On October 9, Waukegan Yacht Club will celebrate Oktoberfest with a fun selection of German food, cold beer and hot pretzels! Come grab a bratwurst, smoked sausage, and some sauerkraut and toast a great year at the club! WYC has doubled its membership in 2021!! Oompah band music will fill the air and people will be dancing polkas in the club again.
Oktoberfest dinner for kids
Check out our menu! The club will be open from 3pm-9pm Saturday, Oct 9th for Oktoberfest! Food service ends at 8pm so come in early!
The Milwaukegan is a new port-to-port race organized by the Waukegan Yacht Club (WYC) and the Milwaukee Yacht Club (MYC) and took place Saturday, August 14. Waukegan was the starting point for the race this year and we hosted a killer welcome party for the racers and WYC members and guests on Friday, August 13! The club had a live DJ, an awesome dinner buffet, discounted drinks and even breakfast options for Saturday morning!
WYC dock wall hosted the Milwaukegan Racers!.
The race had 23 boats signed up in four sections. Registration was still open up to Thursday, August 12. The race encouraged NEW racers to sign up and several new racers took the challenge! WYC hosted a skipper’s meeting and New Racer orientation at the club Friday evening at 8pm.
Milwaukegan Buffet Dinner
The Buffet dinner provided a selection of tasty offerings.
WYC and MYC are planning to make the Milwaukegan a annual tradition on the Great Lakes like the Mac and Chicago Waukegan. Come join us next year!
Almost 90 members and guests came to Waukegan Yacht Club on Saturday, November 16, to celebrate the 2019 boating season, our racers and Commodore Jim Hellquist. The club opened at 6pm and our guests started to gather for cocktails and appetizers.
Cocktails at the Sail-A-Bration
Dinner was served at 7pm. The buffet of mandarin orange salad, roast beef, chicken piccata, grilled vegetable medley and mashed potatoes was generous and delicious.
Dinner was served at plentiful and delicious.
The sail awards were given out at 8pm. Among the winners were crews of Sirocco III, Spitfire, American Dream, Unplugged, FasTen, Elecktra and Lucille Marie. Click here to check out all the awards.
Sirocco III took home many honors at the Sail Awards.
After the awards were completed, the band Sons of Chicago kicked off the dancing. The dance floor was full of revelers most of the evening.
The Waukegan Yacht Club hosted the annual Last Race Race the culmination of our racing season. This race has been held every year for many years since the club was founded. The race is sponsored in conjunction with the Kenosha Yacht Club who hosts the racers at their dock wall for drinks and dinner.
Fifteen boats participated this year, half coming from Wisconsin. Most arrived at the club around 0900. The club was opened and a bartender served the racers as they arrived. Many of the boats had to leave earlier from Kenosha to make it to Waukegan in time for the start.
Boats dock along the wall north of the Waukegan Yacht Club preparing for the race
The boats tied up along side the dock wall picking their spots carefully so they could get a good start at the proper time. The Last Race Race uses a Le Mans style race start. All skippers have to come inside the club and wait for their starting time, determined by a reverse PHRF calculation. The fastest boats are given starting times staggered to take into account their typical speed over distance.
Unplugged, a Waukegan boat, is readied for the start
The racers came in all sizes and the smallest was actually an 18-foot Buccaneer, which actually finished well up in the pack.
Racers came in all size, big and small, like this 18 ft Buccaneer.
The weather was cloudy with blustery winds coming from the southwest. Waves were one to two feet. Many boats launched their spinnakers after leaving Waukegan harbor or deployed spinnaker or whisker poles to sail wing on wing north.
The wind hit 15-20 knots at points in the race and running downwind the boats hit hull speed or better if flying their spinnakers. Many reported surfing on the fast moving waves. All the boats were moving quickly and promised to arrive in Kenosha in record time.
Final Results
The following results are final. We have received confirmation of finish times by several participants. One racer noticed that our original handicapped starting times were incorrect due to an incorrect distance used from Waukegan to Kenosha. After correcting the error we applied the resulting difference to all finish times to achieve the following standings. We apologize for the previous error. Congratulations to all the participants in this fun race! If you notice your corrected time is wrong please contact Sail@waukeganyachtclub.com and we will update the results as soon as possible. (Updated 9/28)
On June 22, the Waukegan Yacht Club hosted the 88th Annual Chicago-Waukegan Race. Over 120 boats participated in this year’s race. Over 500 sailors descended on the club and the weather turned out nicely although rain threatened all day. Want to know who won? Check out the list of finishers here.
Chicago-Waukegan race start off Montrose Harbor
Over all the racers who participated in the race in 2019, many chose to dock and raft off at the club. The dock offered food and drink to the thirsty and hungry racers. Mount Gay flowed liberally.
Racers rafted off the dock by the club.
Dinner was served starting at 5:30pm and ending at 7:30pm. A live band played after dinner and well into the night and the dance floor was full.
Many volunteers turned out to help with the committee boat, ticket sales, dinner, and the party on Saturday night and for the breakfast on Sunday. Thanks to all those volunteers who came out to help. We could not have done it without you!
Chicago-Waukegan volunteers Joanna Tarnawski, Eleanor Vick and Erik Hellquist.
Want to get a piece of history? Buy our 2019 commemorative Chicago-Waukegan Race t-shirt. The 100% heavy-weight cotton t-shirts were very popular Saturday and Sunday, but we still have some shirts on hand for sale. Order one today and pick it up tat the club, or have it shipped right to your house. Don’t wait. we only have a few shirts left in each size!
On June 16th the Waukegan | Joseph Conrad Yacht Club hosted the 87th annual Chicago-Waukegan sailboat race. Nearly 130 boats registered for the race and over 100 took part in the race.
Chicago-Waukegan race start off Montrose Harbor
This year the weather was unpredictable as usual. The wind started briskly coming from the south from 5-7 knots. Most boats immediately launched their spinnakers and the various sections started to battle it out for the lead.
Chicago-Waukegan race start off Montrose Harbor
A little over an hour after the last boat crossed the starting line the wind abruptly swung around to the northeast at over 10 knots. The shift caught many boats unprepared as their crews jumped into action to dose their chutes.
Now the race had shifted to a close hauled beat to windward. But, as they say, “if you don’t like the weather in Chicago, wait five minutes.” Less than another hour passed and the wind began to shift around to the east and not long afterward back to the south once more.
Chutes came out again and this to stay. At first, the wind was steady and strong, but ebbed over the next few hours. Fortunately, for most of the fleet they were able to stand to Waukegan and the finish line. By 2:00pm, the majority of racers had crossed the line and retired to the north harbor where they rafted off the club dock, or to berths they had rented in the south harbor. Waukegan racers simply went off to their own berths.
Boats finishing the 87th Chicago-Waukegan race
The weather in Waukegan was sunny and warm and perfect for a cookout. Grills were fired up and many racers grabbed a burger, brat or hot dog and a cold brew or rum and coke. The club and dockside was alive with members, racers and guests.
The dock was filled with members, racers and guests
Dinner was an Italian buffet and was served starting at 5:30pm. Food went fast and actually ran out by 8:00pm. Live music started by 7:30pm and rocked the club for a few hours before the awards were made. The party continued well into the night.
All parts of the club were humming with conversations, laughter and sea stories.
Sunday morning came early and many sailors and guests took advantage of Bo Harper’s Bloody Mary bar! Many took advantage of the hot breakfast provided by the club. By 8:00am, the Committee boat cast off to set up the starting line. The first section started at 9:05 and each following section went off in 5 minute increments. In less than an hour all 9 sections were gone.
In a blink of the eye the racers were gone, headed back to Chicago
The Board of Directors would like to thank the following volunteers who made this event a major success:
Claudia Aisenberg, Larry Beliant, Jeff Bernachi, Colin Classen, Richard Fee, Yvonne Fee, Mary Ellen Giffels, Jose Guzman, Bo Harper, Lynne Hellquist, Erik Hellquist, John Johnson, Barbara Klupiec, Chris Klupiec, Mark LeVan, Jim Maivald, Paul McEntee, Aaron Milks, Kim Nerheim, John Rouse, Viktoriya Rouse, Tom Sivia, Nikki Sullivan, and Al (Jeep) Trefts. Let us know if we missed your name.
Volunteers made this year’s event a tremendous success
