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Sailboat Races on Lake Winnebago — Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club, June 2014

ByJamie Dolan

These are some of my favorite shots from an evening of sailboat racing out on Lake Winnebago, taken on June 17, 2014. The boats here are racing with the Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club, which runs races right off Neenah all summer long. On a nice evening it’s a lot of fun to set up along the shore and watch the crews work the boats around the course as the sun drops toward the far side of the lake.

The keelboat Okoboji close-hauled with its name spelled across the sail, crew hiking out to keep it flat
“Okoboji” close-hauled, name right across the sail, with the crew hiking to keep her flat.

The Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club

I got curious about the club after shooting these, and the history turned out to run deeper than I expected. Organized sailboat racing on Lake Winnebago goes all the way back to 1859, and the Neenah Yacht Club was formally established in 1864 — which makes it one of the oldest yacht clubs in the entire country. Lloyd’s Register has actually listed it among the oldest in the USA.

In 1894 a group of younger Neenah sailors — several of them Kimberlys, of the local paper-making family — started a second club, the Nodaway Yacht Club, with the idea of racing identical “one-design” boats so that a race came down to sailing skill instead of who could afford the fastest hull. That one-design idea was pretty forward-thinking at the time, and it eventually caught on all over the sailing world. The two clubs merged in 1905 into the Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club we still have today, down at 98 5th Street right on the water.

Over the years the club has raced everything from the big Class A scows to Flying Scots, Lasers, and cruising keelboats, hosted Inland Lake regattas, and even helped train Navy officers during World War II. The club is still very much going today — running weeknight and weekend races and teaching new sailors of all ages through the Fox Valley Sailing School.

A Catalina 22 and a J/24 racing side by side on Lake Winnebago with the wooded hills of the far shore behind them
Two boats matching tacks, with the wooded hills along the far shore of the lake behind them.

The boats out there that evening

What I like about an evening race like this is the mix of boats. It isn’t a one-design fleet of identical hulls — it’s a handicap fleet, where all sorts of different cruiser-racers start together and their finish times get adjusted by a rating. That means a slower boat sailed well can still beat a faster one, and you get a little of everything out on the water.

I caught a good number of them by name. There’s Okoboji, with her name spelled right across the sail; the green-trimmed Baraka; the green-hulled Sweet Pea with her whole crew lined up along the rail; a sleek sport boat called Cosmic Muffin under dark laminate sails; one boat boldly named Crisis Mode; a dark-blue S2 7.9 carrying number 101; a Catalina 22; and a J/24 (USA 4961) that I ended up following around the course. Old fiberglass cruisers and modern sport boats, with crews ranging from couples and kids to grizzled old hands.

The light is really what makes these. By the time the fleet is out racing, the sun is dropping toward the far shore, the water goes silver, and everyone’s leaning out over the rail with that warm low light right on their faces. You can just about feel how good a summer evening on the water is.

Four crew members in life vests sitting along the rail of a keelboat, smiling in the low evening sun
A crew taking a breather along the rail, evening sun on their faces.

More photos from the evening

Here’s the full set from that evening out on the lake — click any photo to view it larger.

The keelboat Okoboji and another boat overlapped close together rounding a mark, crews working the rails
Four crew members in life vests sitting along the rail of a keelboat, smiling in the low evening sun
A sailor on the black-hulled keelboat holding up an orange flag after finishing, sails furled
A black-hulled cruiser-racer motoring back in with its sails lowered after the race
A sailboat heeling under full main and headsail in the evening breeze on Lake Winnebago
The white, green-trimmed keelboat Baraka sailing away under genoa and mainsail
Keelboats racing close together on Lake Winnebago in the evening light
The boat Okoboji close-hauled with its name spelled across the sail, crew hiking out to keep it flat
The sport boat Cosmic Muffin with five crew sitting along the rail under dark laminate sails
A keelboat and its crew trimming sails during the evening race
A blue-hulled keelboat with a crew member perched on the foredeck, racing alongside another boat
A sailboat under full sail against the bright evening sky
A keelboat crew working the sheets as they race upwind on Lake Winnebago
A keelboat sailing upwind among the fleet in the evening light
A line of keelboats sailing together under a sky of scattered clouds
A dark-blue S2 7.9 sailboat, sail number 101, sailing upwind with an orange race mark in the foreground
A white keelboat with a blue boot stripe and its crew sitting along the rail, sailing away
A sailboat heeled over and driving through the chop during the race
A keelboat crew hiking out on the windward rail in the evening light
A J/24 and other boats in the fleet jockeying for position during the race
The green-hulled keelboat Sweet Pea with its five-person crew lined up along the windward rail
Close-up of the transom of the boat Crisis Mode as its crew works the cockpit
A Catalina 22 and a J/24 racing side by side with the wooded hills of the far shore behind them
A sailboat working upwind in the fading evening light
The J/24 (USA 4961) and another keelboat racing close together, crews trimming sails
The J/24 sailing in lighter air, its crew of three at the helm and rail

Have you been there? I'd love to hear your favorite spot.

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