Would someone be kind enough to post any distance races they are familiar with that occur in the Midwest. My dear wife owes me a sailing vacation next summer and I would like some options to plan for. Florida, Texas and the northeast are not out of the question, but the travel time to weather risk is kind of unfavorable when one has to go so far. Thanks in advance!

Unforunately there isn't much distance racing in the Midwest. Where are you located? They were planning on doing a race in MI but they cancelled it because there wasn't enough interest. I also know that the WI boats join in on a few races unofficially in WI. There is a distance race called the Red Fox which is in MI this weekend. Also the Round the Island in Pensacola is the next closest distance race.

Mike Hill
H20 #791

Depending on exactly how you define "distance" and "midwest," you might be interested in the Round-The-Bay race that is held just North of Toledo, OH in mid-June. It's 25-ish miles (don't recall the exact distance), and the start and finish are at the same place - no ground crew needed. Wind over the years has ranged from nonexistent to nuclear - though most years have been quite enjoyable. Great venue, great race, fun people, etc.

A days drive (~700 miles) from Milwaukee, Wisconsin is my prefereence.

We are having a (short) distance race on Sept 6-7 on Lake Ontario, Canadian side, at the east end of the lake about 2 hours east of Toronto. Its not the midwest, but it sounds like its closer than FL.
The race is very casual, fun event. No fees, just show up.

Let me know if you are interested and I can send you the details.
Dave

There isn't much for organized catamaran distance racing. There are a few keel boat distance races that have a few token cat's to guide the way. We just raced at Leech Lake in Minnesota about two weeks ago. The lake is 112,000 acres, the cats races a slightly longer course, about 30 miles. We always wound up back in the same place each day, easy logistics. The RC set about 11 marks and recorded the coordinates and set a course each day according to conditions. It was a good change from Windward leeward racing.

Another week long option is LOWISA (lake of the wood international sailing association) This is a fantastic week long event in northern MN southern Canada border. Cat sailors must charter a houseboat to sleep on overnight. But again the distances are in the 15 to 25 mile range.

Rainy Lake MN has another that sounds like more of a party then a race. Maybe I should look into that for next year, hmm.

Hi Mike, The CRAM race that they canceled had plenty of INTEREST. Do not confuse lack of registrations with lack of interest. The excessive requirements to do the race is what spelled its doom. For example, they were REQUIRING that you wear a drysuit each day. When we did the Goldcoast 100 race in the same area several years ago, we had a day of hot, drifting conditions for several hours which we endured in shorts and t-shirts. They do not REQUIRE that you wear a drysuit even on the Worrell 1000 race! There were many other requirements that just made the race unrealistic for most racers and that was clearly reflected in the lack of registrations. But there WAS plenty of interest!

Fritz and I ran the Gold Coast 100 for CRAM a few years ago. We had 21 entries and 18 boats show up. It was storming and cold that Friday, I was suprised we had that many given conditions. Safety requirements are necessary for Lake Michigan.
With that said, I think that several factors affected the Gold Coast 200 that was proposed. My opinons are that the Gold Coast 200 was during the week, not on a weekend. The venue was too far North in MI to draw the sailors, (driving distance). The safety features were somewhat extreem, even for Lake MI.
The biggest pain in organizing any distance race is usually not the sailors but the venue. Organizing any distance race is a very big job, and can be very stressful. I worried a lot prior to and during the regatta. Even with disclamers I felt responsible for the people on the water, This was due to light winds the first day and big wind and waves the second day.

Bash if you must, but until you have run a regatta, I suggest you not respond. Mikes response is useful as he runs a great distance regatta.

Pooh! No GoldCoast sailors to race? ...and yet no sharks within a thousand miles!

We recently completed the watertribe's lake michigan challenge. 285nm with an 8 day time limit. took us 5 1/2 with 4 1/2 days of headwinds, 5-25+ knots. route started on lake huron (oscoda), finished on lake michigan (manistee)

It is a challenge event for beachable boats done in a cruising format. In addition to safety equipment, you need to carry camping gear. There are classes for various types of human and wind powered craft but their class 4 is an open design class where beach cats qualify.

The sailing was spectacular. Hope to see some more cats in the event next year. There is a Florida event, the Everglades Cruising Challenge from St petersburg to Key largo, scheduled for March.

There are checkpoints, but it is not a staged event, so you are free to sail as conditions and endurance allow. Paddling/rowing are permitted, just as if you were cruising. It's a little different than a pure catamaran distance race, but I have done several of them now and they really are a great challenge and it is a good group of people. Any of you out their with a hankering to do a distance race ought to try do one of these.

www.watertribe.com

George

Hi Dave

Good story on the CF ,thanks so much --sorry I missed seeing you there and it ,-
knee injury has me sidelined for the season -

Very dissappointing year for many ---The Worrell 1000 fiasco ---and this race the MI 200 ,---my fault really ,--
too much for most and a large time commitment to tie in 3 events together . --Again appologize for the wasted effort of several and inconvienience to others .my error .

In trying one next year again will seek a group interested and schedule venue and time according to their availability --
One thing learned was --is --a race consists of a GROUP -
so to start any race have a group of committed racers involved at the beginning .--

Hope to race the Tybee 500 again ,--for a total 8000 miles raced in W-1000s and Tybee races ,--have to change the site name to sail 8000 for next year ,--


All the best --keep on racin
Carl Roberts