Orcas Man Paddles His Way To Alaska, Alone, On A Standup Paddleboard

— from Northwest Public Radio —

Here’s what your sporty friends should be talking about today. An Orcas Island, Washington, man is the first person to complete the Race to Alaska on a standup paddleboard. He stroked 750 miles solo from Port Townsend up the Inside Passage, crossing the finish line in Ketchikan Sunday.

A crowd came down to the harbor in Ketchikan to see Karl Kruger complete an athletic feat that quite a few people had called crazy, nutty, or foolhardy.

The exhausted and soft-spoken 45-year-old glided to the dock, stepped off his 17-foot standup paddleboard and rung the finisher’s bell.

Then Kruger embraced his waiting wife and daughter, and expressed amazement at what he’d done over the past two weeks.

“There were days where every single stroke was a barrier and I just wanted to stop,” said Kruger. “Everything was screaming at me to stop. So it was absolutely mental, absolutely.”

Kruger maintained an incredible pace on his journey north. He averaged about 50 miles per day on his standup paddleboard. Two other paddleboarders from Northwest Washington dropped out of the Race to Alaska after one week.

READ MORE: nwpr.org/post/puget-sound-alaska-alone-standup-paddleboard