Sailing - Events

Sailing Events

North Shore Cup Race - July 22, 2011

100 sailors from Illinois and Wisconsin came to lake Forest to compete in the annual North Shore Cup last Friday. Sailors were met with large storms, heavy rain, and plenty of lightning! This forced a postponement until the storm passed. After lunch, the winds shifted to the south and the storm started to track north of Lake Forest providing a good window for us to get out on the water. With the heavy southerly winds many teams were unable to compete in the first race. The breeze soon clocked to the east and quickly diminished. On the 420/ Laser radial circle 2 races were completed. The Optimist Red White and Blue fleets were able to complete 4 races, while the optimist green fleet had to settle for 2 races. Lake Forest sailors proved to be fast at the event winning the Optimist division and the Laser Radial Fleet. Congratulations to all of the competitors and thank you to all of the volunteers that made this year’s North Shore cup a success.

Race Results

470 National Championship - August 5-7, 2011

Lake Forest Sailing, a program of The City of Lake Forest’s Recreation Center, hosted the 2011 470 National Championship. The event drew teams from around the Midwest, as well as Florida and Massachusetts to compete.

Conditions proved to be challenging and tricky over the three days of sailing. The hour long races gave competitors a chance to capitalize on the shifty conditions. On Friday, teams arrived in the morning and prepared their boats for a 1400h start. The Breeze was 7-9knots out of the east-north east as the first race got under way on time. Sailors completed three solid races before calling it a day and heading back to shore for some much needed rest.

Saturday morning racers arrived early in preparation for an 1100h start. Sailors waited on shore for the breeze to build until about 1300h. Shifty winds from the south east filled in at around 5 knots as the first race got under way. Racing was close throughout the afternoon, and sailors headed back to shore after completing two of the four scheduled races in increasingly light and shifty conditions. Later in the evening sailors and volunteers enjoyed a barbeque and discussed the days racing.
Racing was again postponed on Sunday morning as race officials waited for storms to clear the area. However, even with the late start, all three of the scheduled races were completed. As the storms dissipated they left 5-8 knots of south west breeze. Racers experienced wind shifts of 15 degrees or more.

Competition between the sailors throughout the three days was very close. It came down to the final race of the event to decide the 2011 470 US National Champion. Hunter Ratliff and Ian Schappe of Lake Forest Sailing edged out Allison Jolly and Andrew Sumpton of St. Petersburg YC by less than thirty seconds to be crowned 2011 470 US National Champions. Hunter and Ian would like to thank the City of Lake Forest, Lake Forest Sailing staff, volunteers, and fellow sailors for making this event such a success.

LFHS’s LAMPHERE WINS CRESSY QUALIFIER September 24-25

Malcolm Lamphere will carry the colors of Lake Forest High School in the national high school single-handed championship regatta as the winner of the midwest district elimination races in the Laser Radial class. Racing against 25 other midwest sailors off Belmont Harbor September 24-25, Lamphere finished in the top 5 in 11 of 14 races and took first place in two.

The national championships will be contested in both the Laser Full-Rig and Laser Radial classes at the ChicagoYacht Club, Belmont Station, October 28-30. Symbol of the championship is the Cressy Trophy, which is kept on display at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis. The Cressy is a national championship sanctioned by the Interscholastic Sailing Association.

Because Lake Forest is in the district hosting this year’s championship, it is possible that Lamphere may be joined in the championship regatta by a team mate if one of the other six districts cannot send its contestants. Other LFHS sailors in the Laser Radial qualifying races were Alexander Curtiss, 4th; Clay Danly, 5th, and Max Joyce, 19th. Thomas Balk was 6th in Laser Full-Rig racing.