(Harbor Springs, MI)- Sailboats from all over head to Harbor Springs
each summer for one of the grand Great Lakes sailing traditions- the
Little Traverse YC Ugotta Regatta. Sponsored again by Credit Suisse,
the Regatta brings together some of the best sailboat racers in the
lakes to Little Traverse Bay in between the famous Chicago Mac or
Bayview Mac Races.The series begins with one-design racing on Friday followed a tour-of-the-bay course on Saturday and windward-leeward racing on 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 2013 Ugotta Regatta t-shirt. Each year, the shirt design changes and with a limited production, the lines begin early to score a coveted shirt.
Friday night finds a "Welcome to Harbor Springs Celebration" at the Irish Boat Shop for racers only- an awesome cookout with excellent local beers and wines to savor for the masses of sailors-- always an incredibly popular event.
On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, the Club hosts the famous "Pancake Breakfast". Open to the public and racers, the Pancake Breakfast is a delicious way for the boat teams to quickly fuel up before getting on the water. One highlights (and tradition) of the breakfast- the young Racers flip less-than-perfect pancakes over their shoulders to land on the roof of the sail shed behind them.
The handicap honors in PHRF 3 Class went to the J/111 NO SURPRISE sailed by (remarkably enough), local host and hero David Irish! Their dominant 3-1-1-1 record was, in fact, the best record in PHRF and for the overall regatta with just 6.0 pts to count. Last year's winner, Dick Lehmann's WIND CZAR took 6th overall with a 1.5-3-12-15 tally. Larry Taunt's J/35 BAD DOG was 9th, Larry Schell's J/35 TOUCH OF GREY was 11th and Brad Schell's newly-unwrapped J/111 UTAH was 12th. For more Ugotta Regatta sailing information
