Puget Sound has more boats and yachts, per capita, than any place in the world.

Race Week, in Oak Harbor, is held each summer during July for the 100 plus entrants every year. There are five days of competition - including a "sail Around Whidbey Island" component that may take as long as 24-hours to complete. The competition is open to PHRF and one design keel boats. This year (2005) the weather and sailing conditions were fabulous for the July 10 through July 15 event.

Many of the yachts competing during Race Week have fiercely competative boats, owners amd crews. This year, Ed Kennedy, in "SlingShot" (at left), a J-31, was overall winner, at 22-hrs, 57 mins, 20-secs; a mere 12-mins, 9-secs lead. Ted Clifton of our local Oak Harbor YC, in "Lissa", was runner-up in the series. This is the 23nd year of Whidbey Island Race Week; one of the premier racing series on the West Coast.

Race Week holds special challenge because of our "fluky" winds. It takes only one tactical error, or a little bad luck, and you are out of the competition.

Another summer sailboat race meet is the Holmes Harbor (Freeland) class-boat series.

In these smaller class-boats, with shorter course lengths, sailing tactics win the day.

One of the reasons sailing and boating is so popular in the Northwest, is that our magnificent bays and coves provide not only fishing and water sports, but also provides thousands of anchorages - many with unbelievable vistas, such as this view of Mount Rainier, one of our snow-capped volcanos.

Hundreds of fishing sites provide further recreation. These boats, with Pass Island in the background, are approaching Deception Pass, the narrow cut separating Whidbey from Fidalgo Island. Hundreds of islands await your exploration throughout Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Gulf Islands of Canada.

World-class fishing records are common along Whidbey's shorelines. The saltwater trout, Steelhead and Cutthroat pose great challenge to avid fishermen. Whidbey Island is also home to the only State Diving Park at Keystone Spit.

Once you have cruised our waters, seen our magnificent scenery or walked our beaches, you'll be on to us. Whidbey Island is the "undiscovered jewel of Puget Sound" - a tranquil place, far from urban fears, with clean air, clean water, endless fir forests and snow-capped mountains, no crime and little traffic - a place of rural sanity.

Copyright 2004-2005. All rights reserved