The North Channel Race: A Cal 25 Perspective
2025 North Channel Race aboard Whitefang.
An overly long tale so please pardon my enthusiasm.
The North Channel Race is a long running classic on Lake St. Clair. Something over 75 years running and still going strong. A race up the lake, around Harsens Island and back down the lake to finish at Bayview Yacht Club, hopefully in time to gather at the mahogany altar for all the usual race banter, congratulations, and this year, to crash a high school reunion party in the Mackinaw room. The guys left their female classmates without dance partners, so the sailor guys and girls gladly filled that role.
Originally meant for one design boats under 30 feet, the fleet has expanded to offer starts and awards to PHRFrated boats. There are still one design classes competing. This year there were two qualifying classes, Cal 25s and Nonsuch 30s. This story is from the Cal 25 perspective.
As the longest running and now growing again, consistently racing, one design class on Lake St. Clair; Cal 25 class boats have been sailing this race for over 60 years without ever missing one, even the one that blew most boats off the lake. The prize: the much coveted unique Morrill Dunn trophy, awarded to the one design yacht finishing first on corrected time over all other yachts in all the one design classes under 30 feet. It’s on the bottom shelf in Bayview Yacht Club’s trophy lined entrance hall. Look for the low lying trophy with two sailboats on green oxidized copper water with little pointed buoys near by. It needs an extended base to accommodate more award plaques. I’m sure the recent winner is motivated to make that.
This year was a spinnaker run with gybes from the start at the Little Club to NC2, the buoy marking the beginning of the North Channel entrance from Lake St.Clair. Then jib and spinnaker reaching up the North Channel, which included sailing alongside the docks on the north side of the channel, skimming along under the noses of spectators watching this circus from their docks as we seek the least amount of opposing current slowing our progress over the ground underneath us. Thank you to members and friends that showed up on shore to cheer the sailors on. Then make a sharp right turn around the Russel Island buoy a half mile or so upstream of the island, while managing at least 4 knots of current there that is trying to push you into that buoy. Then an upwind beat down the South Channel, which involved dozens of tacks across the full width of the channel and some short tacking between the Canadian shore and a downbound freighter. More short tacking down the South Channel between the rocks on the left and the shoals around Gull island, (think jobby nooner), just before entering Lake St. Clair. Now a long, port tack favored beat down the lake and at last a port tack fetch from Windmill Pointe to the finish line.
Keeping the details short and focused on our own class, Whitefang was third to NC2. Some North Channel current savviness, gleaned from decades of doing this race got us into second by the sharp left turn in the channel past the Harsens Island ferry docks. Thank you Harsens Island ferry for waiting to depart the dock on the mainland side as we sailed just under your bow, nicely out of the strong current just a couple boat widths further offshore.
At that turn, the leading Cal 25, The Hotness, owned and helmed by Suzanne Scoville, was by now within striking distance ahead of Whitefang. She chose to head towards the Harsens Island side of the channel, staying on the starboard gybe but not going dead downwind while bucking the current. We chose to stay on starboard gybe but sail dead downwind to hug the mainland shore rather than cross the current and then face the very strong current between the tip of Russel Island and the Russel Island buoy. To do that we stayed on the starboard gybe but had moments sailing by the lee, which was not fast, so we had to head up occasionally, which took us away from the shore and into the opposing current. Second by second, any slight wind shift that allowed Whitefang to bear away and get closer to shore, even a few boat widths, was taken advantage of. Releasing the vang to twist off the top batten kept the top of mainsail working when we were by the lee.
The Hotness and Whitefang came back together five boat lengths from the Russel Island rounding buoy. Hotness was entitled to room at the buoy, despite approaching it on port tack. In a flurry of activity, The Hotness had to raise the headsail for the coming beat, clear their spinnaker pole, gybe, take down the spinnaker, turn sharply right while trimming in sails for a beat, all the while fighting the fast southbound current trying to push both boats into the buoy. Whitefang, with one less task and slowing ever so slightly, managed to swing its bow clear of Hotness’s outboard motor and squeeze between them and the buoy, with about 24 inches or less on each side. By far the most dramatic rounding of that buoy in my decades of NC races.
Meanwhile, Chicken Hawk with a crack crew had reeled both of us in and it was now a three-boat tacking battle down the South Channel. Whitefang held on to our lead into the lake. With all the three leading Cal 25s now on the favored port tack, Chicken Hawk chose to try to break through to leeward of us. I have been burned twice before in this race by that boat and crew doing just that. I was NOT going to let it happen again. Meanwhile, The Hotness, artfully helmed by Suzanne was gaining lanes to windward and keeping closer to the now favorable current in and near the shipping channel. Oh, the stress!
We chose to keep the steam gage at 5.5 knots, overruling the tell tails at times, but seemingly maximizing Whitefang’s upwind vmg. Having enough breeze to keep all five guys on Whitefang’s weather rail proved a slight advantage in speed through the water. Keeping ultra-sensitive to whatever sail trim and side to side crew weight placement felt and performed best in the current moment was superbly performed by Whitefang’s crew.
After about eight covering tacks to protect our position as these three Cal 25s beat down Lake St. Clair, we successfully held on to our lead to prevail at the finish line. Beating down the lake, as the sun got low and more westward, the wind slowly headed us on the favored port tack, just enough to keep that intensely bright celestial spotlight right next to the forestay and right next to my focal point on the headsail tell tail window. Good old Sol fried my face, but it was so worth it because Whitefang also won the coveted prize, the Morrill Dunn trophy!
Thank you to my crew. Dan Dameren, flawless and quick on foredeck. Paul Mauer, constantly on top of mainsail trim. Rudy Wedenoja, headsail trim, spinnaker trim, chief information officer and trusted counselor, keeping my head from over thinking and focused on my helmsman job. Jeff Polkowski, new Bayview member and recent newbie to our beloved pastime. He had to learn the pit tasks on the job. He was also the winch engine on all our tacks the entire race. Tacking down the channel he had worked up a visible sweat. When I mentioned that, he replied, “I’m loving this”.
Lastly and perhaps my most rewarding aspect of this race, Jeff sailed his first North Channel race and his first one design race. Providing him with that experience and giving him a win to boot was priceless.
See you all on the North Channel race start line next year.
John Harper
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