Part Three of YBAA University: We recently returned from the annual Yacht Broker’s Assn of America University session. This is a gathering of yacht brokers and new boat sales people, along with industry experts in various fields. We collected lots of great information to share and this is the third and final article. Click here…
Mid-July is when both races to Mackinac Island, Michigan—one from Port Huron, MI and one from Chicago, IL—take place. Held on alternating weekends, these two races comprise some of the longest freshwater sailing races in the world and are significant tests of the sailors and boats that participate. This year, 196 entries made the start…
The Fallacy of Cost: Sailboat racing is often blamed for being too expensive. Yes, it can be, but it doesn’t always have to be. Looking at the fleet at the CanAm this past weekend, we see numerous boats that are between 20-40 years old, including many of the winners. These boats can be purchased quite inexpensively. Some have…
The CanAm Regatta, successor to the famous Youngstown Level, was held last weekend at Youngstown YC. This year’s event marked the 50th time that YYC has held a regatta at the end of July. The first 40 were the famous Level (if you were here for any of those days you would know why we used the…
We got away on Essential for a few short days over the 4th of July, but our normal summer cruise group elected to wait a few more weeks to schedule our main cruise around the Ideal 18 Lake Ontario Challenge Cup, which was held at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club this past weekend. We pulled out…
Part Two of YBAA University: As I wrote last week, we just returned from the annual Yacht Broker’s Assn of America University session. This is a gathering of yacht brokers and new boat sales people, along with industry experts in various fields. We collected lots of great information to share. Click here to read part…
Twenty boats participated in the 2nd Annual Firecracker Regatta this past weekend at the Rochester Yacht Club. Designed by Reichel/Pugh and built by Melges, the Melges 15 prioritizes stability, comfort, ease of use, and performance. With the main design goals focused on stability and performance in a variety of conditions, the boat features a narrow overall…
The Sandusky Sailing Club recently hosted the 2023 Snipe National Championships. It was filled with five days of sailing, along with good fellowship on land after the races. As Commodore, I had the honor of welcoming the class to the club. A club that is proud to be celebrating 90 years of existence with its main…
I just returned from the annual Yacht Broker’s Assn of America (YBAA) University session. This is a gathering of yacht brokers and new boat sales people, along with industry experts in various fields. The meeting alternates each year between Newport and Annapolis, this year we were in the latter. The YBAAU is part of the continuing…
As I write this, we’re about to embark upon the last of our longer passages for the year—fingers crossed! We’ve done several 5-7 day passages now, this one will be around four days, taking us from the northern tip of eastern Australia to Indonesia. I’ve learned since our first week-long passage last year that it’s…