Bellingham Race Week wrapped up its 43rd year on the waters of Bellingham Bay this week, and for at least one crew member aboard the sailboat Absolutely, it was a genuinely disorienting introduction to a sport that looks deceptively calm from shore. Emma Toscani, a reporter who spent Tuesday, July 21 racing with Absolutely's 10-person crew, described an experience that moved quickly from observer to participant as the race day unfolded.
Bellingham Race Week is an annual regatta organized out of Bellingham Bay that draws competitive sailors from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This year's edition marked the event's 43rd year, a run that has made it one of the most established sailing competitions in the region. Pacific Northwest Media Group was among the sponsors for the 2026 event.
Life Aboard a Racing Sailboat
Absolutely is a heavier vessel than some of its competitors, which gives it a speed advantage when winds are blowing but means the crew needs to manage weight distribution carefully throughout a race. There is very little room for passengers on a racing boat. Every surface, line, and fitting serves a purpose, and crew members move constantly to keep the boat trimmed correctly. Toscani was stationed at the stern, in what the crew called the "triangle of safety," where the mainsail's traveler attaches and several lines run back to support that sail.
The crew of Absolutely was a mix of ages and backgrounds, from skipper Charley Macaulay, who described getting "the bug in college" decades ago, to Oliver, the bow crewmember, a recent high school graduate planning to attend Cal Poly Maritime Academy in the fall with ambitions to sail professionally. Max, the main trimmer, was finishing his first year at a school in Rhode Island. Both Oliver and Max joined the crew through the Corinthian Yacht Club's youth sailing program, a pipeline that connects young Pacific Northwest sailors with competitive racing experience.
Before the first race, Macaulay called for a toast, passing around a bottle of Koloa Rum. Crew member Leigh, Macaulay's daughter, told Toscani: "Sailors are very superstitious." The crew sailed Tuesday's races with the kind of easy camaraderie that comes from years of shared time on the water, trading jokes and moving with practiced efficiency through the tacks and jibes that a race requires.
The Sailing Community in the Pacific Northwest
Crew member L.A., who works as a pit crewmember and teaches sailing at San Juan Sailing, noted that the Pacific Northwest sailing community is small and interconnected. Sailors who race competitively in Bellingham Bay tend to know people in the Puget Sound racing circuit, on the San Juan Islands, and across the border in British Columbia. Bellingham Race Week draws that community together annually, giving sailors who have raced against each other across multiple venues a shared event to aim for.
The regatta itself runs across multiple race classes and multiple days, with different categories of vessel competing on the same waters on overlapping schedules. Crew skill, sail trim, and tactical decisions in the moment all matter as much as raw boat speed, which makes race weeks like Bellingham's genuinely competitive even when the fleet includes a wide range of vessel types.
For residents who live near Bellingham Bay and watch sailboats from shore during the summer months, Race Week offers an unusual level of activity. The starting sequences, mark roundings, and finishes are visible from the waterfront, and the boats sail close enough to shore during some legs that spectators can follow the racing without any specialized equipment.
Getting Involved
Toscani's account captures something important about the sailing world in Bellingham: it is less exclusive than it might appear from the outside. Both Oliver and Max found their way onto a competitive crew through a youth program rather than through a family with deep sailing roots. L.A. teaches sailing lessons to newcomers. Charley described finding his own way into the sport through curiosity and persistence.
San Juan Sailing offers lessons for beginners at multiple levels, and the Corinthian Yacht Club runs youth programs specifically designed to bring young people into the sport. Bellingham Community Boating also provides access to watercraft for residents who want on-water experience without the cost of ownership.
For anyone who has watched the boats from Taylor Dock or Boulevard Park and wondered what it is actually like out there, the honest answer from at least one first-timer is that it is faster, louder, and more physical than it looks, and that the people who do it regularly seem genuinely happy to share it. Bellingham Race Week will return next summer for its 44th year. More information about Bellingham Bay sailing events and local race calendars is available through earlier coverage of local outdoor recreation in Whatcom County.
