2021 Great Lakes 52 Season - Notice of Series released
by Offshore Racing Congress 24 Apr 2021 04:00 NZST
2021 Great Lakes 52 Season © Gretchen Dorian
In the US Great Lakes owners of many generations of TP52's have organized themselves into a class called the Great Lakes 52's for a series of seasonal racing on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. These powerful and agile race boats are renowned for buoy racing yet fast enough to win line honors offshore as well.
For 2021, the Great Lakes 52 Series is organized by Macatawa Bay YC and is locked and loaded for close competition using the ORC rule system where results from theses and other races and regattas will be combined into an overall season championship.
Presented by Quantum Sails, the series kicks off with the Chicago NOOD Regatta and includes the classic offshore races of the Great Lakes: the Queens Cup in Wisconsin, Chicago YC's Race to Mackinac, and the Bayview Mackinac Race, followed by inshore racing at the U-Gotta-Regatta and the Bay Harbor Cup in Little Traverse Bay, Michigan, and the season's grand finale at the Macatawa Championship in Holland, Michigan.
With this great balance of inshore and offshore racing the GL 52 Series will challenge every team with close and exciting competition in some of the best destinations on the Great Lakes. Building on last year's success, the GL 52 Series is attracting new teams not only from the Great Lakes but from the east and west coasts and guarantees some of the most competitive big boat racing in North America.
"We look forward to having an active and competitive season in 2021," said Bob Hughes, owner of the GL 52 Heartbreaker. "Our combination of class racing both inshore and offshore is unique in the US, and has attracted teams from outside the region to join in the fun.
"Adoption of ORC rating tools has also been positive: we are aligning with the system's use in the Great Lakes region's most important races and regattas, and the ease of use and transparency of the system has also helped us in planning our own team's configurations."
For more information go to the series website or contact Tom Giesler at .