Online Resource for Sailing in Michigan

There are over 80 yacht and sailing clubs in Michigan. One or more are bound to be near you. Many of these offer sailing classes and look for volunteers to crew on boats for weekly races. Click on the links to the left to go to their respective sites.

We recommend checking out:

American Sailing Institute
Creekfleet Sail Club
Saginaw Bay Community Sailing
Traverse Area Community Sailing
Michigan State Univ. Sailing Center

Michigan Ice Sailing

General Information

As the weather cools down, ice sailing/yachting heats up. Although highly weather dependent, most organized ice boating occurs on the Western side of the state on Gull Lake, Elk Lake, Muskegon Lake and Grand Traverse Bay. Other regional action can be found on Cass Lake (Oakland Co.), Wampler's Lake (Jackson Co.) or Lake Saint Clair (Macomb Co.).

Because Michigan winters are sufficiently cold to allow for a thorough freezing of inland lakes, ice boating is popular in the state during the winter months. In fact, one of the more popular iceboat classes is the DN class, designed and named in response to a contest sponsored by the Detroit News in 1937. This boat is essentially a small ice rocket (12 feet long, only 21 inches wide) with a maximum speed of 60 m.p.h. Michigan is home to the International DN Ice Yacht Racing Association, which boasts about 2000 members.

There are some peculiarities to ice boating (ice yachting) which are not seen with “soft water” sailing. First, most iceboats carry a single individual (so the need for crew is removed), however two or more person boats do exist. Second, because of the speeds involved (iceboats in general can travel 5-10x wind speed), ice sailors wear protective gear, including helmets. Third, iceboats do not require standard ramps for launching. And lastly, an intimate knowledge of ice conditions and lake topography is essential for a safer experience (although iceboating cannot be made 100% "safe"). The iceboating season can’t start until snow-free hard ice is established on the lakes, usually after Christmas. Ice-sailing events in general are very condition dependent and may arise or be canceled with short notice for safety reasons. Those interested in iceboating should contact the organizations below for expert advice on sailing conditions, tactics and safety.

Associations

Elk Lake Iceboating Club
Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club
Grand Traverse Ice Yacht Club
West Michigan Ice Yacht Club

Ice Boats for sale on Craigslist

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What Happened?

Since 2009, SailMichigan.org has endeavored to make entry and enjoyment of sailing easier. If you have visited us before, you will note the change. As much as we hated to do it, we could not financially support the changes necessary in the old site and had to retire it. We are now recontemplating our naval to see what is possible.

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This is unknown. Will the full functionality of SailMichigan return? Perhaps, but not in the immediate future.

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This has not changed. Our mission has always been to lower the barriers to sailing, especially small boat sailing.

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Michigan Ice Sailing

General Information

Associations

About Us

What Happened?

The future?

Our Mission

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