48° North Top 25 Race Boats 2025: J/Boats Dominate Pacific Northwest Rankings
(Seattle, WA)- What a year for sailboat racing in the Pacific Northwest! Many of our qualifying events saw attendance upticks, and it seemed there was a little more even distribution of wins across the fleets. More boats sailing and more boats winning races are good things. By our count, the total number of boats that participated in at least one of our qualifying races jumped to 543 this year. That’s a big number!
The qualifying races for our Top 25 offer a good representation of keelboat racing in the Pacific Northwest, with a mix of distance and around-the-buoy races, single-race events, and multi-race regattas. Our scoring system is on a percentage basis, depending on the class size: 0% (did not finish) to 100% (first in class), where the event score = (Finishers – Place) / (Finishers – 1). Overall scores are an average of a boat’s best five finishes. No minimum number of races is required to qualify. Multi-race events (like the Southern Sound Series) are scored as single events. Ties go to the boat with the larger average fleet size. And it pays to sail more than just five events—most of the boats on this list did.
There’s always intrigue throughout the Top 25, but it’s concentrated at the top this year. For the first time in over a decade, we have a repeat #1 boat in John Aitchison’s J/105 MOOSE UNKNOWN (above). They were our top boat last year with a 100% score, and they’re our top boat this year, too!! Their skill and effectiveness in winning at least 10 major regattas over the last two years are genuinely remarkable, especially in a tight one-design class.
J/Boats not only topped the list, but comprised 7 of the Top 10 (70.0%)! And, J’s were 13 of the Top 24 (54.0%)! The lead models were 8 J/105s and 3 J/111s. The surprising “odd man out” was the J/109s, which have posted several boats in the Top 25 in previous years.
1 – J/105 MOOSE UNKNOWN- John Aitchison
3 – J/111 65 RED ROSES- Bruce Chan, Alex Smyth
5 – J/80 JOLLY GREEN- Ryan Porter, Yun Lim
7 – J/105 CREATIVE- Al Hughes, Shauna Walgren
8 – J/105 PANIC- Mike Cain
9 – J/105 JADED- Chris Phoenix, Rod Hearne
10 – J/105 LIFTOFF- Jeff Pace
13 – J/111 LODOS- Tolga Cezik
14 – J/105 INSUBORDINATION- Lenny Rezabek
18 – J/105 PEER GYNT- Paul Viola, Sara Billey
20 – J/80 AFTERBURNER- Gerry Gilbert
23 – J/105 MAZU- Irenę Tang, Nick Wilkerson
24 – J/111 HOOLIGAN- Jay Renehan, Chris Lanzinger
For more 48 North Top 25 Race Boats 2025 information
https://48north.com/racing/48-norths-top-25-race-boats-of-2025/