This past weekend, the 2017 EYC Regatta scheduled for Henderson Harbor was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances caused by the high water levels on Lake Ontario.
Last night, the OYC Executive Board stepped up and committed to saving this year’s regatta by hosting it at our club.
Our first organizational meeting will be Thursday 6/15 at the club at 6PM. Come on down and join us and see how you can help. This is exciting for us and is a real strong move to show that we are open for business and able to pull this off on such short notice.
The EYC Regatta is scheduled for July 13-15. As you can see, we have some work to do to make this happen. We have faith in our club and our members and believe we can get this done and put on another first class regatta. We NEED membership participation and volunteer effort to make it happen. We need everyone’s help. This is a great for New Members to make new friends and get involved!
Here is a brief history of the Regatta and why we felt we couldn’t let it be cancelled.
Eastern Yachting Circuit History
The Eastern Yachting Circuit (EYC) is an International association of yacht clubs on the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The member clubs in the United States are Sodus Bay YC, Fair Haven YC, Oswego YC, Selkirk YC, Henderson Harbor YC, Crescent YC (Chaumont, NY) . Clubs from Canada are Brockville YC, Kingston YC, Collins Bay YC, Prince Edward YC (Picton, Ont), CFB Trenton YC and Bay of Quinte YC (Bellville, Ont).
The association was formed in the 1920’s as an opportunity for sailboat racing on the eastern end of the lake. In those days, most regattas were staged at the Western end of the lake making participation difficult for eastern clubs because of the sailing distance and time associated with traveling to the regattas. Smaller clubs on the east end decided to create the EYC regatta which is held annually at one of the member clubs. The regatta moves from club to club and usually is in Canadian waters one year and moves back to the United States the next year.
The format for the regatta is three days of racing. Thursday is a long distance race of approximately thirty to thirty-five nautical miles. On Friday and Saturday course races or “around the buoys racing” are held. Trophies dating back to the 1920’s are presented in each division for both the long distance race and course racing as well as Overall trophies for the distance race, Course racing and combined events. The regatta features PHRF – Lake Ontario Handicapped racing, One- Design Divisions and White Sails division.
The EYC regatta has established a great camaraderie between clubs and racing teams with many skippers and crews participating for twenty to thirty years. Moving from club to club allows sailors to visit all the member clubs in a short span of time.
Be sure to communicate with Executive Board Members and other Members of the Club to find out how you can help.
Watch for more news about this exciting Event!