(Harbor Springs, MI)- Sailboats from across America head to Harbor
Springs each summer for one of the grander sailing traditions on the
Great Lakes: the Ugotta Regatta. Hosted by the Little Traverse Yacht
Club, the Regatta brings together some of the best sailboat racers in
the country to Little Traverse Bay, easily one of the prettiest bodies
of water in all the Great Lakes. Ugotta Regatta takes place the weekend
following the second of the Mackinac Races (Port Huron-Mackinac,
Chicago-Mackinac).LTYC’s Ugotta Regatta is open to all sailors but there is one caveat, there is a city-required cap of 88 boats and registration is first come, first served. The series begins with one design racing on Thursday and Friday followed by tour-of-the-bay courses on Saturday and Sunday. The weekend’s festivities kick off bright and early Friday morning with a fun tradition: a long line of happy people beginning at sun up outside Irish Boat Shop to purchase the 2015 Ugotta Regatta t-shirt. Each year, the shirt design changes and with a limited production, the lines begin early to score a coveted shirt.
There are two very healthy fleets of J/70s and J/120s joining the festivities this year in addition to a slew of J/Teams participating in the PHRF handicap fleets. The J/70s have ten boats on the starting line with a bunch of out-of-towners driving hundreds of miles to enjoy this little corner of the world. The locals have six boats sailing for LTYC, including Polk Wagner’s ESCAPE, Tom Bosch’s JAMMIN, Chal Curtis’ SUNDOG, Jeff Towner’s DOWNTOWNER, Scott Sellers’ TRD BURRITOS and Richard Lehmann’s WIND CZAR. Top visitors include Ed Furry’s SAIL22 FALE from Culver, IN; Adam Bowen’s BLACK PEARL Brookfield, IL; and Andrea Krasinski’s BUCEPHALUS from Chicago YC in Chicago, IL.
Similarly, the J/120s have an excellent field of boats mostly from the Detroit side of Michigan- a.k.a. “the Grosse Pointe Mafia”. In fact, the entire fleet sailed over using the Bayview-Mackinac Race as their “feeder” event for Harbor Springs! It’s the roll of the dice to determine how these crews will end up after Sunday’s racing. Nevertheless, Frank Kern’s CARINTHIA and Mike & Bob Kirkman’s HOT TICKET are always a factor. But, don’t count out Charlie Hess’ FUNTECH Racing, John Hughes & Ed Vermet’s NAUTI-BOYS nor Curt Kime’s VICTRIX.
In the handicap world of PHRF, division 2 has two J/111s dueling with two J/122s- all top boats in their respective classes. Dave Irish’s NO SURPRISE and Brad Faber’s UTAH should hold up the J/111 side of things while Mitch Padnos’ SUFFICIENT REASON and Robert Mampe’s GOTTA WANTA will be doing their best to repeat the famous duels we so often see at Key West Race Week between the 111s vs 122s.
PHRF 3 class sees a trio of J/35s hoping to sweep their class, including Phil Velez’s AMANTE, Ed Bayer’s FALCON and Melia Carter’s SPECIAL K.
A quartet of J/105s are sailing PHRF 4 class, led by class leader Carter Williams on CREATIVE DESTRUCTION along with William Petzold’s GREEN FLASH, Jay Vander Wall’s MANITOU and Sam Powers’ GRYPHON. Joining their battles for class leadership will be Raenette McManus’ J/100 COURAGE and Gary Stewart’s J/80 POINTYHEAD.
Finally, in PHRF NonSpin we find the globe-girdling couple of Bill and Judy Stellin of Macatawa Bay YC sailed their famous J/42 JAYWALKER against a Hinckley 42, Farr 33 cruiser, and an Alerion 33 daysailer. Should be fun for them! For more Ugotta Regatta sailing information
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