(CNN) -- Robert Molnar has a vision: an ocean race from New York to the Canadian Pacific city of Victoria, via the Arctic. "Because of climate change, we can do this race," Molnar told CNN. He pictures oceangoing sailboats hugging the Atlantic coast up through Halifax to western Greenland, then heading west through the Northwest Passage to Tuktoyaktuk on Canada's Arctic coastline, before rounding Alaska to Dutch Harbor and, at last, Victoria. In 2017, Molnar plans to make this a reality in the form of the Sailing the Arctic Race, or STAR. "The Arctic is the big attraction. There is a romanticism about it," says the 66-year-old, who spent decades working in advertising while nursing his passion for sailing.
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Sailing race planned from New York to Victoria, Canada via Northwest Passage
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Inaugural race planned for summer of 2017 but coast guard has concerns
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Organizer says race will educate world and help Canada's claim to high Arctic waters
"If we're talking the @placeholder, the ice conditions we're seeing -- with multi-year ice coming down from the high Arctic -- it would be a huge challenge for 2017," says Pelletier.