I got the phone call in late spring. It was Tripp Burd, a talented sailor I had met earlier the previous winter while filming the ultimate sailing showdown. He started telling me about this race that some folks in the Pacific Northwest had conjured up. “It’s 750 miles, man-powered and unassisted” he explained. They call it the Race to Alaska. He wanted to know two things:
1) Did I think it was a good idea? And,
2) If I would be interested in filming it?
My initial answers to both were “no.” My reasoning included too little time to prepare, too complicated to shoot, and too dangerous of a race. What if somebody got seriously hurt? What if somebody dies? It was a very real possibility since the race had no formal safety protocols in place. If you had a problem, you were expected to save yourself.
But Tripp is a persistent guy, and after a few planning meetings I realized that not only was filming the journey feasible, but it might actually be pretty fun. Fiona and I are huge fans of living in cars, especially vans, so our plan was to follow them up the coast in our dream vehicle, a Sportsmobile, and document the trip as best we could.
Vancouver Island–and the Pacific Northwest in general–is an amazing place. There are so many beautiful spots and the potential for off the grid exploring, surfing, kiting etc… is extremely appealing. The people in this part of the world are ridiculously, unbelievably kind. We hope that our film does the beauty of the region justice, and that it inspires you to pursue adventures that might scare you at first.
“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
