2025 GL52 Great Lakes Series wrap-up
by Windlass Creative 22 Oct 03:48 NZDT
2025 Little Traverse Yacht Club Ugotta Regatta © Anna Suslova
The GL52 fleet completed its 2025 racing season on Lake Michigan last weekend at the GL52 Macatawa Challenge, where the final regatta outcome also determined the GL52 Great Lakes Series (GLS) 2025 winner.
As is often the case with this dynamic fleet, podium positions for the event-- and in this case for the Series championship-- were decided on the last day of the eight-race regatta.
John Huhn's KATANA team claimed the top spot at the Macatawa Challenge and in doing so, clinched the 2025 GL52 Great Lakes Series Championship. Throughout the tightly-contested seven-event Series, Huhn's KATANA team racked-up three wins (Big Red Regatta, Ugotta Regatta and Macatawa Challenge) and placed second at three others. The sum of these accounted for his team's low-point season score (13) which earned them the top spot on the leaderboard for the second consecutive year.
"The GL52 fleet exceeded my expectations... great racing, impressive teams, tremendous support and the camaraderie that successful fleets have off of the water... the juxtaposition of racing intensity and fellowship ashore sets this fleet apart." ~ John Huhn
Bob and Laura Hughes' HEARTBREAKER excelled in the off-shore events of the 2025 GL52 Great Lakes Series winning the Chicago-Mac and Bayview-Mac Races. In addition to these two prestigious victories, they had strong results at each of the GL52 Series inshore events, including a win at the Little Traverse Cup—together these scores totaled 16 points which ranked them in second-place overall for the season.
"Winning both the Chicago-Mac and Bayview-Mac Races fulfilled a long-held dream." ~ Bob Hughes
Finishing in second place the Macatawa Challenge, Peter Askew's WIZARD garnered third place over the season with 17 points. Having also claimed second place at three GLS events that were highlighted by individual race wins prove that the talent, work-ethic and perseverance of this team is second to none.
Series Results:
1 Katana 13pts
2 Heartbreaker 16pts
3 Wizard 17pts
4 Windquest 21pts
5 Natalie J 22pts
6 Mockingbird 29pts
7 Prospector 42pts