Bellingham Race Week – Day 1 Recap

Sunshine, Speed, and a Little Bit of Chaos

If I ever had to introduce someone to the sport of sailing, Day 1 of Bellingham Race Week would’ve been the perfect way to do it.

We trailered the boat up from Shilshole on Sunday, got her rigged, splashed, and tucked into the harbor. The weather? Absolutely stunning—70 degrees, sunshine, snow-capped mountains on the horizon, and of course, Bellingham Bay. Couldn’t have asked for a better welcome.

The Racing

We had a guest tactician, Alex Simanis from Ballard Sails, on the boat for the day and it really showed in our performance. He played boat whisperer and helped us up our game across the board. From improving the rig tuning to fine tuning the sail trim, he did an amazing job. 

Our first race of the day started after a short delay. We’re sailing in the PHRF B division, so we got to watch all the other classes start before us—so we had front row seats. The big ORC boats, the sleek J/105s and J/80s, the nimble J/70s, and the Melges 15s all made for some exciting starts and tight action.

I’ll admit it: starts are my favorite part of racing. Maybe I’ve got a tiny adrenaline junkie buried in there somewhere, but the chaos, the yelling, the jostling for position—it’s electric. And when you nail it? When you pop out on the line with clean air and good speed? For just a second, you feel like a rockstar.

That first race, we sailed clean and fast and came in third in our class. Not a bad way to start the week.

Wind and Tactics

The breeze in the morning was steady—around 13 to 15 knots—which gradually tapered off as the day went on. The course setup heavily favored the left side of the bay, so most of the fleet bee-lined it toward Fairhaven, hit the weather mark, then gybed their way back down to leeward. Tactically, it was pretty locked in—go left, or get left behind.

Then in race two, we found our groove, hit our shifts, and brought home our first bullet of the week. Race three, we got another third. By the end of the day, we were sitting in second place overall in Class 7—easily one of our best performances to date. I was over the moon.

After the Racing

After a full day on the water, we wrapped things up at the race pavilion with beer, music, and the usual suspects. It was great to reconnect with old friends, swap stories, and soak up the atmosphere. Nothing quite beats tired bodies, sunburned smiles, and a good result on the scoreboard.