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Our Sailboat Racing Program has been an institution and tradition at Portage Lake since 1953, and a daysailing community well before those early years. Click HERE for a brief history of racing at PYC.

We pride ourselves with a Sailboat Racing Program that follows world class guidelines, prompting good competition, while having fun on the water, and look forward to our social gatherings off the water. Plus, always offering a helping hand to those, young or old, who are just now learning to sail or race.

Our racing program currently features formal Thursday Evening Racing in all Classes of sailboats suited for Portage Lake for novice thru experienced sailors, with post-race gathering on shore afterwards to rehash the fun times on the water, learn from each other, meet new friends, and carry on about the topics of the day.

On weekends, usually Saturdays, if the conditions look favorable 1-2 days in advance, an email is sent to those sailors wishing to be on-call, that informal practice races and/or mentoring will be conducted, with a social time afterwards as on Thursday evenings.

If you are without a sailboat of your own, Portage Yacht Club offers a number of Club Boats that are available to rent on Portage Lake, for a few hours, the day, or you can reserved for a specific race time weekly throughout the sailing/racing season. These are the 14’ Laser, 18’ Interlake, 19’ Flying Scot, and 13’ Hobie Wave. These are maintained by the Club Staff and provide a way to learn more about sailing, test your skills, and join in on the fun.

If you are new to sailing, or have never sailed, PYC offers sailing lessons to get you on the water to learn and experience the fun and excitement of sailing, Then once you have some experience being a sailor, and want to try racing, the local racers can match you up with a partner who can give you a helping hand to ease you into the fun, excitement, and challenge of racing sailboats.

Not sure if sailing or racing is for you? We can likely get you on the water during the racing as part of the crew on one of the race management boats, to watch close-up and maybe even help set the race buoys, or maybe flag raising with an experienced boat driver/manager.

Sometimes on the larger sailboats the owner may be short a crew member and need a helping hand during a practice session, or even a formal race. The Club Office maintains a Crew List of those interested.

We invite you to visit Portage Yacht Club on Portage Lake and check us out.

We look forward to meeting you, PYC Commodore, Club Staff, and Portage Lake Sailors.

Rules	ISAF Racing Rules. Sailing Instructions will be available once approved.
Eligibility and Entry	Open to class-legal boats owned by or chartered to a PYC member. Club membership requirements waived for first-year racers. FEE SCHEDULE AND ENTRY FORMS AVAILABLE FROM THE CLUB OFFICE.
Fleets	Three entries required for fleet status.
Starting Order	Single-handed; Multi-handed
2024 Dates	Spring/Fall:	May 16, 23, 30; Jun  6; Aug 29; Sep 5, 12, 19
	School’s Out:	Jun 13, 20, 27; Jul 11, 18, 25; Aug 1, 8, 15, 22
Races	Three or more back-to-back races. (Weather permitting)
Warning Signal	6:30 PM. Subsequent races: Back-to-Back
Other	Scoring, alternative penalties, prizes and other details are covered in the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions. Questions, please contact the Club Office during regular office hours.