The fun races are a really good way for people to get out and use their boats and build community and I think it’s exactly what the heart of PT is about — being outside.”

Barb Trailer, events director at the Northwest Maritime Center

Port Townsend Bay will come alive with bright and colorful sails later this month when the 30th annual Shipwrights’ Regatta kicks off the 2021 racing season on the bay. 

The prominent local event — planned for Saturday, Feb. 27 — has been canceled in the past due to inclement weather and was close to meeting the same fate this year. The regatta is known almost as much for its onshore festivities as its on-water action, and with such events impossible to hold during the pandemic, organizers at the Northwest Maritime Center concluded that perhaps it was best to forego the regatta this year, and start planning for 2022.

That’s when the Port Townsend Sailing Association (PTSA) stepped in. The PTSA has partnered with the Maritime Center in past regattas, overseeing all on-water action. Since the regatta this year would be exclusively on the water, they figured they could take the helm.  

Barb Trailer, events coordinator at the Maritime Center, said she was happy to hand the  regatta over to the PTSA, and praised their efforts to engage the community during the pandemic.

“They’re really doing a lot to promote people getting out on the water this year,” she said.

In many ways, this regatta will look much like those in the past. A wide variety of sailboats — old, new, wooden, fiberglass — will race a triangular course in several divisions based on speed of boat. Prizes will be handed to the boats with the oldest and youngest crew members, as well as other categories based on much more than just race results. 

All boats that race will be entered in a lottery to win a free haul out courtesy of the Port of Port Townsend.

However, there is one major way in which this year’s regatta will be different: the crews will be much smaller, and therefore the emphasis on racing greater than before.

“The Shipwrights’ Regatta was always known as a day where anyone could come down and we would get them on one of the boats,” Trailer said. “So boats would be crammed full of people. We would sometimes have 30 people show up who wanted to go on boats. It was a way to help people who wanted to get introduced into boating.”

One of the most prestigious prizes in past regattas was for the boat that could squeeze in the largest number of people on board for the race.

This year, the PTSA is recommending that boats employ family-unit or short-handed (smaller) crews in order to be safe and follow state COVID guidelines. 

The PTSA has hosted smaller races with short-handed crews since last summer, and plan to continue to do so in the upcoming “official”  racing season, said PTSA president Roland Nikles.

“It’s been a tremendous amount of fun,” he said of the COVID-cautious races so far.

Nikles stressed that despite the emphasis on the races this year, the regatta still consists of “racing with a small ‘r.’”

“The emphasis is on participation and fun,” he said. “It’s about just coming out and sailing around the course together, enjoying the camaraderie of a flock of geese, and enjoying the great views of the town, the mountains, and the water.”

Another emphasis of the regatta, he added, is getting as many boats out onto the water as possible. He said he hopes to see new faces for not just this event but for the busy slate of races scheduled throughout the summer. 

Races around Protection Island and Marrowstone Island, among other local landmarks, will take place on weekends, while competitive racing on Port Townsend Bay will occur on Wednesdays and more casual contests on Friday evenings.

Out of all these races, the Shipwrights’ Regatta holds a special place in the community, Trailer said.

“The fun races are a really good way for people to get out and use their boats and build community and I think it’s exactly what the heart of PT is about — being outside.”

Nikles wholeheartedly agreed with Trailer.

“The Shipwrights’ Regatta is special because it has celebrated the diverse, funky nature of Port Townsend and the diverse boats we have here, the diverse characters we have here,” Nikles said. “The Maritime Center has worked hard at it to make it fun and we hope to make it so this year and on into the future.” 

The regatta commences at noon Saturday, Feb. 27. 

Nikles recommended catching the race at the beach adjacent to the Pourhouse on Washington Street. However, any dock along the waterfront, or viewpoint on Morgan Hill, will offer a pleasant panoramic view of the sailboats in action, he said.