Growing season in Chicago

The dominant narrative in American sailing right now feels like one of decline. There, we said it. Fleets are aging. Clubs are consolidating. The path from “I’m interested” to “I’m on the water” is, for far too many people, a path that leads nowhere. Doug Fritz knows this better than most.

He tried for years to break into the racing community in San Francisco. Then he tried again in Santa Cruz. Both times he found the same thing: courses that led to certifications, certifications that led to nothing, and a culture that assumed you’d had a lifetime of yacht club membership and decades spent around the buoys.

He didn’t. But that didn’t deter him. Finally, he moved to Chicago, bought a J/70 with a friend, and decided to stop waiting for someone else to build the scene. – Full report