Ahhh, Race Week. The highlight of summer for many Pacific Northwest sailors for so many years. After a breezy success in its first year in its new venue of Bellingham in 2025, Race Week made its return to the “City of Subdued Excitement” in late July 2026.
Though the participation numbers were down a bit this year, the excitement from participants was anything but subdued. The top-notch racing experience and genuine fun on the water and ashore made this Race Week as memorable as ever.
The fleet was split into ORC or PHRF, along with one-design classes for J/105s and J/70s. For all the boaty sameness of the one-designs, the handicap fleets were intriguingly varied with some pretty wide rating bands. How would 1D35 Shrek stack up against the hot C&C 30 Narwhal or the J/99? They’re all sporty, but pretty different! Similar story in the PHRF division that included a J/109 as a scratch boat on up through the S2 9.1 that was owed more than a minute per mile.
Getting started in Bellingham, the rig de-tensioners, sail easers, and leeward hikers got their workouts with several days of light air. But there was racing (as well as a few shift-induced abandonments)! The breeze trended up as the week went on, and finished with a pair of awesome days of summer sun and solid pressure.
Not surprisingly, the J/105s were the biggest fleet. Indeed, there was a lot of tight racing as these boats are gearing up for their North Americans in October. Also not particularly surprising for those who follow the scorelines, John Aitchison’s Moose Unknown found their usual form and rose to the top of the leaderboard. But even with their sizable score gap, it was game-on for all of that snug one-design goodness with great starts, close crossings, and crowded roundings from top to bottom.
One of fleets that had some especially fun and diverse competition was the PHRF class where Dash 34 Mad Dash ran the table early in the week before the Bellingham locals on Beneteau First 36.7 Vitesse took over and never relinquished the top spot. Mad Dash and Vitesse each won 6 of the 12 races, with Vitesse pipping the class win by a single point. Just behind them on the podium was the awesome crew on the Cal 39 Back Bay. These Race Week fans all (yes all!) fly in from out of state to participate, and they sail well and enjoy plenty of “utter wackiness” while doing it!
Here’s a quick snapshot of their week, courtesy of one of their crew, Jocelyn Nguyen:
What a week! Our division ended up being us and one other “slow” boat being thrown in a division with all the other PHRF boats that rated just about half as much as us.
The first three days were incredibly light breeze, mostly around 4 knots—a real test of perseverance to micro-trim our way around the course over nine races (three of which were abandoned).
Everything changed on Day 4 with a wild stormy system blowing in, with 20-plus knots for most of the first race. It moderated somewhat to mid-teens for the next two races, but still great conditions for us, and not as great for the light boats in our fleet who’d been leaving us in the dust in the first three days. We got three seconds for the day, but not without some drama when one of the leeward gate marks blew off course. It was on its way back to being in place when we rounded the single remaining mark to port. We got called out for it, but luckily the judge took our side in the hearing and we went from being thrown out of that race to earning second place.
Day 5 brought a lovely 15-19 knots all day long, which was just great for us, and we kept up with or passed boats that owed us tons of time. Chatting with our competitors, we got a lot of, “We kept looking up and seeing you RIGHT THERE and wondering how we weren’t leaving you behind! Y’all sail the sh*t out of that boat!”
We were a tad shorthanded for the conditions, but by Day 5 we were a well-oiled machine and executed some of the prettiest maneuvers I could’ve asked for. We sailed our hearts out, and got ourselves three more seconds, and ended the week third overall. If we’d had more breeze all week there’s no telling what our old girl could’ve done, but no regrets.
Bellingham Yacht Club does such an amazing job in a beautiful venue, I can’t wait to do it again!
Of course, it’s not race week without the season’s best parties, and Bellingham Yacht Club was the scene for all of those happy connections and shenanigans. With themes and costumes to complement the daily awards and countless stories exchanged between fellow sailors, it’s always something special.
When the week was wrapped up, Shrek did wind up walking away with the ORC class win, with straight bullets no less! The aforementioned Vitesse and Moose Unknown took home their class wins, and Julian Croxall’s Smartless topped the J/70 podium.
It was another fabulous Race Week in a long line of fabulous Race Weeks. Event Producer Schelleen Rathkopf has let the sailing community know she’s ready to pass the torch; so if you’re Race Week’s next steward—there’s an incredible legacy of fun competition, friendly fellowship, and “utter wackiness” to build on.
Full results at raceweekpnw.com
