In this Issue:
49er- Great Lakes team aims for the Olympics !
Ports O' Call- Superb Lake Michigan Cruising Guide !
'Great Lakes' J/24 Regatta
Tawas Bay J/22 Fleet- Season Underway
Whitbread- Atlantic Crossing
Worrell 1000- 9 Legs Complete

49er- Spring Lake Duo want to sail in Sydney !

    Two sailors from GLSOL's home territory, Chad Hough and David Fox have initiated a campaign to represent the USA in the new 49er class at the 2000 Olympics.

    Chad is an accomplished Scow sailor, who also sailed while in college at Northwestern Michigan. He learned the sailboat racket while working at Johnson Boat Works. Last year Chad won the MC Scow Blue Chip regatta.

    David is a two time Butterfly national champion (one with David as crew). David also sailed collegiately - for Michigan State. He also had an important MC Scow win in 1997-- the West Michigan Yachting Association Regatta.

    Suffice to say, Chad and David have the talent to accomplish their mission. What they need is the support of their fellow Great Lakes and Midwestern sailors to help them accomplish their goal ! Any contribution made is tax deductible. You can send
your donation to:

SLJA (Spring Lake Junior Sailing Association)
P.O. Box 965
Grand Haven MI 49417
   

Lakeland Boating Ports O' Call- Great Item
   
    As marinas continue to fill with boats this spring, surely thoughts turn to the voyages of this coming summer. If you plan to take some of those voyages on Lake Michigan, a good aid to have on board is Lakeland Boating's Lake Michigan Ports O' Call.

    This 300+ page spiral bound book includes everything the Lake Michigan sailor needs to know about this Great Lake's ports. Everything includes a full sized Lake Michigan chart to plan your voyages, listings on all lake ports, aerial photos of each port - including annotations of marina locations, a directory of marinas with services offered, and more.

    Ports O' Call also contains several essays on cruising topics such as crossing the lake, lighthouses, fishing hot spots, and Lake Michigan museums. These essays give you ideas on what its like to be on the lake and what to do when not on the lake.

    This book is a grand addition to any ships library, providing good reading in addition to its ample reference materials.

Ports O' Call is available from the Torresen Marine Ships Store for $ 44.95 + $ 5.95 shipping and handling. To place an order please visit the Torresen Sailing Sites Ports O' Call Page: http://www.torresen.com/llblmcg.htm

J/24 'Great Lakes' Spring Regatta

    Muskegon Lake will be the site of this 2 day regatta beginning Saturday May 16 and continuing Sunday the 17th. 25+ J/24's are expected to be on the race course.

    Registration will begin on Friday, with the first gun 1000 hrs. on Saturday. Three races are scheduled for Saturday, with 2 more on the docket for Sunday.

    Among the pre-registered entrants are defending champion Bohemian Rapture and runner-up Buzz. Look to the Torresen Sailing site for complete coverage of this regatta, including results, photos, news and analysis from the race course.

    You'll want to check: http://www.torresen.com/races/j24/gl/1998/notice.htm   for regatta coverage.

Tawas Bay Yacht Club- J/22 Fleet
   
    Fleet # 44 has begun their season. May 2nd marked the fleets practice day. The spring series has begun with this weekend seeing race 4, 5, and 6 scheduled.

    Two more series will be held over the course of the racing season with the last race scheduled for September 19th.

    If you have a J/22 and want to race with the Tawas fleet they are glad to have you ! Their is a suitable ramp for launching and they hope to have a hoist operational by the time summer hits.

    For more information such as sailing instructions contact:Chris Princing Phone (517) 792-0537 E-mail: jtsbaby@concentric.net

Whitbread- Ocean Crossing Still on
   
    The fleet has crosses the Atlantic and is within 3 days of finishing this last ocean leg. Currently from 1st to 9th there is a distance of 66.8 miles between the boats.
   
Right now Merit Cup is leading the fleet with Toshiba a scant 1.6 miles behind. Merit Cup is still leading despite a mid ocean meeting with a whale. While reaching at 16 knots a loud noise was heard. Slight damage occurred to the rudders leading edge, but so far no apparent affect on the boat's performance. "I'm sure the whale is hurting more than us," said Skipper Grant Dalton. "The boys on deck said there was a lot of blood in the water."

    The fleet has come together as the leaders hit a high pressure system which has slowed them while the backmarkers have come closer, still having a good breeze to push them.

    Right now the main dilemma is a high pressure/light wind area that lies between the fleet and the finish in La Rochelle France. Forecasts predict that being to the north of this high should be beneficial. Boats to gain from their northern position include: Silk Cut and Chessie Racing. Still, it looks like high pressure could dominate the rest of this leg making for a slow sail to 'baguette land' so called by IK's Cam Lewis.

    Finally- as the race stands, if EF Language is first to France then the overall race title is theirs. Merit Cups current lead dog position would put her ahead of Swedish Match going into the last leg.

    Enjoy the fine Whitbread site while it lasts: http://www.whitbread.org

Worrell 1000- 9 Legs Complete
   
    After 9 of 13 legs 2 of the 3 boats from the Great Lakes are still in the race. Matt Struble and Eric Douglas from Michigan sailing Cat House have maintained their 12th place standing. They are 7 hours 59 minutes and 21 seconds behind the leaders. 2 Salty Dogs with Carl D. Roberts & Robert E. Gaidos on board are 15th. They lie 11 hours 18 minutes and 38 seconds behind the race leaders.

    Leading the 1000 is the Chick Beach team of Randy Smyth and Jason Sneed who are the defending champions. They have a 7 minute 2 second lead on teams Australia I with skipper Brett Dryland and his crew Rod Waterhouse.

    There are 4 legs remaining. Today's leg takes the fleet from Atlantic Beach NC to Cape Hatteras NC a distance of 81.3 miles. This leg is expected to last 7 to 12 hours.
  
 242.2 miles remain to be raced. With the two lead boat within minutes a lead change is an eminent possibility.

    To keep up with the race visit: http://www.worrell1000.com