October 4, 2025

The weather for the Pumpkin Head Regatta was unusually warm for October with temperatures in the mid 80's with 5-12 kt winds and sunny skies allowing Grand Rapids Yacht Club to run another perfect regatta getting 6 races with little delay between races.   Racing was followed by pizza and beer and GRYC was a great host and a great venue.  Racing was very tight with with 5 different winners of the 6 races.   Grayson Sikkema of GRYC was very consistent coming in first followed by Craig Pearson, Jacklyn Hallett, Dries Berens, and Susan Taylor rounding out the top 5. 

September 20, 2025

At the Portage Yacht Club's 51st annual No Sweat, 15 competitors were greeted with sunny skies and easterly winds at 5 to 15 mph, which allowed race officer Clark Chapin and his crack volunteer crew to complete the six scheduled races.  Three eager competitors traveled from the Cleveland Ohio area, with one of them, Jno Disch returning home to Ohio at the top of the podium as the event winner.

Jno proved to be the most consistent at the top of the fleet, sniffing out the wind shifts just edging out 2nd place finisher Craig Pearson from North Cape YC by one point. Two points behind Craig was last year's event winner Susan Taylor from Lansing MI. She was followed by local sailor Rick Lyons who had won the first race of the day, but failed to finish better than 5th place in the remaining 5 races. Carey Jones from Chelsea MI tied with Rick, and took the final prize via the tie breaker. 

There was a lot of action down through the ILCA 7 fleet; Plenty of bad and good throughout the fleet, lots of tight mark roundings, one attending their first ILCA/Laser event trying the Class out, one attending the No Sweat after a 25 - 30 year hiatus, and a few young adults showing off their growing skills and promise. All were grinding it out until the very end.  In the end there was the usual comradery and fellowship; On the water, at the break, and at the cook-out/prize-giving with boats packed up.

Event results and other information at this link nosweatregatta.com or Racing Results - Portage Yacht Club

Submitted by Rick Lyons

August 2025

11 sailors converged on August 23rd for LSC’s longtime annual regatta.  Four were from elsewhere-Little Traverse YC, North Cape YC, Cleveland, OH and Portage Yacht Club.  All were treated to an excellent day on the water.  Winds from the Southwest, clocking Westerly as the day progressed and increasing in velocity through the day, from 6-8 knots in the a.m. to 10-12 knots in the p.m.  With virtually no other boat traffic and reduced Lake Lansing shiftiness, the race committee was able use the entire lake in getting off six races with minimal recalls and few mark adjustments. 

Craig Pearson/North Cape Y.C. won five of the six races with five points after the sixth race drop.  LSC’s Clayton DeBruyn, was second with 12 points.  Dillon McCormick/LSC was third, with fifteen points, Jno Disch/Cleveland was 4th, and Hugh Blaxhill/LSC was fifth.   This was a very well-run and welcoming regatta in near-perfect conditions.  Lots of food, including the popular grill your own steak and roasted corn after racing.  The level of competition was high and all went home happy, tired and full. 

July 2025

The regatta was a great success.   21 ILCA 7's and seven ILCA 6's competed over 2 days for the D19 Champs.   Of these, 19 also entered for the Great Lakes Masters.  The first day's racing was cut short due to storms moving in.   Overall 5 races were completed in good medium wind conditions on beautiful Grand Traverse Bay.   GTYC provided excellent hospitality and great racing venue.   

See results here:   https://gtyc.org/regatta/KYCS47svJx/results. 

July 12-13, 2025

NCYC held it's annual multi-class regatta the second weekend in July and for the second year included ILCA's.   Saturday's racing was postponed for several hours due to a storm cell that came through.  Everyone was able to enjoy the clubhouse during the wait.  After the storms, everyone was eager to get out on the water and the RC was able to get two races in with a good 12kn breeze out of the S.  On Sunday, the winds were lighter but the RC was efficient, and there was very little waiting between races getting in 3 races.   Les Lashaway and Craig Pearson, both from North Cape, each had 2 firsts and 2 seconds and it came down to the 5th and final race to determine the winner.  Les won the last race to come out on top followed by Craig Pearson with Galen Ng from Michigan Sailing Club in third.