05/19/2026
Grand Rapids MC Spring Shakedown re-cap
The 50 th MC Spring Shakedown was held at Grand Rapids Yacht Club May 15th ,16th & 17th . With outstanding promotion of the event, 51 boats signed up for the regatta, meeting the objective of the organizers to get 50 for the 50th . A few stayed on shore
as the conditions were challenging but turned into a beautiful day on Saturday.
Lead by regatta chairman Brian Nowak, the team at GRYC went out of their way to make the participants very welcome. The food was outstanding and the registration bag and trophies were over the top; the races were well run, sometimes with 3 full laps.
Reed Lake can at times seem small, but RC lead, Scott Wright set great courses that used the entire width or length of the lake. We had 6 good races that lasted about 40 minutes each.
Mark Johnson dominated the regatta which had 3 light air races, and 3 almost heavy air races. I was able to pull out a second with a fortunate shift in the last race. The fleet was very competitive with Mike Considine 3 rd , past National Champion Jamie Kimball,
sailing with his son Jake, 4 th , and Brett Hatten and Christy Steketee 5 th . Casey Christensen from Torch Lake was 6 th ; the first winner of the Shakedown from 50 years ago! Hugh Walborn was 7th, local Thor Sorensen with his new-to-him boat was 8th , Bob Leonard from Lake Lanier was 9 th and George Carlin from Eagle Lake was 10th . Curt Miller won the Old Salt trophy, Mary Reif put together several consistent great races and was the top woman. Peter Wenger was the top Mega Master.
Again, the fleet and club members went out of their way to help launch and retrieve our boats. There were many volunteers helping get our masts up, down, fix trailers; It was impressive. I asked Regatta Chairman Brian of several folks to name, but he rightfully said the list is too long to mention a few. I know I said this earlier, but the meals were great.
A special thanks to Mike Considine who stepped up as one of major sponsors and also
gave away a new UK MC main at the cocktail party Saturday evening. Brett Hatton won
the main!
GRYC put on a successful event and we appreciate the extra effort to make it special for the participants.
https://grandrapidsyachtclub.org/regatta/zTqTcwC98G?fbclid=IwY2xjawR420ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFyeXJGWWJwa2hXQ1hJaTZ5c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHg-gusmNeQAoeOmNVq-LAy798apR2bn23Xo2_Xtv_LNLBOguOINoerPux-AI_aem_7YnyTn6xVf9O_4dtcpdLGA
GRYC: 50th MC Spring Shakedown event details.
