Whidbey Island Race Week finds a new home

Nov 21, 2019

From l., Theresa Coe, marina general manager; Schelleen Rathkopf, race event producer and owner; Sam and Danielle Chen, marina chief operating officer, at the announcement of the 2020 race week location. Photo by Renee Coe.

Whidbey Island Race Week LLC announced March 28 that Point Roberts has been chosen as the new venue for Race Week beginning in 2020. The event will be named Point Roberts Race Week and the date of the event will be July13-17, 2020.

“Point Roberts has everything we need to host a world-class destination regatta,” said Schelleen Rathkopf, event producer and owner. It has an exceptional race area for both big boats and dinghies, a deep-water full-service marina and a comfortable Pacific Northwest summertime vibe. It’s the perfect venue for Race Week’s new home.”

Rathkopf said the goal was to create the largest sailboat racing event on the west coast including racers from both the U.S. and Canada. Race organizers hope to tie in a U.S. sailing national championship as well as have the event included in the Vancouver area racing circuit.

This year will represent the 37th year Race Week has been held in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. Organizers needed to find a new home due to failing infrastructure in Oak Harbor and the inability to attract big boats due to shallow water.

One of the attractions of the Point Roberts Marina was its ability to feed the 500-600 people for the indoor/outdoor post-race parties on site. As well, the marina can handle the influx of the over 200 boats that are expected to attend for the daily races that will be taking place.

Click here to see a great collection of images of the Whidby Island Race week spanning 1983 – 2019!