Born Again Whidbey Island (or ?) Race Week

Schelleen Rathkopf is facing quite a challenge. When she and then-husband Charley purchased Whidbey Island Race Week, aka The Adult Summer Camp, the event had struggled through different owners and managers, hanging on as an event but with extinction always seemingly just one dropped sponsor away. When you think of it, kudos to all those who have taken WIRW on and kept it alive. Most other race weeks around the nation have met their demise.

And then there’s Oak Harbor. Despite the history, the Oak Harbor Marina has allowed their hoist to fall into disrepair and has failed to dredge the channels, and apparently has no plans to solve either problem.

Not one to shy away from a challenge or make bold move, this year Schelleen’s made the bold move to shorten WIRW to four days over a weekend. She’s added a cruising class with less crew work-intensive courses. And in recent years she’s added a kid’s camp. And, brace yourselves, there’s a real possibility the event could move away from Oak Harbor. To her great credit, Schelleen is putting it all out in front of the PNW sailing community so we can discuss and help. But let me get out of the way and let her tell all:

Sailish: What are the changes for this year? What classes taking shape?

Obviously the big change up this year is the shift from a 5-day regatta that runs Mon-Fri to a 4-day regatta that runs Thurs-Sun. For years, people have suggested that a shift would help skippers find crew so people would have to take fewer days off work. We’ll see if this shift works to build the boat count. It is interesting to note that when we look at all the competitors at Race Week for the years 2016 and 2017, the shift has attracted 16 new boats who are brand new to Race Week. The other change is that we added a casual cruising class to the mix in an effort to attract sailors who just want to come up and have a casual distance race each day. As the event has a 35-year history of buoy racing in Penn Cove, attracting the cruising classes out there will take some time. But, we currently have three boats signed up for this new class: Pearl Jem (Jeanneau 42DS) Pangaea (Baltic 39) and Vela Volta (Bav 35 Match). Of course we’d like to see 6-10 boats in this new class. Additionally, we added a new overall trophy to this year’s mix: the Molly Kool Cup, a perpetual trophy to recognize an outstanding female skipper.

Classes taking shape: Last year we had 13 J105s and 8 Melges 24s but so far this year 6 J105s and 2 Melges 24s are registered. The word on the street is that some skippers are not pleased with the 4 day shift Thurs-Sun due to delivery challenges (despite early delivery options being offered the weekend before WIRW this year). Also, many Melges 24s are racing Worlds and then headed to San Francisco so WIRW not part of their program. We have some efforts at play in the J80 fleet and hoping to get at least 5-6 boats this year. Our PHRF registrations are shaping up as well with the addition of 16 brand new boats.

Penn Cove is an absolutely stunning place to sail but we’re facing some very real challenges to grow the event in this venue which may necessitate a venue change in the future. The hoist at the Oak Harbor Marina is no longer functional (and there are not plans to fix this) and the channel into the Oak Harbor Marina can be very shallow at the negative tides that hit in July. These two challenges prevent us from appealing to those boats on trailers and also to the big boats who need more water to move about safely. We’re committed to staying put in Oak Harbor through 2019, but are seriously considering a new venue starting in 2020 that can deliver on what is necessary for us to include more sailors in the Pacific NW and provide a wonderful summertime destination that the entire family can enjoy.

Sailish: What are the lessons learned in the last couple years? 

The last couple of years have been tough. It’s no surpise that Charley and I were divorced in 2016. And when we agreed to take WIRW on, our partnership was very strong as he brings the rock solid race management experience to the table and I brought event marketing and promotions experience to the table. With me taking on the business as sole producer following the divorce, I’ve had alot to learn. Thankfully, Charley and I have a fine working relationship and he continues to be the event PRO and is part of the Advisory Board for WIRW.

Other things I’ve learned:

-Fleets want to have their own events. Despite WIRW offering up an amazing infrastructure and race management model, many fleets still want to conduct their own Regionals, Nationals or NA Championships. We’re continuing the efforts to talk about this as it can save so much time and $ if fleets used Race Week as a turn-key approach to their own events.

-People want a fun, destination in the summertime! Don’t necessarily need expensive regional bands (tho we have these again in 2018, including the Paperboys out of BC) but they want a fun party where they can chill out and have fun after racing.

-Racers are also looking for something new and fun. The events that are growing are interesting and fun. Buoy racing is great, but it would be nice to expand our offerings at Race Week to include some fun and interesting distance races vs. windward/leeward races.

Ultimately I’d like to see 4 race areas at WIRW: dinghies, big boats, youth sailing and a fun casual cruiser class.

Sailish: Is there a crew list? 

Yes: https://yachtscoring.com/crew_list_report.cfm?eid=4546

Sailish: What are your thoughts about race weeks generally?  Why does Charleston succeed?  

Participation is down nationally (internationally). It’s an expensive, time consuming sport. And there is a huge learning curve required to be successful (for those wanting to be on the podium). There are more demands on people’s time than ever. My gut tells me that people still want to sail, but possibly not at the same level of intensity. And I think as a whole, the sport targets a very specific demographic and people age out of that demographic, start families, and priorities change. I also think that boats are super expensive and require seasoned crew and “keeping up with the Joneses” when it comes to boats is daunting for many and frustration happens when the same boats win over and over and over again. There’s been alot of debate around ORC, PHRF and handicap scoring systems as we all try and make things as easy and accessible and fair for racers in a sport that is full of rules and regulations governed by the RRS that already can make things fairly complicated and intimidating for the new racers to break in.

This “keeping up with the Joneses” thing is really interesting as we look at OD fleets that come/go. I can still remember the days when the Olson 30 fleet in Seattle was the largest fleet racing! And then there was the Nationals hosted here and almost overnight, the fleet just went away. It was replaced by the next, sexier boat. What happened to the Farr 30s? J80s are growing steady here but not nearly as quickly as in other cities. J24s are solid (though they seem to prefer lake sailing) The current sweethearts seem to be the J105 fleet, as it’s a great boat for the PNW and there is a tight community of boat owners who know and respect each other. The fleets that seem to succeed for the long haul are those who recognize that iron sharpens iron and they’ve formed a cohesive community that encourages each other to get out and go racing.

Events that are succeeding are those that offer a fun destination experience for racers looking for something new and perhaps even some untraditional courses that shakes up the competition and gives more skippers a chance of winning.

Sailish: Why have Key West and the Seattle NOOD regatta failed?

I think Key West went away because of proximity for racers was time/cost prohibitive. NOOD? My understanding that it went away (in Seattle) because of WA state liquor laws – not that the OD participation wasn’t there. The costs to produce a regatta are super high – costs that many don’t even think about: staging, tenting, registration software, website development, special event permits, special event insurance, regatta insurance, security, fencing, liquor, permits, portable toilets and handwashing stations, race committee assets, awards, staffing, security. It takes alot to produce and event sponsorship $ is getting harder and harder to get (especially when boat numbers are under 100 boats). No one who produces Race Week events are making any money. And it takes alot of work throughout the year to get it done. Working with local jurisdictions can also add to some of these challenges and in the case of Key West, there was definitely some politics at play that made producing the event cost prohibitive in the end.

Given the history of this event in the PNW, we’re doing everything we can to continue to offer up a great event that appeals to the longtimers (who build their summer plans around WIRW) and at the same time draw in new players to the sport. With our reputation for superior race committee and race management work, combined with excellent post party events, we want to see more fleets using WIRW’s established infrastructure to conduct their own regional or NA Championships in future years. And ultimately, we’d love to offer a dinghy and a big boat race experience and I’ve always wanted to add a youth sailing component. 

Final Kurt Words

Few events have the history of WIRW. From the IOR days ’til now, the Adult Summer Camp has entertained thousands. Trophies have been won, rum consumed and children conceived (yes, fact). And really, Penn Cove is a great place to race in summer. But 3/day buoy racing and bacchanalian excess have both lost a lot of their appeal, and the organizers and sailors haven’t nailed down exactly what to put in their place.

With the announcement that WIRW was going to a 4-day weekend format, there was the expected groans from the hard core racers. And while Schelleen’s efforts to make the event more family and kid-friendly have succeeded, they haven’t yet convinced enough sailing families out there to produce a big fleet.

That all said, if my family was into racing (it isn’t – yet) I’d set aside time to do WIRW this year in the cruising class. I’d carry the cruising gear onboard and head for the San Juans immediately after. –KH

And, you know, please SHARE!

Kurt Hoehne

Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.