2024 was a year for the record books! It seems like fewer races were called off for a lack of wind this year than any in recent memory, and a couple races gave us an unforgettable extra helping of breeze (and the chandleries, sailmakers, and riggers a bit of extra springtime work).
Throughout the year, there was ample participation and even more enthusiasm in all kinds of races by all kinds of racers in all kinds of boats. Compiling this list is a fun and impressive exercise (on the back-end, it includes every boat that sailed in any of our qualifying races). By our count, 504 different boats participated in the events that we include in our Top 25, and that’s surely only a fraction of the total number of race boats across the Pacific Northwest. How cool is that? As always, consistently great performances helped bring these 25 awesome crews to the top of our list.
How do we select these boats? The qualifying races for our Top 25 offer a good representation of keelboat racing in the Pacific Northwest, and include a mix of distance and around-the-buoy races, single-race events, and multi-race regattas. Our scoring system is on a percentage basis, depending on the size of the class: 0% (did not finish) to 100% (first in class), where the event score = (Finishers – Place) / (Finishers – 1). Overall scores are an average of a boat’s best five finishes. There is no minimum number of races required to qualify. Multi-race events (like the Southern Sound Series) are scored as single events. Ties go to the boat with the larger average fleet size.
This year’s #1 boat, J/105 Moose Unknown, is skippered by John Aitchison and represents Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle and Sloop Tavern Yacht Club. This savvy crew usually sails in a highly competitive one-design class. It’s never easy to take a win, let alone many of them. But after three straight years in our top five, Moose Unknown is at the pinnacle! They took more wins than we can count in our scoring system, a truly remarkable accomplishment! Bravo Moose crew, and congratulations!
A tip of our caps to every one of 48° North’s Top 25 racing sailboats! It is a privilege to present this list, and we offer our admiration and appreciation for those in the racing community who live it and love it, and sail so well.
2025 TOP 25 QUALIFYING RACES
SSSS Southern Sound Series
CYCS Center Sound Series
CYCS PNW One Design (POD) Regatta
STYC Blakely Rock Benefit
CYCS Spring Regatta
WVYC Southern Straits Classic
SYC Tri-Island Series
CYCP Pacific NW Offshore
RVicYC Swiftsure Int’l Yacht Race
Race Week Bellingham
CBSA Cowichan Bay Regatta
BYC PITCH
CYCE Foulweather Bluff
CYCS Puget Sound Sailing Championship
SYC Grand Prix Regatta
OIYC/FHSC Round the County
All photos courtesy of Jan Anderson, unless otherwise noted.
