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The 2023 Yukon River Quest is off and paddling.

The annual river spectacle started Tuesday at 9 a.m. from Rotary Park in Whitehorse.

Jason Biensch, half of the Maximum Capacity tandem canoe team, along with Spencer Edelman, said his goodbyes to his family before he left on the 715 km journey to Dawson City.

Biensch said he was feeling 鈥渃autiously optimistic. The south wind will help us. Makes it a little tippier, so it鈥檚 a trade-off.鈥�

When it was mentioned that the wind shifting to the west could result in more waves, Biensch said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 Lake Laberge. She鈥檚 always got waves.鈥�

Biensch agreed that you never know what to expect with the infamous lake.

鈥淚t鈥檚 always changing.鈥�

Biensch鈥檚 wife Kendall and his two sons, Elliott, five and Kellan, six, bid him a safe journey.

鈥淗ere to cheer me on. Or push me out in the boat, I guess.鈥�

Biensch said this is the worst time of the race.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e sitting there looking at everybody standing around and you don鈥檛 train for this, right? I want to be on the water.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna be an interesting year, this year. It鈥檚 higher than 2015, 鈥�16, 鈥�17, but nowhere near as bad as the last couple years. It should help push us along.鈥�

Biensch and Edeleman鈥檚 training included a paddle to Carmacks.

鈥淚t felt pretty good. Didn鈥檛 tip yet, so, here鈥檚 to hoping.鈥�

Biensch added the old saying, 鈥淏listers and bruises and beers in Dawson. We鈥檒l be there.鈥�

Jim Boyde, 80, the veteran crew leader for the six-person TS鈥橝LVIT voyageur canoe, said, 鈥淚t always seems to feel like there鈥檚 more things you can do but you have to take what you have worked towards.鈥�

As for training, Boyde said they started paddling in the pool back in January once a week.

鈥淭hen we got in open water below the coffer dam in early April with the tandems, and then changed over to our voyageur.

鈥淲e had a seven-person voyageur to start with, and then one of the paddlers had to drop out, so we have our Kisseynew boat with six, so, we鈥檙e good.鈥�

Boyde didn鈥檛 see the beautiful weather forecast as an advantage for him.

鈥淲arm weather makes me suffer more than anything.

鈥淕etting by Lake Laberge is always a big plus, so once that happens, you鈥檙e getting a little bit of extra pull from current water going toward Coal Mind and Carmacks.鈥�

Boyde thought the south wind would be an advantage.

鈥淎s long as it鈥檚 not too big on Laberge. It has happened before. It鈥檚 nice to be a little cooler and the odd cloud around, and the south wind does help.鈥�

Boyde felt there was a concern about high waves at the end of Laberge.

鈥淭here can be six-foot waves at the end, so we try to avoid those.鈥�

When asked if he ever gets tired of paddling in the YRQ, Boyde replied, 鈥淚 like the training. Its a little stressful at times when you鈥檙e down the river and don鈥檛 know if you鈥檙e half-awake or still able to paddle.

鈥淎nd getting thorough Five Fingers (Rapids) is always a big plus, also.鈥�

Boyde said the rest of his crew was feeling good.

鈥淪ome of them have done it a few times in different craft, tandem canoes or kayaks but it鈥檚 always different when you鈥檙e in a six-person team.鈥�

As for goals for the race, Boyde said, 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to be under 50 (hours), so if we can get into Dawson under 50, it鈥檇 be a big plus for us.鈥�

Boyde added. 鈥淲e take our team name from Arctic loons that show up year after year at the mouth of the Klondike. (Elder) Ruth Caroll gave us access to the Gwitchin name that we use for our team.鈥�

The Carcs, a C4 family, including father Michael Peirce, son Ben Wright and twin daughters Emily and Claire Wright, said they were feeling 鈥渁wesome. We鈥檙e ready to roll. We鈥檙e gonna have a great time on the river,鈥� said Peirce. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all super-close and having fun.鈥�

Peirce said he only got two hours of sleep and was planning on running on adrenaline.

鈥淚鈥檓 perfect. Ready to go.鈥�

Peirce said he was looking forward to taking on Lake Laberge.

鈥淚f we can get into that lake with the south wind, and get through it pretty quickly, we鈥檒l be OK. Quickly is like, eight hours.鈥�

Ben said he was feeling 鈥減retty good. Excited. Got a few butterflies this morning but not as bad as other things I鈥檝e done, which is good. Ready to go. Ready to paddle.鈥�

Claire added, 鈥淩eady to get in the boat and get this thing started.鈥�

Emily added, 鈥淐an鈥檛 wait to get on the water.鈥�

Voyageur canoe Team 3-2-1-Go 2023 were the first to arrive in Carmacks at 6:04:28 this morning. Tandem canoe Golden Lake Crew were second in at 6:14:23. Another tandem canoe, Planned Grit, were in third at 6:39:27. Boyde鈥檚 TS鈥橝LVIT crew checked in fourth to Carmacks at 6:43:47.