Pacific Northwest Sailing Articles
31 articles — destinations, conditions, tips, and local knowledge.
Do I Need ASA Certification to Charter a Sailboat?
The short answer: it depends on whether you're bareboat chartering or hiring a captain. Here's exactly what certification charter companies require — and what alternatives they accept.
Bareboat vs. Skippered vs. Crewed Charter: Which Is Right for You?
The single biggest decision in planning a sailing charter is the type of charter — bareboat, skippered, or fully crewed. The honest working version of the differences, the costs, and the math that decides which one fits.
Sailboat Charter Seattle: The Complete Planning Guide
Shilshole Bay Marina is the largest marina in Washington State at 1,400 slips, and the working ocean access for one of the more extraordinary sailing grounds in North America. The complete working guide to chartering a sailboat in Seattle and on Puget Sound — types, costs, the operators, certification, and where to go.
How Much Does a Sailing Charter Cost in Seattle?
Seattle sailing-charter prices range from about $95 per person for a two-hour sunset sail to $6,000+ for a fully crewed week in the San Juans. The honest working breakdown — what each charter type costs, what is included, and the math that drives the variation.
Sailing Lessons Seattle: Schools, Costs & ASA Certification
Seattle has one of the better learn-to-sail networks in the United States — protected inland waters, consistent summer winds, and an unusually deep concentration of ASA-certified schools. The working version of the certification ladder, the schools, the costs, and the path from first lesson to a first bareboat charter.
San Juan Islands Sailing Charter Guide: Everything You Need to Plan Your Trip
The 172-island San Juan Islands archipelago is the working sailing destination of the Pacific Northwest — and most cruisers arrive without owning a boat. The complete planning guide for chartering in the San Juans, from choosing the right charter type to the working anchorages and operators.
Sunset Sailing Seattle & Day Sails on Puget Sound
A two-hour sunset sail from Shilshole Bay with the Olympics turning pink to the west is one of the genuinely working remarkable things to do in Seattle. The complete guide to short charters on Puget Sound — sunset sails, half-day, full-day, and how to book.
Family Cruising in the San Juans: Kids, Boats, and the PNW Summer
Sailing with children in the San Juans is one of the working family experiences in the Pacific Northwest — if it is planned right. Short passages, calm anchorages, abundant wildlife, and the dinghy as the working adventure vehicle. The honest version of what works.
The Best Anchorages in the San Juan Islands
The San Juans have over 170 named islands and dozens of working anchorages — from the perfectly protected to the boldly exposed. The working pick of the ones that earn repeat visits, with the trade-offs that decide which is right for the night.
Opening Day in Seattle: The Boat Parade That Kicks Off PNW Boating Season
The first Saturday of May, Seattle's Lake Washington Ship Canal fills with decorated boats for the oldest continuous boating tradition in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Yacht Club has hosted the Opening Day parade since 1913 — over a century of working civic celebration.
Bareboat Charter in the Pacific Northwest: What to Expect
A bareboat charter is the customer skippering the boat — keys, vessel, week of cruising in the San Juans, and complete responsibility for the lot. The honest version of what charter companies want from a skipper, what changes from Caribbean chartering, and what nobody tells the first-timer before they go.
Race to Alaska: The World's Wildest Sailing Race Explained
750 miles from Port Townsend to Ketchikan. No engine. No support. No wind? Row. The working version of R2AK — what the race is, who races it, why nobody has died yet, and why it remains the strangest event in offshore sailing.
Hood Canal by Boat: Oysters, Anchorages, and the PNW Cruise Most Sailors Skip
Hood Canal is 60 miles long, completely protected from ocean swell, and home to oysters considered among the best in the country. The working version of the cruising ground that gets a fraction of the traffic the San Juans attract — and earns every mile of the trip in.
Anchoring in Puget Sound: A Beginner's Guide to Technique and Etiquette
Setting a proper anchor is one of the most fundamental skills in coastal cruising. The PNW-specific working version — soft mud bottoms, tidal-range scope math, summer-weekend etiquette, and how not to be that boat.
Sailing the San Juans: A 7-Day Itinerary for First-Timers
Forty-five named islands, hundreds of coves, two countries' worth of customs rules, and tidal currents that will humble any skipper who ignores them. The working 7-day itinerary built around realistic day-sails — not magazine-fantasy miles.
Bottom Paint for Puget Sound: Ablative vs. Hard vs. Hybrid
Puget Sound barnacles are aggressive. The wrong bottom-paint choice costs boat speed, increases fuel consumption, and forces expensive early haul-outs. The working version of antifouling for PNW waters — what each paint type does, who it works for, and what the actual application costs.
The 5 Best Beginner Sailboats for Pacific Northwest Waters
Five working candidates for a Pacific Northwest first sailboat — what each one is honest about, what each one isn't, and what to look for when the survey arrives. Three under $40K, two under $100K. None of them aspirational.
Best Puget Sound Anchorages for a Weekend Cruise
The San Juans get the headlines, but Puget Sound has working overnight anchorages within an easy day's sail of Seattle, Tacoma, or Olympia. Five working spots that deliver real solitude, wildlife, and the satisfying end-of-day feeling of swinging on the boat's own hook.
5 Trawlers Under $100K That Are Right for the PNW
The Pacific Northwest used-trawler market is the deepest in North America. Five working candidates under $100K — what each one is honest about, what each one isn't, and what to check before the survey turns into a deal-breaker.
PNW Spring Commissioning: The Working Pre-Season Checklist
Snow on the Olympics is melting and the bilge pump is running again. The working spring commissioning sequence for Pacific Northwest boats — bottom paint, zincs, engine, rigging, electrical, safety, and documentation. Six weeks of work before the first April weekend on the water.
Liveaboard Life in Seattle: A Practical Primer
Seattle has one of the largest liveaboard communities in the country — Shilshole alone has hundreds of permits, and Eastlake, Portage Bay, and Lake Union add hundreds more. The honest version of the lifestyle, the working costs, and what the Instagram version leaves out.
10 Things First-Time San Juan Islands Sailors Wish They'd Known
The working list of first-cruise mistakes — Cattle Pass timing, Friday Harbor moorage, July fog, orca etiquette, and the seven other lessons that the experienced San Juan sailors learned the hard way and now share to spare the next generation the same slog.
Understanding Puget Sound Tides
The southern end of Puget Sound has the largest tidal range in Washington. The northern end has the strongest currents. The two facts are related — and a cruise through the Sound has to plan for both.
Sailboat vs. Powerboat for PNW Cruising: An Honest Comparison
The Pacific Northwest is one of the few cruising grounds in North America that genuinely accommodates both at a high level. Before spending six figures on a first cruising boat, the working tradeoffs — and the answer most sailing forums won't give.
How to Read a NOAA Marine Forecast
The forecast is free, comprehensive, and usually accurate to within twenty-four hours. Most recreational boaters glance at the wind number and miss the rest. Here is what is in the forecast and what to do with it.
Winter Boating in the Pacific Northwest: What You Need to Know
Puget Sound doesn't close for winter. The crowds thin out, anchorages open up, and on a calm December morning the snow-covered Olympics reflect off glassy water like nothing in July. The working version of off-season PNW boating — what changes, what gear matters, and what the working rules are.
Sailing Whidbey Island: Washington's Longest Island and Best-Kept Secret
Whidbey Island is 55 miles long and sits at the doorstep of Puget Sound — yet most Seattle-area sailors have never anchored there. Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Penn Cove, Langley, and the dramatic passage through Deception Pass: here's everything you need.
Sailing from Bellingham: The Northern Gateway to the San Juans
Bellingham is the closest mainland port to the Canadian Gulf Islands and the northern San Juans — with two marinas, a flourishing sailing community, and Chuckanut Bay just around the corner. Here's what you need to know to base your cruise here.
Sailing to Lopez Island: The Quiet San Juan
Lopez Island is the anti-Orcas — flat where Orcas is mountainous, agricultural where Orcas is dramatic, unhurried where the rest of the San Juans get busy. Fisherman Bay is one of the best anchorages in the archipelago. Here's how to sail there and what to do when you arrive.
Sailing to Orcas Island: The Complete Guide to the Crown of the San Juans
Orcas Island is the largest and most dramatic of the San Juan Islands — a horseshoe-shaped island with two deep bays, a 2,400-foot mountain, and more anchorages per square mile than anywhere else in Puget Sound. Here's everything you need to know to sail there and make the most of it.
Sailing Seattle: What It's Actually Like to Sail from the Middle of the City
Seattle has 1,400 slips at Shilshole, three charter operators, a two-lock transit connecting two lake systems to Puget Sound, and day-sail access to a state park island 9 miles from downtown. Most people who live here don't know any of this.