Our Racing Program:

The centerpiece of the club’s racing program are the Wednesday night races. Three Series of 5 races each are run between mid -May thru mid-September.  At the end of the year, awards are given out at the annual banquet in early November for each Series winners as well as awards for the Fleet Champions.

Wednesday race night draws up to 70 some individual boats broken into 9 different classes.

All are determined by a Lake Erie PHRF rating system, called PHRF-LE.  These “handicaps” put each boat into a fair competitive racing class. Currently we have 3 main and jib classes and 6 spinnaker classes. All helmsmen/women must be BHSC members and we encourage all crew to join the club as well.

BHSC also provides a Tuesday racing program. One is titled China Light which is designed as a women’s teaching program. Certain parameters exist such as a female must be the helmsperson, she must be a BHSC member and there must be more women onboard than men.  This is designed to encourage women to become actively involved in sailing and to provide as much racing experience as we can offer.

The other is titled RCR and provides a venue for those just entering the racing scene and wanting more “on the water” practice or for those who may have purchased a different boat and want more practice time.  No parameters exist other than to be a BHSC member as stated above.

Within each of these, BHSC provides a main and jib class as well as a spinnaker classes. So each Tuesday night there would be 4 different racing starts. 

BHSC also sponsors the Chilcott Regatta Series named after Chuck Chilcott for his long time dedicated service to the club of over 30 years as our PRO (Principle Race Officer). The PRO sets up the race course based on the variable wind conditions that occur each week of racing.

These regattas are run on 2 different weekends over the summer. One is a one day regatta and the other is a two day regatta. The combined performance totals are calculated and the class winners receive an award at the annual banquet. 

BHSC also sponsors a double-handed racing series and on occasion a single handed racing series.  This is for those who like to race and venture out solo or with one other crew member. There are 2 races for each category and awards are presented at the annual banquet.

BHSC is one of several clubs sponsoring the Lake Erie Interclub Regatta. This is a five day racing event and takes in various ports of call like, Erie Yacht Club in Erie, PA, Port Dover, Port Colbourne, Point Abino, Buffalo Canoe Club and of course Buffalo, NY .

BHSC is proud to be a member of US SAILING Association (USSA), the Inter-Lake Yachting Association, (ILYA-LE), the Lake Yacht Racing Association (LYRA-Lake Ontario), the Niagara Frontier Yacht racing Association (NFYRA) and PHRF-LE.