News

Portage Yacht Club Spring Invitational 

May - June 2025

Portage Yacht Club's ILCA/Laser Fleet held its 7th annual Laser Invitational Racing Series, which after 6 weeks wrapped up on the last Thursday in June.  There were 15 boats registered, 10 of which were visiting participants. One evening brought out 12 boats to race, with an average of 5 races per evening. Even on the driftiest evening, where the wind seemed to oddly come and go evenly across the course, the management team pulled off 3 races.  Each evening is treated like a separate regatta outcome, then all evening outcomes are added up to give the overall tally per boat.  The racing was tight throughout the series.  One evening 6 races were sailed, having just 3 points separating 2rd thru 6th places. (3 boats tied for 2nd, and 2 boats tied for 5th).  On another evening with 5 races, 4 different boats finished 1st, plus down the roster all had a mixed bag of scores, which made the scoring relatively high, but the average outcome close.  In the end, Rick Lyons took top honors, with Paul Offer, and Sam Hawkins filling out the podium. The podium awards will be given out at the ILCA/Laser Fleet's 51st No Sweat to be held on Saturday September 20th.    Results at this link within the regatta/Invitational tab: https://ms-pyc.com/results/

Participants said;

• Tight racing, you’d look away for one second and someone, and maybe a few others, were right there to take your place.
  Another said...The race management teams were excellent, quick to get the races off back-to-back, and proactive to keep the courses reasonably square.

Michigan Sailing Club Regatta Report

June 8, 2025

Michigan Sailing Club hosted their annual Spring regatta on June 8.   As always the club is very welcoming and puts together a great regatta with lots of races and no frills at the right price ($0).   The committee did a great job getting in 5 races despite the dying winds.   Craig Pearson won the regatta followed by Ovidiu Adam and Rachel.   See link to full results here:  Results . 

Portage YC Hosts 50th No Sweat Regatta

September 2024

Portage Yacht Club in Pinckney, Michigan held the No Sweat ILCA Regatta for the 50th consecutive year on September 21, 2024; the second oldest ILCA regatta in the U.S.  Fourteen sailors came to see if they would have their name etched onto the perpetual trophy. They were joined by a host of experienced race management volunteers and professional videographers who brought their film and drone cameras.  Portage Lake offered a foggy start to the day, with light wind, which delayed the start of racing by 45 minutes. A light and shifty WNW breeze filled in bringing a warm, sunny sky and eventually built to under 10 for the remainder of the afternoon with a high temperature of 86F.  Rick Lyons of Portage Yacht Club took the first bullet of the day, but the next two races were won by Lansing Sail Club's Susan Taylor. A short break followed at which time competitors, race management and camera crews rehydrated.

Continuing the day’s plans for windward-leeward courses, the PRO Clark Chapin continuously worked the mark boats with code flag C changes for the next 3 races which included tight tacking duels. The next 2 races were won by a pair of Pauls, Paul Offer and Paul Ehman, and the last race was won by Susan Taylor, clenching her regatta victory.

After racing, competitors and volunteers reveled in cold beverages, snacks and grilled brats brought in by the host ILCA fleet members. Everyone was also treated to a viewing of the quickly edited and music-dubbed video of the day’s racing, the link to which can be seen on our fleet’s website: nosweatregatta.com. Many thanks to Ehman Productions for the fantastic video.

No Sweat results link https://ms-pyc.com/portage-yacht-club/sailing/racing/current-scores/2024-no-sweat-regatta/