Once a year, Shilshole Bay in Seattle, WA gets a dose of pink as sailors decorate their sailboats, and themselves, to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness.

The race itself is born of a saga of perseverance and community spirit. Following the first annual regatta in 2012, the original organization was dissolved, leaving the regatta to an uncertain fate despite having raised an unprecedented $36,000 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation in it’s first year.

Nevertheless, Seattle’s nonprofit Sloop Tavern Yacht Club picked up the pieces and took the event under their wing for an additional year while organizers rushed to put together a new charitable organization capable of running the event annually. In it’s second year, they donated over $39,000, as Seattle’s close-knit sailing community came together once again.

The 3rd Annual Pink Boat Regatta, now it’s own safe entity and supporting The Breast Cancer Research Foundation with 100% of all net proceeds, is approaching fast. On September 7th in both Seattle and Bellingham, WA, sailors will don their pink, leave their moorages in decorated sailboats, and spend a few hours rounding buoys for the cause before heading to the party.

There’s the boat who made a ‘brazinnaker’ out of an old pink spinnaker. There’s pink dyed sails, pink duct-taped hulls, every sort of pink-clad costumed-sailor one could imagine, all vying for the coveted ‘Pinkest Boat Award,’ some having prepared and planned months ahead of time.  There are the tokens honoring survivors, and those who lost the fight, reminding us why we’re out sailing on a beautiful September day so that one day we will have seen this important research to fruition and no longer lose our loved ones to this terrible disease.

Thanks to the regatta’s unique “buy-a-buoy” concept, sailors begin fundraising as soon as their boat is registered, earning an extra ‘buoy’ on race day for every $100 they raise.  Some plan months in advance, throwing themselves into the cause with the vigor and enthusiasm of an inspired and affected community who’ve embraced the idea that doing the thing many of us love best, being out on the water with our friends and loved ones, can, once a year, become something much bigger for a cause just as close to home as are the local waterways.

The event for 2014 has already passed the $30,000 mark heading into the final days before the event takes place, and is on track for its’ most impactful year yet.  What better way to support breast cancer research and prevention than a fun-filled day on the water before an epic awards party?  Visit www.pinkboatregatta.org for more information about the event and to see its progress.

Ashley is a scientist moonlighting as a sailor… or is it the other way around? When she’s not racing sailboats in her spare time, she’s planning regattas on the Puget Sound.