Wayfarer Racing Starts May 8th

The club has a new opportunity for all members this season: Wayfarer racing on Wednesday evenings.

The goal is to create a fun and friendly environment for beginners and more advanced sailors. The racing starts May 8th.

Here’s how the program got started: This winter, a group of about five Wayfarer owners in Southeast Michigan were looking for a place to meet and race. They decided to join our club. They will be storing their boats on the west end of our shoreline.

The club has two Wayfarers for club members to be skippers and crew. Also, our new Wayfarer members will frequently need crew. So this is a nice opportunity to learn from enthusiastic racers, meet new people, and create a low-pressure laboratory to become better sailors.

Chas Child will coordinate the Wayfarer racing. Contact him at chaschild@gmail.com if you’d like to skipper or crew on any Wednesday. He will also post announcements on the club’s racing forum.

Dave McCreedy, one of our new Wayfarer racers, plans to set the course around 5 pm on Wednesdays. Formal racing will start at 6 pm. Dave is also vice commodore of the U.S. Wayfarer Association.

If all goes well, we will re-establish one-design racing at the club, in which racers compete with the same boat.

One-design racing has many advantages:

— Racers can learn from each other on the lake. For instance, if one racer tightens the outhaul at a critical time and speeds up, everyone can take note and learn.

— Onshore, one-design racers can learn how advanced sailors rig and tune their boats. — Racing the same boat creates camaraderie and a sense of community.