WA360 in a Nutshell

Get yourself and your boat around Washington’s inland waters and back to where you started. Hit the required waypoints along the way. You’ve got two weeks, no engine power, and no private support crew coming to your rescue when things get inconvenient.

Sail, paddle, row, pedal, or come up with some ridiculous combination. How you get around the course is largely up to you.

The Ground Rules

Wind and muscle only. Sail, paddle, row, pedal—whatever works. You can carry an engine aboard, but operating it during the race means you’re out.

No outside support. No personal chase boats, supply drops, or friends showing up with spare parts. If a resource is available to all racers, it’s fair game.

Two divisions. If you’re using sails, you’re in The Wind Division. If you’re entirely human-powered, welcome to The Muscle Group. First to finish in each division wins.

Two weeks to finish. The race starts at noon on Sunday, June 13, 2027, in Bellingham. The finish line closes at noon on Sunday, June 27. Get back before then to call yourself a finisher.

That’s the short version. The full rules and requirements live in the Race Packet.

Race Route

In 2027, WA360 starts and finishes in Bellingham. Between those two moments, racers will cover a whole lot of Washington’s inland waters.

First up, a choice: Deception Pass or Swinomish Channel? Either way, the first checkpoint is Goat Island. From there, it’s south—all the way down Puget Sound to round Olympia Shoal in Budd Inlet.

Then turn north. The next waypoint is Port Townsend, WA360’s ancestral home. From there, teams head toward Point Roberts, that little nubbin of America hanging off Canada, to round one final mark.

Then it’s back to Bellingham and the finish line.

The required waypoints are fixed. Everything between them? That’s for the racers to figure out.

Classes

Any kind of boat? Pretty much. But rather than sorting everyone into a dozen categories, WA360 has just two:

The Wind Division – Got sails? You’re in. Monohulls, multihulls, big boats, little boats. If the wind is helping move you along, this is your division. Human-powered propulsion is welcome, too.

The Muscle Group – No sails, no engine, just human power. Rowing, paddling, pedaling, or whatever combination of muscles and machinery you can dream up.

Each division has its own winner: the first team across the finish line. No handicaps, no corrected times. Just get there first.

Youth Race For Less

Young people can sail, paddle, and suffer just as well as the rest of us. They just tend to have less money to throw at questionable adventures.

So we’re making it a little easier to get them on the starting line.

Racers under 18 pay no additional crew fees. And if your entire team is under 18, we’ll knock 20% off the base registration fee, too.

Age shouldn’t be the thing that keeps a capable young team off the water.

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

Partnerships and Sponsorships

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