The Leland Yacht Club hosted the 82nd National One-Design (NOD) Championship regatta for the 24th time since the twoperson NOD sailboat was designed 90 years ago over the weekend.
Sailors from Denver, Ireland, Ohio, Indiana, and locals are competing during the 90th anniversary year of the National One-Design class, designed by William Crosby in 1936.
Races last through Saturday off Nedow’s Bay in Lake Leelanau.
Stephen Rutherford made the trip from Holywood, Ireland, a proper small Irish town, near Belfast.
“Back in the early 80s the designs were built in Belfast. I found them through a magazine.
And as a teenager, I sailed on them. Move forward then, 30 years or whatever.
On Facebook, I saw the association (Leland Yacht Club) and clicked on it and started following it. One of the girls spotted me and asked me why. I explained the same story that I’d sailed as a teenager back in Ireland and they invited me to come out to Leland last year to sail in the world championships.
And I’m back for another go.” Rutherford visited the area for the first time last year with his son and gave an Irish approval, with plans of returning and spending a couple weeks in northern Michigan.
“I love the place. It’s great. I came last year with my son … In the evenings, we traveled around the lake … I think we’ll be back again, possibly next year and this time I’ll open my life and maybe take a longer holiday.”
Rutherford admits he is at a disadvantage against quality sailors and in different waters.
“There’s a local knowledge advantage in this, to be honest with you, when you come to someone else’s venue, with a day like today when the wind’s light, local knowledge is a good thing. If we get a steady breeze, it’ll level the playing field,” Rutherford said.
The championship regatta featured 10 sails and has steadily grown from just a handful in recent years. Referees include two patrol boats during the championship sail.
This is the 90th anniversary year of the National One-Design class sail boat, Introduced in 1936 by Crosby, who also designed the “Snipe” This 17-foot centerboard dinghy is a hallmark of American one-design sailing. With about 1,000 wooden hulls built before fiberglass versions emerged, the class is carefully regulated by the National One-Design Racing Association (NODRA) to maintain level competition. The boat stands out for its 400-pound lightweight design, impressive angles, enabling it to plane in brisk winds.
Designed for club racing and relaxed family outings on lakes and bays, it features a single permitted trapeze for an added racing advantage. Its straightforward rig and forgiving nature have made it a lasting favorite among newcomers and aficionados of vintage sailing.
“This has the rudder more in the middle of the boat rather than on the rear end. So it’s very, very sensitive. It’s a great boat,” Biff Steel said. “I’m happy to get out in the lake and, the open water, the open sky, and then hearing the waves, just washing around the boat. It’s very peaceful.”
Biff has been sailing for 75 years and broke out his original rig from 1959 for the race.
Out of the 10 people racing, one person is 91, another is 87 and 84, respectively.
But age is just a number on Lake Leelanau.
“This race has been very good for families … We like getting together because it’s like family reunions,” Steel said.
Regatta results:
The husband and wife team of Guy and Judy Donatelli from Akron, Ohio, took first place, with Lelander Biff Steel and granddaughter Amina King in second.
Guy’s son, Guy Joseph Donatelli, and crew Kelsey Shuber came in third overall, with the Akron sailing team of Eric and ElaineRoberts fourth, and Stephen Rutherford and Lelander Sara Makielski in fifth.
Family connections are strong in the NOD class: the fathers and uncle of six participants were instrumental in developing the class in the 1950s and 60s.
Prizes for longest distance traveled among the 10 participating boats went to John Gramsas from Denver and Stephen Rutherford from Northern Ireland’s 163-year-old Holywood Yacht Club.
This was the third consecutive year that the NOD Championship regatta was hosted by the Leland Yacht Club, under Commodore Jeff Johnson. LYC’s Race Committee, led by Guy Brossy, ably coped with variable wind conditions over the nine races in Lake Leelanau’s north bay.
Members included Bruce Dunn, Peter Strietmann, and former NOD sailors Vicky Gits and David Watt, with George Strietman, Kathy Draper, John Wellborn, Stacey Brugeman, Tim Parvin and Jim Grogan assisting in safety boats. Prizes consisted of photos and drawings by Jim and Keith Burnham.
Sailing keeps the Steel family together across generations “It was really a great bonding experience,” Biff Steel said of crewing with his granddaughter, Amina King, at this year’s National One- Design Championship regatta. “Doing something together where you’re part of a team really sort of builds a relationship in a different way.” For King, stepping into the boat with her grandfather meant living up to a name she’d seen for years on plaques at the yacht club.
“I’ve heard all these stories about what an incredible sailor he is,” King said. “It really was an honor to crew for him. I got to see firsthand how focused and how dedicated he is to winning the race, and that was actually inspiring to me.”
The partnership carries on a family tradition. Steel learned to sail from his father, crewed with him, then sailed with his own daughter, Melissa King, who crewed with him when he won a world championship. Now it’s Amina’s turn.
“It just carries on this thing,” Steel said. “It builds the family history and builds our individual personal relationship.”
The bond runs deeper than the boat. Steel gave King a matching tattoo as a high school graduation gift five years ago: an Adinkra symbol called Sankofa, from Ghana, where Steel’s wife is from.
“It’s about looking back into the past in order to move forward,” King said. “I feel like that’s what this experience kind of was for us — taking our family history and this traditional sailing together and bringing it to the next generation.”
King, an NYU graduate now living in New York City and ushering at a Broadway theater, has spent summers in Leland since she was 11. This year’s visit included the dunes and blackberry picking.
“I keep staring at all of the wildflowers and the Queen Anne’s lace,” King said. “It’s so grounding.”
