A motion was made during the Members Meeting to approve the 2020 slate for the Board of Directors unanimously. The motion was seconded and approved.
Please congratulate the members of the board at your earliest convenience.
Slate Position/Title
Name
Commodore
Jim Hellquist
Vice Commodore
Kris Kaminski
Rear Commodore
Howard Fassnacht
Treasurer
John Rouse
Secretary
Denise Lapins
Director
Jose Guzman
Director
Jim Maivald
Director
Mark LeVan
Past Commodore
Kathy Larsen Sivia
All members should understand that the club is a members organization run entirely by volunteers. All members are asked to step up and participate in the operation of the club and its events. We need your help and participation!
Contact any board member if you wish to pitch in! Please watch for emails calling ALL HANDS. That’s the sign that we need your help.
Almost 90 members and guests turned out Saturday, November 16 to celebrate a great boating season and the racers who participated in our racing program.
Sirocco takes home 1st place in Section 1 in our Wednesday Summer racing seriesAmerican Dream takes home 1st place in Section 2 in our Wednesday Summer racing seriesUnplugged takes home 1st place in Section 3 in our Wednesday Summer racing seriesSpitfire takes home 2nd place in Section 1 in our Wednesday Summer racing series Elecktra takes 2nd place in Section 3 of our Wednesday Summer Series.Spitfire takes home 1st place in our first Annual Mayor’s RegattaHusaria had the best corrected time of all WYC boats in the 2019 Chicago – Waukegan RaceSpitfire made the best time for a Mackinac Race boatVincitore took the best times of any WYC boat in the Nood and Verve racesSirocco III took the best times of any WYC boat in the Mackinac Race in its section as well as 1st place in Section 1 in the WYC Summer and Fall Offshore series.Spitfire took 2nd place in Section 1 in the WYC Summer Offshore series.Spitfire took 1st place in Section 1 in the WYC Fall Buoy series.Lucille Marie took home the trophy for the Last Race Race to and from Kenosha.The winning crew from Lucille Marie
Oktoberfest was a fun time at the club. Guests dined on bratwurst, smoked sausage, sauerkraut, and hot homemade pretzels. Oompah band music filled the air and people were dancing polkas in the club.
Oktoberfest for kids
Don’t miss the upcoming Sail-A-Bration and Commodore’s Ball.
All members are invited! Don’t miss the biggest party of the 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.
Members and guests dressed in black and white and came to celebrate one of the BLUES, a truly American forms of music!
Dinner was Shrimp or Chicken Jambalaya and Red Beans and Rice and hot and moist cornbread!
Shrimp JambalayaSome members took it up a notch and wore their Blue Brothers regalia! Everyone who attended had a great time. Don’t miss our next event!
Oktoberfest is scheduled for October 19th! Don’t miss it!
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)
The 2019 Waukegan Yacht Club race results are now posted on the site. It took a while to compile the results because some of the racers had not submitted complete racing applications earlier.
The Pig and Corn Roast on Sunday celebrated the First Annual Mayor’s Regatta. Spitfire was declared the winner of the regatta and received an award directly from Waukegan’s Mayor, Sam Cunningham. The mayor participated in the race by sailing on Sirocco 3. Unfortunately, some boats forgot to mark their times of finish and could not be scored.
Mayor Sam Cunningham awards Spitfire the trophy for winning the regatta.
Once all the racers made it back to the club the Pig and Corn Roast formally began.
Members line up to partake of the Pig and Corn roast celebrating the Mayor’s Regatta.
The tables were bursting with wonderful food, including Pulled Pork, Barbecue Ribs, Baked Beans, Creamy Hash Brown Casserole, Corn on the Cob, Taffy-Apple Salad, bread and muffins. Even the Mayor joined us for a wonderful meal.
Mayor Cunningham joins in on the Pig and Corn Roast.
The meat was traditional pit barbecue cooked at the club by member volunteers in a smoker using Apple wood chips.
12 racks of ribs set up in the smoker for cooking.
Over 60 people went through the line and no one went away hungry. All the food was delicious and everyone had a great time.
The event was topped off by free shots of Mount Gay rum provided by the Regatta winner. If you didn’t stick around you missed out!
THANKS!!
We want to give special thanks to our members who volunteered to prepare and serve the amazing dinner and run the Mayor’s Regatta:
Thanks go to Viki Rollins, Don Pound, Jeanne and Russ Valin (and their friend Karen), Susan and Jim Maivald and Howard Larson who helped to set up the tables and cook and serve the food. Thanks to Denise Lapins who made the Creamy Hash Brown Casserole and Taffy-Apple salad. Yummy!
More thanks go to Bob Christenson and Howard Larson who volunteered to operate the committee boat during the Regatta and Mark LeVan and Jim Hellquist who worked with the crew to set the race marks. You guys did an amazing job! If you see any of the volunteers around the club, give them a kind word.
Volunteers make this club work! Please consider lending a hand soon. There’s lots to do around the club and it won’t get done without you!
The Waukegan Yacht Club Cruisers completed a successful cruise to St Joseph, Michigan this Sunday. The weather was perfect and the lake provided no surprises.
Three boats had planned to cruise on Friday, but one had to drop out for personal reasons. The Cruisers departed from the fuel pier around 1100. The wind was fresh from the northwest and the boats were able to achieve hull speed for the first 20 miles. Unfortunately, the wind dropped to 3-4 knots and the cruisers resorted to their engines for the remainder of the journey.
Caramar pulls out toward the fuel pier to rendezvous with the other cruisers.
The boats covered the remaining 40 miles in good time and arrived just after midnight Eastern time at the entrance of St Joseph. The boats docked at the St Joseph River Yacht Club shortly afterward and watched in amazement as a huge lake freighter backed out into the channel. From the conversation heard on channel 72, the freighter had actually waited until the cruisers had passed safely out of the channel.
Dawn found the cruisers in good spirits and ready to explore the town. Some discovered a breakfast venue nearby and then crossed the drawbridge into downtown St Joe. The main street was alive with people shopping and dining at the local restaurants. A farmer’s market was still in full swing in a park overlooking the lake.
Cruisers assemble at dawn at St Joseph River Yacht Club after a late arrival.
A couple of WYC members flew over to St Joe and met the cruisers for dinner at the Yacht Club. Everyone had a wonderful meal and enjoyed the great company.
The Cruisers and some surprise guests met for dinner at the St Joe Yacht Club
Sunday morning came early and the cruisers were up and ready to go. The sun was bright and the sky partly cloudy. The wind was fresh again this time from the southwest. As soon as the boats passed the last lighthouse sails were up and they were off toward Waukegan at hull speed.
The view of the St Joe Lighthouses as the cruisers motor out of the harbor.
The wind held most of the day until the boats came within 10 miles of home. Engines were revived and the last short distance passed quickly.
Cruisers enjoying the sail back to Waukegan.
The first cruiser entered harbor around 6:00 pm. After the boats were tied up and closed down, the cruisers met for a celebratory dinner at Casa de Samuels on Belvidere in downtown Waukegan. A fitting end to a wonderful adventure.
You do not need to be a member of the Waukegan Yacht Club to cruise with us. All motor and sail boats are welcome. Come join the fun!
If you want more info, send an email to sail@waukeganjosephconrad.org.
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