by a grizzly bear.” First prize is $10,000. Second prize is a set of steak knives. Just finishing is priceless. (In 2023, 40 teams were accepted and 16 finished.)

Who Are These People?

Yes, they have a penchant for danger. They’re also tenacious, courageous, loyal, and funny. Most importantly, these people like and respect each other. They’ve shared close quarters around the world, agreed on tough decisions, and worked hard for their common goals. Heather Jankens explains, “We [do] our best to take care of each other.”

Landlubbers, meet your new role models.

Heather Jankens, Omena: Unsalted Nuts is the result of Jankens’ search for sailors who share her penchant for quirky—or irrational—sailing adventures: She’s crossed the north Atlantic on the Draken Viking ship and the Indian Ocean via hollowed-out mango tree in the Kraken Cup. Closer to home, she’s crewed on the Madeline and Champion of Traverse City’s Maritime Heritage Alliance. She’s also the executive coordinator for the organization.

Think of Heather as an event planner for impractical boat trips, cajoling her crew into grabbing their gear and meeting up someplace inconvenient. Special skill: She’s “not opposed to bad ideas, abnormal rigs, and strange places.”

Homer Williams, Boyne City: Williams was sailing solo from Boyne City to Charlevoix by age seven, and also comes with Draken Viking and Kraken Cup crew credentials. Special skill: Once saved a 76-foot ketch (a two-masted sailboat) from disaster by outmaneuvering a 60-foot wave, using “the best bad idea” involving seat-of-the-pants physics.

Greg Flannigan, Baltimore, Maryland: Circumnavigated the globe, age three, with family, aboard a 53-foot steel ketch. “It seemed to work,” he deadpans. “No one died.” Special skill: Nerves of steel developed while reef surfing Kneeknocker Pass in French Polynesia.

John Flannigan (Greg’s dad), Baltimore, Maryland: Skipper of the Flannigan family ketch. Special skill: navigating Kneeknocker Pass. Plus, deep experience in modern boats (as opposed to Viking ships and hollowed-out logs).

Pelayo Secades Roncero, Bergen, Norway: Marine biologist turned world sailor and for-hire adventurer. A true team player. Special Skill: Rigging specialist for large stages, operas, events. Useful for potential Unsalted Nuts Does Broadway.

Michael Breske, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida: Draken crew member, hiker, diver, rafter, world adventurer, humanitarian. Board member of Haitian nonprofit, P4H Global. Ready to go virtually anywhere on very short notice. Special skill: Adaptive, resourceful, problem solver. Limbo champ, Copenhagen, 2015.

The Proving Ground

The Nuts sailed aboard Sabrosa, a 2006 Henderson 30 well-known among racers for being maneuverable and fast—sometimes too fast. For optimal handling, sailor chatrooms advise a crew of “10 beefy guys,” but in the case of Nuts, five variously-sized guys and Heather. (Despite the modern craft, the crew’s traditional Viking/tall ship skills are still essential to surviving R2AK.)

Sabrosa is a luxury ride compared to the exposed kayaks and rowboats chosen by some of the participants for the race. The only requirement in the R2AK is that all entrants be completely non-motorized. That means just sails, oars, paddles, or pedal power (bicycle gears and paddle-wheels).

The 40-mile Stage 1 proving ground of R2AK separates the hardcore from the merely stalwart as they travel from Port Townsend to Victoria, British Columbia. In this leg, Sabrosa came in fourth.

Into the Wild

If 40 miles of sailing or paddling seems like no big deal, how about 710 miles? That’s the length of the second stage of the race, which runs from Victoria to Ketchikan, Alaska.

Sabrosa worked through stiff winds and wild currents, sailing through the night whenever possible, using their watch system of four up and two asleep, unless something dramatic happened and all hands were needed. But the wind came and went, and when the wind died, they rowed. “Oars are crucial,” Jankens says. 

Day three, the crew was able to sail through the tricky tidal rapids of Seymour Narrows. “Seymour Narrows was my biggest worry, but it turned out fine,” Jankens tells us. But eventually the crew decided to take back channels to make progress. “We realized we couldn’t beat into the wind…and not hazard our vessel. Or ourselves.”

By day five, other boats were withdrawing from the race because beating into the wind had damaged their equipment. Then gale conditions and 45 mph gusts in Johnstone Strait, a narrow 68-mile passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland, famous for wind and wicked tides, brought the race to a standstill for all involved.

Two days of idleness can be tough on sailors. “We didn’t expect to get winded into a tiny spot in the wilds…surrounded by bears, [but] we hoped for the best,” Jankens says.

To lighten things up, the guys posed on the beach in their Speedos for a “Wish you were here” greeting to send to the race-boss up ahead in Ketchikan. “Then we busted out the good coffee,” Jankens says with a laugh. 

To the Bitter End

The following days saw Sabrosa moving without stopping. “When there is wind, it is right on our nose. When there is no wind, we row,” Jankens says. On their tenth night, in the rain, the crew rounded Cape Caution, a place where one is exposed to a combination of ocean swell from the Pacific along with wind and waves from the inside passage. “They didn’t name it Cape of No Problems,” says Jankens.

 From the Bella Bella checkpoint, they were on their own for the next 200 miles. In place of other boats and signs of civilization, Sabrosa cruised with the whales. Hecate Strait, with wind, tricky tides, shoals, and shallows, “beats us hard, [but] we work[ed] through it.” 

On day 14, they reach Ketchikan, the finish line, for an admirable eighth place. Fellow racers, waiting dockside, christened them with salt.

The Nuts are unsalted no more.

Support the crew: The Unsalted Nuts are fundraising for the Schooner Madeline and the Maritime Heritage Association to promote sailing and the Great Lakes. Unsalted-nuts.com.