Author: Raegan Miller

Alaska Marine Highway System ferries are tied up in Ketchikan this summer (photo by Mikko Wilson/KTOO).

Edward Liske, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Juneau office, said people will be feeling the heat.

A crowd of people clad in regalia, traditional robes and cedar hats crowded around the water at the old mill building in Ward Cove, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Hōkūle’a’s twin hulls as they carved through the water.

But, how is the 62-foot canoe getting around? Once the canoe hits deeper waters, the crew will use traditional navigation techniques. 

Twenty-nine teams set out from Victoria, British Columbia — the start of the main part of the Race to Alaska — and 18 made it to Ketchikan.