Competitors set sail from Nanaimo today, embarking on a two-week tour for the Van Isle 360 International Yacht Race.

The 625-nautical mile race began in Nanaimo Harbour near W.E. Mills pier on Saturday, June 3, and upcoming stops will include Comox, Campbell River, Telegraph Cove, Port Hardy, Winter Harbour, Ucluelet and Victoria.

Sylvia Motley, race co-owner and co-organizer, was pleased the race started again, after a 2021 COVID-19 cancellation, but it wasn鈥檛 without a hitch.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really happy with it,鈥� said Motley. 鈥淣obody was over the line. We did have a couple of boats that had problems. One got a line wrapped around its prop 鈥� [it] should hopefully get that taken care of and join the rest of the race. We鈥檝e got just enough breeze to get them out and hopefully on the other side of the island there鈥檚 going to be a lot more.鈥�

The race concludes in Nanaimo on Saturday, June 17.

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