More than 40 teams are on their way to Alaska in a grueling race on the water.
‘Race to Alaska’ competitors took off from Victoria's Inner Harbour at noon Sunday.
They're headed to Ketchikan, Alaska – a 1,200 kilometre journey.
The first stage of the race ended in Victoria on Thursday.
More than 60 boats arrived in the capital city from Washington’s Port Townsend.
Race to Alaska is unique in that it doesn’t permit the use of motors, chase boats or support crews.
"There's a certain call to the part of our heart that wants and accepts challenge, that wants to test ourselves, that wants to find limits to our boundaries personally and see if we can move beyond those," the race's organizer Daniel Evans said.
There are a couple of passages competitors will have to go through on their journey to Alaska, including the Seymour Narrows and a virtual gate at Bella Bella.
Last year only half of the competitors made it to the end because of the harsh conditions along the way.
"These waters between here and Ketchikan can be some of the most ferocious, certainly the currents are tremendous. It's a very difficult body of water to navigate," Evans told CTV News. "It calls I think in an adventurer all the skill and judgment that they have kind of accumulated over their years of experience."
The first team to make it to Ketchikan will win $10,000 and the runner-up will take home a set of steak knives.
According to Evans, if some boats go really quick they can make it in a few days, but others may take up to more than 20 days.
"What's really interesting is you see a lot of people with a ton of experience and they come to the race with completely different boats, which means completely different strategies," Evans added.
Last year the winning team made it in just over five days.
You can track the boats online here.
