Few Details Matter (Basic Rules)

• Unlike Race to Alaska (R2AK), you can keep your engine aboard, but if you use it, you’re out.

• First boat to finish for each class wins.

• Two weeks. That’s how long teams have to call themselves a finisher before we close up shop.

• No support. This means no food or equipment drops, weather experts on shore giving you the inside tips, or making use of resources along the way that are only available to you. If the support isn’t preplanned, and generally available to any and all racers, it’s okay.

• Grabbing lunch or stopping at a casino along the way is… just fine.

Test it All

Sure, you can do one thing really well. Hell, maybe a few, but how will you fare when everything is asked of you? Weather forecasting, night navigation, endless paddling, light air sailing, open water, equipment maintenance, current predictions, race tactics, endurance, patience, and the near-constant nagging desire to head to the nearest bar and call it a day.

Classes

At WA360, we’re just as loose with rules and “traditional” race management as R2AK. We’ve boiled “any type of boat” down to two classes:

The Wind Division. Using sails? This is your class.

The Muscle Group. Nothing besides grit and protein propelling your vessel? Welcome to this human-powered-only class.

© Heather J.

The Youth Bonus

If we have learned one thing from the last few years of R2AK, it’s that young people are just as good (or better) at sailing and paddling as anybody else. It’s also true that they’re more likely than not to be broke and can need a little help getting a team off the ground. For this reason, we’re waiving crew fees for racers under 18.

Keep an eye out for ways crew can connect.

Even better? Any team composed entirely of youth (under 18) pay no crew fees whatsoever and get a 20% discount on the base registration. 

Race Route

Port Townsend is the starting place of WA360.

After traveling the length of the Puget Sound, racers’ first mission is to round Olympia Shoal in Budd Inlet. 

Next up is to pass within two miles of Goat Island—the sentinel standing guard at the decision point between shooting Deception Pass or traveling the length of the Swinomish Channel.

Find the FL Y 10s PRIV buoy in Bellingham Bay (about a mile north of Fairhaven), and put it to port as you head north before continuing on to:

Point Roberts. This nubbin of America hanging like Alex Honnold off of Canada will show you some love before you head back south to:

Port Townsend. Right back where you started.

Time Limit

Two weeks. That’s how long you’ve got before the finish line closes up shop at 12:00 noon on Saturday, July 12.

Support The Race

Here at Northwest Maritime, we’re building coalitions. Become a part of the connective tissue that we are knitting together throughout the waterways of the Puget Sound and Salish Sea by sponsoring WA360. Want to learn more? Email sponsorship@nwmaritime.org

Partnerships

Are you an organization with feet in the Puget Sound? Want to get in at the ground level and create programming around WA360? Contact the Race Boss at raceboss@nwmaritime.org