Canadians to avoid US waters (again)

by Phoebe Wall Howard, Shifting Gears
Canadian sailors have decided that the Lake Ontario Offshore Race Committee will alter all race courses to be run exclusively in Canadian waters during the 2026 sailing season, according to a newsletter shared with Shifting Gears.

This is the second year of the restriction, announced last year as having been made for the “safety and security of all our races” and to honor concerns of its racers.

Terry Kuehn, chair of the Lake Ontario Offshore Racing, told me on Wednesday, Jan. 21, “We had expected a drop in registration (in 2025) but we actually ended up slightly higher, which was surprising and encouraging.”

The race course alteration is not intended to discourage Americans, he said.

“We don’t want it to be a political statement. Our sole focus has been around maximizing the number of boats participating,” Kuehn said. “What drew our attention to it last year was, when we set our typical race courses, we started getting all these emails about not competing — and that included long-term racers.” – Full report