March 1, 2026

Welcome to Black Bear Yacht Racing Association. BBYRA is a sailing, racing and social club located in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. The club conducts sailboat races, classroom instruction, on-the water training and various social events throughout the year.

Sailors,

Racing is underway, past mid-point of season, mid-way through Series 2 scheduled races. See Scores & Standings for race results.

Watch video from June 13 race taken by Tom Bain on his Paceship 23.

Crew Available: Benjamin Tierney of Mahtomedi is looking to help crew boats. Contact him at bentierney@gmail.com

Click for member application for 2026 Sailing Season –[pdf]

View new tri-fold club brochure –pdf

Race Commentary

To: BBYRA · Wed, Aug 26 at 3:47 PM

With the Grand Finale on the Horizon we are fast approaching the end of the season. A mere 5 weeks or so and it’s all over.

Yesterday concluded Tuesday Series 2 with a really nice breeze and some good battles.

On the C22 side Hausboat and Echo Too really fought things out to the very end with Hausboat edging out Echo Too by a foot on the finish line. I guess that was even less then the one second recorded. With that win, the one strike permitted for 6 races sailed and the appropriate tie breaker rules it ended up that this one foot pretty much decided the Series for Hausboat over Echo. It does not get much better than that. Albeit not quite as close Dragonfly and Water Dog made it a very close finish with Dragonfly edging out Water Dog by 5 seconds and thus ended up on 4th place for the series. Between them it also came down to this last race.

At the top of the PHRF fleet things were quite less exciting with regards to standings. However Baoin and I had a good battle and I have been accused of being a bully because I hooked them at the start after realizing that they were setting themselves up to push me into the committee boat. To live up to that reputation I kind of pushed things at the finish line even though it didn’t really matter if I crossed before Bain. After all, he needs to give me a few minutes anyway. We all just needed a little adrenaline boost….
It was great to see Kestrel back in the water racing and some racing they did. While Tom and I were duking it out throughout the entire course they suddenly appeared out of nowhere at the finishing line. It is always good to see that us slow boats have a fighting chance after all. Now we just need to figure out a way to slow down (or catch up to) License2Chill who took first in the series (again:-()

All is ready for the late season Series with single races every Saturday. Also be aware that the Tuesday (Frozen Fingers) Races start at 5:30 pm.

As always: Fair winds and always some water under the keel,

Jochen

Tuesday evening June 16, was very windy but after our race started at 6:30 the wind dropped off quickly, making for a frustratingly slow second half. However, look how beautiful the evening was!

BBYRA Now Accepts Donations

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Keel Boat Racing FYI

Boating Terms & Resources

Sailboat racing is easier than you think … more

Click here for Racing Rules Quiz – used at racing seminars.

Get cut off from a race? File a Protest Form.

2026 Race Season

Race Scores – Click here.

Calendar – Click here.

Boats For Sale – Need a keel boat to sail? Click on link. Or use tab in top menu.

Media

“Racing Season Begins on White Bear Lake” ~ White Bear Press (click)

Lake Superior 2016: Small boat cruising on Lake Superior’s North Shore and Nipigon Bay in a Precision 165.

2016 Leech Lake Regatta: Drone footage from a Phantom 4.

“How an All-Woman Sailing Crew Proved the Critics Wrong,” Article published 6/13/2019 in Wall St. Journal. Read pdf

Documentary ‘Maiden’ tracks the 1989 journey of Tracy Edwards, who led the first female crew in the grueling Whitbread Round the World Race See trailer: https://youtu.be/OMBM10cBhIs

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