Origins of the Great Lake Race

Somewhere in 1990 or 1991 CSA Commodore Ann Geisert expressed at a CSA Board meeting her desire to start a long-distance fun race that would attract both sailboat racers as well as non-racers. She envisioned this to be a large event that hopefully CSA’s closest lake yacht club allies at the time would embrace. All three clubs were to be involved and attract participants and hopefully sailors from the other clubs in the GYA. She even expressed a desire to include a power boat contingent and thus the Great Lake Race was proposed.

Stanton Murray and I volunteered to sit on the committee to get this underway. Stanton had described to us about the Dauphine Island Race that attracted sailors from all four Mobile Bay clubs as well as sailors from all over the Gulf Coast. It was a longer destination race followed by a great party. Most participants spent the night in a raft-up and returned home the next day.

CSA already had scheduled races with Tammany Yacht Cub and South Shore Yacht Club in prior years and these proved to be fun events. We contacted both clubs and described our idea which was immediately embraced. We met a few times to iron out the details. I remember A.C. “Pete” Peters and Cort Hutchison representing SSYC but I honestly cannot remember the guys representing TYC (maybe Stanton can). We decided on a 20 mile race course with a staggered start on the south shore ending near the HWY 11 bridge. This would allow 1 minute intervals between PHRF ratings at the Start and be a novelty at the time. Theoretically, all boats should have finished at the same time…… buuuutt. We looked at the Lake Pontchartrain racing calendar and decided that the first Saturday following Labor Day would be the best time to conduct the race. The first race was held on September 14, 1991. A small flotilla of power boats even accompanied the fleet.

CSA would administer the race; provide awards funded from the entry fees and have the tee-shirt sales. We would also provide the boat and race committee at the start. SSYC would host the Skipper’s Meeting and Party on the Friday night before the race. TYC would finish the race and host the after-race party and awards ceremony. All three clubs put a lot of effort in the event and had many members involved. We had raffle prizes from local businesses like Sintes, Mayer Boat Works, Seabrook Marine, Murray Yacht Sales, West Marine and various restaurants.

We advertised the event and Ann even got a short spot on the WWL Morning Show with Eric Paulson and Sally Ann Roberts to plug the event. Eric even sailed the event 1 or 2 years. Ann invited everyone in the city to come out to Lakeshore Drive to watch the start.

The response in the first several years was phenomenal. I believe by year 3 we had over 110 boats participate. After about 8-10 years the novelty wore off and we had experienced one or two races where severe thunderstorms came over the fleet as well as a few drifters. We also had a couple of Tropical Storms cause us to cancel and reschedule. More and more boats were complaining that they had to get a car to TYC so they could shuttle their crew home. The number of participants started to dwindle so we decided to conduct the race on the south shore as a steeplechase. The after race activities were held at The Dock Restaurant & Club in West End Park and later at Coconut Beach. That move was a good one as in the very first year after moving the race to the south shore we had a J-24 get hit by lightning. The proximity of the Coast Guard and safe harbor proved to save the crewmember hit as well as the boat.

The race became an event benefitting Children’s Hospital in 2000 and remained as such until Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina obviously caused us to cancel the 2005 race and almost killed future events. So many boats were lost and so many people were relocating. The CSA south shore fleet had been shrinking and SSYC was destroyed. Fortunately, NOYC agreed to host our after-race party in 2006 and shortly thereafter has become a partner in this race. We were able to move the race to the last Saturday in September which has improved our weather prospects. I want to also add that SYC has embraced this race and even includes it in some class yearly standings. SYC has also allowed CSA to charter Patrol II in certain years for Race Committee. Many have volunteered their time and effort to make this event a success. The support from NOYC & SYC has been vital to the continuation of this event as is the continued support of the CSA north shore fleet. The rebuilding of the Municipal Yacht harbor should help infuse the Great Lake Race with new boats in the future as boats are attracted back to this area.

I believe that introducing the New Orleans community to Wednesday Night Racing and the Great Lake Race are two of CSA’s greatest accomplishments as a sailing entity.

Rob Grisoli
CSA Commodore 1988, 1989