Try a sportsboat

Event to be held in June at Chicago's Corinthian YC

Christian Jensen advises us that he is organising a special 'sportsboat try a boat' event at Chicago's Corinthian Yacht Club over 12-14 June:

Here is your chance to come have a look at and TRY OUT the hottest trend in keelboat racing in the US - the 20’ish foot sportboats. That’s right – the right kind of “boat show” where you can actually get to sail some or all of these exciting boats.

In this economy many people are looking to spend less on racing sailboats enjoying good, fast racing and these boats offer exactly that, while also being extremely fun to sail - most people actually think they are much more fun than the typical spread of racer/cruisers. They don’t cost the same as a small house – indeed some of them are available new including a trailer, sails, covers, etc. ready to race from around $ 30,000; raced with 2-4 people and speeds that will put many R/C’ers in the 30-40 foot range to shame. Fleets are sprouting across the country and at the just concluded Charleston Race Week we had OD fleets of these with up to 32 boats on the line. Talk about fast, close and fun racing.

These boats are raced by both young and old - we have skippers in their seventies (they just think they are a lot younger). The boats are simple to set up and sail but obviously require some practice to get at the front end of the fleet

Please join us and have a taste of what we think is some of the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

The program for the weekend looks like this:

Friday afternoon from 3 PM forward the boats will be put together and displayed on the waterfront in front of CCYC. Here you can look, prod and quiz the builders and class members about the boats.

Friday evening there will be a live band at the club and the very affordable kitchen/bar will be open – all are welcome.

Saturday and Sunday the boats will be in the water so you can try them out in real life from 10am to 6pm. Bring your sailing gear, PFD, sunscreen, and be ready for the adrenaline rush...

There will be food and beverages of all kinds available throughout the day/evening both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday night there will be a band at the club and I am sure we will have some good sportboat footage running as well. Join us for a fun evening after a day on the water.

I can guarantee that you will sail/walk around with a HUGE smile on your face.

The boats that will be lined up are:
Viper 640
Melges 20
Ultimate 20
Laser SB3
Rocket 22
I550
Shaw 650
Open 5.7
Open 6.5
Mini 650 (maybe)
Longtze (hopefully)

And I will also put Wanda (a Viper 830) in the water to give people rides on a slightly bigger sportboat.

The following Friday-Sunday, I have arranged to have a mixed sportboat fleet in the Chicago NOOD where these little speedsters will hopefully be joined by some of their brethren – we hope to have a big fleet at the NOODS. If you have one of these boats - we would love for you to join us for 3 days of sportboat racing. Let’s show Chicago what sportboat racing is all about. Registration is open on the NOOD website.

I hope you will all take this opportunity to come on down and try a new kind of sailing – fast, fun and affordable………….who knows – you might get hooked.

Oh – and did I forget to mention – this is free!