A shocking blowout victory saw Team Pure & Wild take the top spot of the 2022 Race to Alaska as they were the first squad to make it into Ketchikan, Alaska just after 5 p.m. Monday, June 20.

Leading by more than 200 nautical miles at one point in the race, the winners surged over their competitors with a final time of 4 days, 4 hours, and 32 minutes.

As The Leader was going to press Tuesday, the second- through fifth-place teams were still battling it out with 100 to 200 miles to go.

The winners breezed through the 750-mile water course from Port Townsend to Ketchikan without a serious challenge after the Stage 2 start at noon Thursday in Victoria, British Columbia.

Team Pure & Wild consists of captain Jonathan McKee, Alyosha Strum-Palerm, and Matt Pistay, whom raced their 44-foot sailboat to victory.

The win marked the second Race to Alaska victory for Pistay, who is a Port Ludlow resident.

The team took an unorthodox route to finish on top, sailing along the western coast of Vancouver Island after landing in Victoria, Canada, setting the racers apart from their counterparts.

Team Pure & Wild received a $10,000 prize, as part of the Race to Alaska tradition.

As of Tuesday morning, Team Elsewhere and Team Fashionably Late are poised to take the second- and third-place spots, respectively, with Team Lost but Don’t Care and Team Vegemite Vigilantes trailing close behind.

The second-place team wins a set of steak knives.

This year’s race was wild from the start, as Day 1’s raging winds and choppy waves led to four teams having to be rescued by the Coast Guard and race-support boats in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Three capsized boats and a snapped mast left the opening day as one of the roughest starts to Race to Alaska that officials have seen in years.

To keep up with the racing teams and results, got to r2ak.com.