It’s that time of the year again. College football is back, and with it comes the return of beloved traditions like the University of Iowa’s Hawkeye Wave and Clemson’s running down The Hill. Of those traditions, though, none are quite as ubiquitous as the tailgate. And while every university in a Power Conference has their own take on the tailgate, some schools’ festivities undeniably stand out from the pack. The University of Washington (UW) is certainly one of those schools.
Every Saturday from September to November, eager UW fans descend onto the Seattle campus to cheer on the Huskies from one of the most scenic spots in college football. Husky Stadium is uniquely located right on the shore of Lake Washington, with sweeping views of the Cascade Mountains to the east and the Olympic Mountains to the west. But the stadium’s lakefront positioning does more than just offer attendees a stunning view of the Pacific Northwest landscape — it also provides an unconventional method for tailgating. Or ‘sailgating,’ if you will.
Sailgating, also referred to as boatgating or sterngating, is exactly what it sounds like. Rather than enjoying food and drink from the back of one’s parked car, sailgating sees football fans arrive by way of water, drop an anchor in Union Bay, and get their celebration under way. It’s a pretty significant method of transportation to the game, with hundreds of purple and gold decorated boats delivering as many as 8,000 Husky fans to every home game. Once kickoff approaches, all fans need to do is flag down a shuttle boat, hop on, and head into the stadium.
The tradition is believed to be over 100 years old, with the first football fans arriving by boat shortly after the stadium was built in 1920. Instead of dropping an anchor in the middle of the bay, though, these early sailgaters would simply tie up their boats only a few hundred yards from the end zone. From there, it didn’t take long for a miniature — and then massive — flotilla to form before every Saturday game at Husky Stadium. By the 1960s, the university had installed docks near the stadium to make transportation easier, though modern shuttle services hadn’t yet begun. Instead, it was allegedly members of the men’s crew team that paddled around the harbor picking up football fans and delivering them to the stadium for a tip.
Over the decades, sailgating has continued to grow and evolve, with the most significant development coming in the form of Husky Harbor. Located directly to the east of the stadium on the shore of Union Bay, Husky Harbor is capable of mooring up to 150 boats and offers close proximity to the stadium’s entrance — not to mention close community with fellow sailgaters.
Given the scarcity of passes, boat moorage permits in Husky Harbor are extremely competitive, with Connor Savage, the University of Washington’s director of stadium operations and events, likening the process to buying season tickets for Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. There’s even a person responsible for overseeing boat moorage at all home football games and ensuring that only permit holders enter Husky Harbor. Not all sailgaters are required to have a pass to Husky Harbor to enjoy the fun, though. Those who aren’t able to secure theirs are welcome to simply drop their anchor farther out in Union Bay where they’ll be joined by dozens or even hundreds of other boats doing the same.
No boat? No problem. Today, there are dozens of charter companies offering boating experiences for anywhere from 20 to 500 people on game days. Just like land tailgating, some football fans choose not to leave their boats at all, instead staying to watch the game — and listen to the roar of the crowd — right there on Lake Washington.
