Bayview One Design Regatta launches summer 2012

by Barby MacGowan on 23 Nov 2011 Bayview One Design Regatta is being launched by Bayview Yacht Club, Detroit, this summer. The inaugural event is scheduled to be held from 31st May to 3rd June 2012 and offers a long weekend of racing on Lake St. Clair for all types and sizes of boats and encourages sailors of all ages and calibers to participate.

'We’ll run multiple races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for two dozen or more one design classes and a limited number of handicap classes,' said Bayview Yacht Club Governor Hanson Bratton, who will serve as the Regatta’s Chairman while Karl Kuspa serves as Vice Chairman. 'Three race circles will be located on Lake St. Clair while a fourth, for dinghy classes, will be added in front of the club on the Detroit River to allow for spectators and to showcase the best of what the club - which also hosts the famous Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac Race - has to offer.'

Classes with strong contingents that are expected to enter are: Melges 20, Melges 24, Beneteau 36.7, C&C 35, Cal 25, Catalina 27, Etchells, Flying Scot, J/24, J/29, J/105, J/120, Lightning, Thistle, NA 40, Tartan Ten, and Ultimate 20. Organizers expect that many classes will consider the event as a venue for their regional, national or even world championships.

'Over its long history of running sailboat races, Bayview Yacht Club has learned that if Midwesterners can be stereotyped as open, friendly, and straightforward, the word ‘serious’ should be added when it comes to describing sailors from the Midwest,' said Bratton. 'They take their one-design sailing seriously, and they have come to expect the very best in race management and social functions, which BYC will deliver with fresh energy and an innovative spirit for beginning new traditions.'

The Detroit NOOD Regatta, which has been hosted by the Bayview Yacht Club since 1993, is replaced by this new event.

'We had a great 19-year run, but we are going in a new direction,' said Bratton. 'It was a decision we made as a club.'

The Bayview Yacht Club, founded in 1915, is located on the Detroit River, which is connected to Lake St. Clair. Its pure sailing essence is cultivated by two harbors with over 100 berths and a crane for launching boats up to 50 feet. With an 8,000 sq. ft. club house that has been called a shrine to nautical culture, the club also has a separate small-boat sailing center.

Lake St. Clair, spanning 26 miles from north to south and about 24 miles from east to west, is between Lake Huron (to its north) and Lake Erie (to its south).

The Notice of Race and more information for the inaugural Bayview One Design Regatta will be posted online over the coming Bayview Yacht Club website