Mohican Sailing Club hosting National Regatta event on Charles Mills Lake

LUCAS — The Mohican Sailing Club, a venue for small-boat family sailing and racing, will host the Interlake Sailing Class Association National Regatta for the first time since 1965 on Charles Mills Lake.

The sailing event will take place from Tuesday to Saturday. The winner of the National Regatta will then represent the Interlake Class for this year in the Regatta called the "Championship of Champions."

"Interlake boats are the boats that will be used in the regatta and they are one-design boats," said William Sanderson, the Commodore of the Mohican Sailing Club and the Local National Regatta Chairman. "Most one-design boats are in that neighborhood of less than 25 feet and feature a mainsail, a jib sail and a spinnaker. They're just slightly designed differently and have their own characteristics. All Interlake boats are supposed to be the same and what we're really doing is testing the skills of the sailors."

Interlake boat designed in 1933 for Lake Erie

The Interlake boat was originally designed in 1933 to be sailed on Lake Erie and inland lakes in the Midwest. It's known to be a popular family boat and is best suited to sail comfortably with two to four people.

"The boats are built by a builder," said Sanderson. "There is some leeway in how you rig the controls. No leeway in size of the sail. No leeway in design of the boat or height of the mast."

As far as participation, Sanderson said that as long you're a member of the Interlake class you can compete in this particular regatta. "For the juniors, you have to be less than 18 to compete," said Sanderson. "There's no age limit for the women but there is a gender restriction. If you're a woman 60 or older, they call you a 'master' and there's a special award for the person over the age of 60 who did the best."

Measuring and weighing each boat will begin on Tuesday. The women and juniors racing will occur on Wednesday. The Championship racing will take place Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will conclude on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

Many sailors are former champions

The top 10 finishers were be awarded.

Many of the competitors will be from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Washington D.C., and are sailors that are former National and International champions.

With the event taking place at Charles Mills Lake for the first time in 57 years, Sanderson talked about why the lake is a worthy location to hold this regatta.

"It's almost as slow as you could possibly go and be able to have this event," said Sanderson. "A lot of sailing occurs on Lake Erie, where there are wide-open waters, of course. There are some lakes bigger than Charles Mills and that's one of the reasons why it's taken a little bit time getting back here because it tends to be one of the smaller venues. But we kept on encouraging and they said, 'Yeah, why don't you guys go and host next year.'

Fans can watch from shore or on observation boat

"It's probably the best place to have this event in this area. You'd have to go as far as south of Columbus and over to Indianapolis before you find another body of water that's big enough to handle this."

People who attend will be able to observe from the shore, or ride on the observation boat that will be on the water during the race.

"What's cool is some of the top sailors in the country and world are going to be here," said Sanderson. "What they will experience is a national racing event. A lot of people know about sailboat racing in the Olympics and what they see in the America's Cup but this is as good of racing as you can possibly get and be able to see how a sailboat race occurs. Also, people watching something like this might take a interest in learning how to sail."

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: National Regatta sailing event to be held on Charles Mills Lake