Duluth Yacht Club Holds Weekly Sailboat Races

Residents set sail on Lake Superior every Wednesday for the race.

DULUTH, Minn. – The best way to enjoy this beautiful summer weather is by spending days and nights out on the lake. And that’s exactly what many Duluth residents have been doing thanks to the weekly sailboat races.

The Duluth Yacht Club holds the races every Wednesday night and there are three different sessions: summer, fall and spring. For the summer session, there are four weeks of races and they usually start their trek around 6 p.m.

“We race about a mile course. We typically go upwind for a mile, come back down, come back up and go back down to finish,” Duluth Yacht Club race chairman Dave Johnson said.

About 30 boats have been racing so far this summer, and Johnson said that it’s good to see some new boats come and join the fun.

“We’ve had a big…I think we’ve had a good increase in number of new boats. We’ve had about four or five new boats join the fleet this year and it seems like the racing is going really well,” Johnson said.

The race mostly looks like a relaxing time on the water, but it easily turns into a friendly competition among residents. They record the results each week, and the top three finishers receive a flag, while the overall winner of the summer takes home a trophy.

Regardless of the prizes or outcomes, there are a lot of valuable life skills that the racers will take away, which Johnson said is his favorite part.

“My favorite part of sailboat racing, I think, is the teamwork. It takes a team of eight people or so to effectively change the sails and move things around as they need to be moved and the teamwork part is very exciting,” Johnson said.

While Johnson loves the teamwork aspect, the community loves the chance to sit back and watch the sailboats race. Tons of people will find their favorite spot and watch the boats, adding to the already beautiful view of Lake Superior.

“I think people love the Wednesday night races. They love looking down at the lake and seeing the sailboats. Maybe it looks a little weird, randomly spinning in circles. But when you’re on the water, it’s very exciting and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of,”

There will be one more race for the summer session, which will take place next Wednesday, Aug. 1, before the boats sail away into the fall.