The waters of Penn Cove will be dotted with a fleet of sailboats this weekend as the Oak Harbor High School sailing team hosts the Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association Double Handed District Championships Friday through Sunday, April 24-26.

The Coupeville Wharf will be the launching point for the tournament, which will feature about 160 sailors from more than 20 schools.

During the tournament, the event will have exclusive use of the wharf dock and the Coupeville boat launch will be closed to the public.

Erik Mann, volunteer instructor and board member for the organization, said the group wanted to host the event in Penn Cove because the cove is deeper than the waters in Oak Harbor.

Mann said the best place to view the regatta is from the dock.

Practice races will be held Friday, then the competition runs from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday and 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. Sunday.

Teams from Oak Harbor, the San Juan Islands, Anacortes, Bellingham, Port Townsend, North Kitsap, Central Kitsap, Seattle, Woodinville, Ballard, Olympia, Gig Harbor, Bainbridge Island, Portland and Hood River are expected to participate; they will stay at Camp Casey during the weekend.

The NWISA championship is the final fleet race of the season for the district (one of seven in the United States). The winners of the district regatta will qualify to represent the NWISA at the national championships at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Mary., May 8-10.

This weekend, each school will have two, two-man (skipper and crew) boats, A division and B division. The A division pair will race twice, and then the B division will sail the next two races. Rotations continue throughout the regatta; the two boats’ scores are combined to determine the team score.

Varsity and junior varsity teams will be racing simultaneously during the regatta.