If you’re not a member of the St. Joseph River Yacht Club (SJRYC) there are only a couple of times a year you are invited to the club’s beautiful riverfront home, and one of those is coming up this weekend. It’s time for the Rhumbline Regatta…an event with the same name as the hydraulic outdoor waterfront bar at the water’s edge on the St. Joe River.
The Rhumbline Regatta is an early-season gathering of racing sailboats from all along the West Coast of Michigan and from as far away as Chicago. Rivalries between the St. Joseph River Yacht Club, the Michigan City Yacht Club and the South Haven Yacht Club are paramount to this event, which is not to be missed. The Rhumbline Regatta is an off-shore style of sailboat race, originally founded in 2006 and hosted by the St. Joseph River Yacht Club. It is the creation of club members whose intention was to bring nationally recognized competitive sailboat racing to Michigan’s western shores.
Part of the fun of the Rhumbline is that it’s a speed contest to see who can get through the water the fastest. However, it’s also a navigational trial as well, because the course is most often a long and winding road over the water. Knowing where to find the next mark is every bit as important as going fast is.
The Rhumbline course is designed similarly to a popular regatta conducted each year in Harbor Springs along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, and Little Traverse Bay. Each section of the race sails its own separate course within a single, larger, course. Adding to the fun, boats of different sections do cross one another’s path and sometimes share buoy roundings.
Awards are presented to the top three finishers in each section of the race, and brag flags from this regatta are easily spotted at all Lake Michigan off-shore sailing events. The second part of the regatta fun is the huge party hosted by the SJRYC on the yacht club grounds. The Rhumbline Regatta Party is open to the public on Saturday, June 10th, providing a fantastic $16-dollar dinner of pulled pork and jerk chicken and all the sides. A beer truck and special tropical drinks will be available for sale. There is no admission charge for SJRYC members with membership cards, and there is a $5 cover charge for non-member admission after 6pm.
Gates for dinner will open at 5pm with dinner continuing until 8pm. Food & Drink tickets can be purchased at the door. The event will take place rain or shine, inasmuch as a good portion of it takes place under a large tent on the grounds. Regatta awards will be presented at 6pm and Michigan’s premier “trop rocker” Don Middlebrook takes to the stage at 7pm for a great night of musical entertainment. The SJRYC is located at 1 Lighthouse Lane in St. Joseph, between the West Basin Marina and the St. Joseph River.
The photo of a magnificent sail craft approaching the St. Joseph North Pier at sunset included this story on Moody on the Market.com is courtesy of Molly Shuler Pate of Berrien Springs, an outstanding local talent who regularly captures life along the waterfront in stunning images worthy of gallery walls and fine collections.
