October 2026, the sailing community is going to miss you. November, we love you too, and you’ve got some things we’re really looking forward to. But dang. Ok, ok, weather is the exemplar of mundane subject matter, but sailors this month had a bunch of days so great that they were the wind-powered-fun equivalent of “powder days” for skiers. Exciting sailing events in the coming weeks notwithstanding, with winter looming, it’s time to dig into this sailing-skiing simile.
What makes a great sailing day is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. Eight knots and flat water can be blissful because it’s just so dead easy. For others who I admire, their “powder days” might require 25 knots, and 35 would be better. That’s rad. I’d go sailing with them for sure. But that’s not the perfect day for me. More is… more. But it’s not necessarily better.
As a skier, one of the things about great powder is it makes you feel like a hero. You can ski challenging terrain more capably and enjoyably. The risks change, but generally the stuff you’re trying so hard not to do on hardpack (catch an edge, hit an unseen bump, fall) is both less of a worry and also almost kind of fun when it happens in 12-plus inches of fresh. It just makes you feel up for anything, and it’s fun as hell.
So it is with sailing, at least by my definition of a “pow day” on Puget Sound. This October brought a whole lot of sunshine and 12-16 knots. Those are sailing’s hero conditions—the kind when everyone feels like they can sail, and has a blast doing so. The days lifelong sailors describe as epic aren’t for everyone. Pow days are both the stuff of legend and broadly appealing beyond the niches of the super-committed. These pinnacle sailing days sometimes get called “champagne sailing” or “chamber of commerce conditions”—if you didn’t like sailing in that, you’re probably not going to like it. Log one of those any month and consider yourself lucky. October 2026 was like a champagne sailing tasting flight.
One of the unsung aspects of a truly great day of powder skiing is just how stunningly beautiful it is. If it has snowed heavily overnight and the wind didn’t come up, the world around you is silent and sublime and spectacular. Boughs draped and drooping on their neighbors by the millions, yet to shed their fluffy dollops of untouched white. Everywhere you look, crystalline brightness has shrouded the landscape, punctuated by the deepest greens of shadowed fir peaking through.
Once more, I’ll bring you to the waters of the Salish Sea this month with a similar sentiment. Most of the days that blow dogs off chains are as dreary as they are exhilarating. My sailing pow days are stereotypically smashing. Only the color palette has changed; now it’s the electric white of the autumn sun glinting off of the waves that range from steel gray to foamy cerulean. On these best days, you’ll see Rainier and Baker, Cascades and Olympics. There’s something about the lower angle of the sun that warms the light, making one’s surroundings somehow friendlier than the stark contrast of the summer’s apex. And ashore in every direction, the oranges, yellows, and reds of the season. These days are golden, indeed.
Did I catch every sailing pow day in October? Not even close, just as I’ll miss the vast majority of the best big dumps in the mountains any given winter. Yet, once you’ve gotten at least one “best day of the season”, more is just gravy. And speaking of gravy… Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. As ever, there’s a whole lot to be grateful for, especially if you enjoy waterborne adventures in the Pacific Northwest.
Joe Cline
Joe Cline has been the Managing Editor of 48° North since 2014. From his career to his volunteer leadership in the marine industry, from racing sailboats large and small to his discovery of Pacific Northwest cruising —Joe is as sail-smitten as they come. Joe and his wife, Kaylin, have welcomed a couple of beautiful kiddos in the last few years, and he is enjoying fatherhood while still finding time to make a little music and even occasionally go sailing.
