Alaska
Orcas teens return from 710-mile boat race to Alaska | Islands' Sounder
After almost eight days of sailing, Orcas Island teens Dagney Kruger and Else Ranker finished the Race to Alaska (R2AK) on June 20.
Joined by Bellingham teammates Bryce Lutz and Willow Gray, they traveled the 710 miles from Victoria B.C. to Ketchikan, Alaska on their Carrera 19, Loose Cannon. The team faced different challenges throughout their journey, but also met many great supporters and participants along the way.
The team, which chose the name ‘The Juvenile Delinquents’ in reference to the final weeks of school they would skip in order to participate in the race, left for Alaska at noon on June 12. Prior to this official start, teams completed a portion known as ‘the proving grounds’ on June 9, which involved a 40 mile stint from Port Townsend to Victoria B.C. It was during this initial run that The Juvenile Delinquents faced their first challenge. The team discovered leakage as standing water began to pool. Lutz caulked the boat following this discovery, but the leaks continued to be a slight challenge for the team.
Around the third day of the trip, they hit the most difficult part of the journey as they crossed Queen Charlotte’s Strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. The team, two of whom had been awake since midnight due to a disruption in their sleep schedule after making a stop to catch the tide, faced high winds and large swells coming off the ocean, the first swells they had experienced thus far.
“Suddenly we’re beating upwind and we can see on the tracker that we’re like, three to four miles [behind them], and these were two teams that we’ve been catching the whole time,” said Kruger. “So we know they’re like right there, but also everyone’s seasick, and all day we see these giant swells and heavy wind, it’s not fun.”
Additionally, Kruger explained that while in Queen Charlotte Strait, you can see Cape Caution, the next daunting landmark for competitors. It is the first cape on the course that is unprotected and out on the open ocean, where the racers experience the largest swells of the trip.
Once they forged through the rough open water, the team experienced smoother sailing, ducking behind islands for more protection and falling into more of a rhythm with their sleep schedules and acclimating to being on the water. They took turns with two awake and two asleep, unless more extreme conditions required three on deck. Kruger said that all of the members needed to know how to do everything since there were only four people on the team and everyone needed to sleep.
Despite a windier start to their adventure during the proving grounds portion, the wind was lighter than Kruger had hoped for. Because their pedal drive was not in top condition, the team was at a disadvantage, but they still finished 4th among other monohull vessels and 8th overall.
One of Kruger’s original goals was to beat the other youth team from Seattle, and the Juvenile Delinquents ended up finishing only one hour after the other youth team.
“It turned into a lot more of a drag race than I ever thought it was going to be,” said Kruger. “You look at the tracker, it’s like we’re basically on top of each other for the last three days, just like drag racing. We didn’t beat them, but we only lost to them by like, an hour after [sailing] over 700 miles, it was crazy.”
However, there were no hard feelings. Kruger described one of the highlights being the night before the two youth teams finished the race, the Seattle team pulled up behind The Juvenile Delinquents and they rafted their boats together, tossing snacks back and forth between the boats.
Besides the camaraderie created by fellow competitors, Kruger mentioned the overwhelming support from friends and family, as well as spectators who kept track of the racers’ progress online. During their only stop on land to get more water, the team decided to stop near a tiny town after making it past Brown Bay and Seymour Narrows, the first major landmark in the race. Kruger said when they pulled up to the dock, there were already two people waiting for them with a hose and a jerry can filled with water.
As for the scenery of the trip, Kruger quoted her teammate Gray who was amazed by the surreal beauty: “It was a lot less rainy than expected and more of a fever dream.”
If given the chance to re-do the race, Kruger said in general she felt they did a good job and wouldn’t change much beyond running more tests prior to the journey to discover the leaks as well as improve the pedal drive situation. As for advice to those interested in competing in the R2AK, Kruger adamantly encourages others to go for it, but to be prepared for the highs and lows of the trip, and that it helps to have someone who has sailed up the coast before.
“You’re gonna hit a low moment, if you don’t move, then you’re gonna stay there. But like, I had such a hard moment in Johnstone strait like, ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ But as soon as you get up and you go outside, there is a beautiful moon and [the water’s] glassy, and there’s no end, it’s so pretty. You just have to appreciate where you are,” said Kruger.
In the future, Kruger hopes to compete in the Washington 360, a 360 mile boat race around the puget sound, which after completing the R2AK will be a ‘less serious’ venture for Kruger. She also hopes to compete in the Pacific Cup, a 2,000 mile yacht race from San Francisco to Oahu, Hawaii, with her father next summer.
Alaska
Dozens of vehicle accidents reported, Anchorage after-school activities canceled, as snowfall buries Southcentral Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Up to a foot of snow has fallen in areas across Southcentral as of Tuesday, with more expected into Wednesday morning.
All sports and after-school activities — except high school basketball and hockey activities — were canceled Tuesday for the Anchorage School District. The decision was made to allow crews to clear school parking lots and manage traffic for snow removal, district officials said.
“These efforts are critical to ensuring schools can safely remain open [Wednesday],” ASD said in a statement.
The Anchorage Police Department’s accident count for the past two days shows there have been 55 car accidents since Monday, as of 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. In addition, there have been 86 vehicles in distress reported by the department.
The snowfall — which has brought up to 13 inches along areas of Turnagain Arm and 12 inches in Wasilla — is expected to continue Tuesday, according to latest forecast models. Numerous winter weather alerts are in effect, and inland areas of Southcentral could see winds up to 25 mph, with coastal areas potentially seeing winds over 45 mph.
Some areas of Southcentral could see more than 20 inches of snowfall by Wednesday, with the Anchorage and Eagle River Hillsides, as well as the foothills of the Talkeetna Mountain, among the areas seeing the most snowfall.
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Alaska
Yundt Served: Formal Charges Submitted to Alaska Republican Party, Asks for Party Sanction and Censure of Senator Rob Yundt
On January 3, 2026, Districts 27 and 28 of the Alaska Republican Party received formal charges against Senator Rob Yundt pursuant to Article VII of the Alaska Republican Party Rules.
According to the Alaska Republican Party Rules: “Any candidate or elected official may be sanctioned or censured for any of the following
reasons:
(a) Failure to follow the Party Platform.
(b) Engagement in any activities prohibited by or contrary to these rules or RNC Rules.
(c) Failure to carry out or perform the duties of their office.
(d) Engaging in prohibited discrimination.
(e) Forming a majority caucus in which non-Republicans are at least 1/3 or more of the
coalition.
(f) Engaging in other activities that may be reasonably assessed as bringing dishonor to
the ARP, such as commission of a serious crime.”
Party Rules require the signatures of at least 3 registered Republican constituents for official charges to be filed. The formal charges were signed by registered Republican voters and District N constitutions Jerad McClure, Thomas W. Oels, Janice M. Norman, and Manda Gershon.
Yundt is charged with “failure to adhere and uphold the Alaska Republican Party Platform” and “engaging in conduct contrary to the principles and priorities of the Alaska Republican Party Rules.” The constituents request: “Senator Rob Yundt be provided proper notice of the charges and a full and fair opportunity to respond; and that, upon a finding by the required two-thirds (2/3) vote of the District Committees that the charges are valid, the Committees impose the maximum sanctions authorized under Article VII.”
If the Party finds Yundt guilty of the charges, Yundt may be disciplined with formal censure by the Alaska Republican Party, declaration of ineligibility for Party endorsement, withdrawal of political support, prohibition from participating in certain Party activities, and official and public declaration that Yundt’s conduct and voting record contradict the Party’s values and priorities.
Reasons for the charges are based on Yundt’s active support of House Bill 57, Senate Bill 113, and Senate Bill 92. Constituents who filed the charges argue that HB 57 opposes the Alaska Republican Party Platform by “expanding government surveillance and dramatically increasing education spending;” that SB 113 opposes the Party’s Platform by “impos[ing] new tax burdens on Alaskan consumers and small businesses;” and that SB 92 opposes the Party by “proposing a targeted 9.2% tax on major private-sector energy producer supplying natural gas to Southcentral Alaska.” Although the filed charges state that SB 92 proposes a 9.2% tax, the bill actually proposes a 9.4% tax on income from oil and gas production and transportation.
Many Alaskan conservatives have expressed frustration with Senator Yundt’s legislative decisions. Some, like Marcy Sowers, consider Yundt more like “a tax-loving social justice warrior” than a conservative.
Related
Alaska
Pilot of Alaska flight that lost door plug over Portland sues Boeing, claims company blamed him
The Alaska Airlines captain who piloted the Boeing 737 Max that lost a door plug over Portland two years ago is suing the plane’s manufacturer, alleging that the company has tried to shift blame to him to shield its own negligence.
The $10 million suit — filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Tuesday on behalf of captain Brandon Fisher — stems from the dramatic Jan. 5, 2024 mid-air depressurization of Flight 1282, when a door plug in the 26th row flew off six minutes after take off, creating a 2-by-4-foot hole in the plane that forced Fisher and co-pilot Emily Wiprud to perform an emergency landing back at PDX.
None of the 171 passengers or six crew members on board was seriously injured, but some aviation medical experts said that the consequences could have been “catastrophic” had the incident happened at a higher altitude.
Fisher’s lawsuit is the latest in a series filed against Boeing, including dozens from Flight 1282 passengers. It also names Spirit AeroSystems, a subcontractor that worked on the plane.
The lawsuit blames the incident on quality control issues with the door plug. It argues that Boeing caught five misinstalled rivets in the panel, and that Spirit employees painted over the rivets instead of reinstalling them correctly. Boeing inspectors caught the discrepancy again, the complaint alleges, but when employees finally reopened the panel to fix the rivets, they didn’t reattach four bolts that secured the door panel.
The complaint’s allegations that Boeing employees failed to secure the bolts is in line with a National Transportation Safety Board investigation that came to the conclusion that the bolts hadn’t been replaced.
Despite these internal issues, Fisher claims Boeing deliberately shifted blame towards him and his first officer.
Lawyers for Boeing in an earlier lawsuit wrote that the company wasn’t responsible for the incident because the plane had been “improperly maintained or misused by persons and/or entities other than Boeing.”
Fisher’s complaint alleges that the company’s statement was intended to “paint him as the scapegoat for Boeing’s numerous failures.”
“Instead of praising Captain Fisher’s bravery, Boeing inexplicably impugned the reputations of the pilots,” the lawsuit says.
As a result, Fisher has been scrutinized for his role in the incident, the lawsuit alleges, and named in two lawsuits by passengers.
Spokespeople for Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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