Great Lakes Sailing Team Journey South

A select team of Midwest sailors compete internationally in the BVIs

Published: Monday, January 14, 2019
By: Brett Langolf

Different Island. Different Bar. Different DJ, but the same girl giving that DJ $10 to request the same song…with the same loud chorus, “Born and raised in South Detroit!”

A collective group of the current who’s-who in sailing – Volvo Ocean racers, TV/movie stars, corporate sponsors, crew members from the Disney movie Morning Light, “Sailing World Magazine”, and a former American’s Cup crew member all looked in wonder. Why is this group so excited to belt out that chorus almost 2,000 miles from the Great Lakes?

South Detroit; North Detroit; West Detroit; that weekend we WERE Detroit. Bayview Yacht Club, Detroit, Michigan… Yes, we WERE born and raised there (except for the Tulsa girl, but she was singing louder and dancing harder than the rest of us). This was our crew, eight of us, representing fresh water and good times at the 2018 Helly Hansen National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Champions of Champions Regatta in the British Virgin Islands. Well, technically we were selected to represent Annapolis, but we will get to that later. So how did we get here?

Late summer, it was another day back in the office. The reality was setting in - summer, sailing, and racing were all about to wind down. Our discussions centered around possible snowfall predications in some Rocky Mountain ski town or lively family-dinner-type conversations about what new sail we “need” this winter… then, we got the call.

Based on our performance at the Annapolis NOODs aboard Tom Kopp’s J/80 Kopp-Out, we had been selected as the overall boat to represent Annapolis in the Champions of Champions regatta in the British Virgin Islands. Did we win the Annapolis NOODs? Nope, but we did get second overall, to a boat full of professionals. So, looks like the slot is ours. Please, someone pinch me! The conversation quickly shifted from ski vacations back to sailing.

The aforementioned skipper and three crew - Brett Langolf, CJ Ruffing, and Steve Young - regrouped and discussed how we could pull off a week in the Caribbean. Work hard, play hard, right? We first had to determine our goals. Were we going for the experience, the camaraderie, or to race? In the end, we chose all the above!

To make this happen, we had to find the right balance of crew. We qualified with a crew of four but Sailing World and Sunsail were providing 41 footers. Thus, we knew more crew was necessary. Unanimously, we decided to bring our favorite crew: our wives - Jennifer Kopp, Katie Langolf, Jane Ann Ruffing, and Lanna Young. Perfect, a crew of eight was formed overnight! To add to the karma, our boat was named MAKIN’ MEMORIES from Crowley, UK. And making memories was what we were about to do.

A series of six races made up the week-long regatta on Sunsail 41 mono hulls.

Leg 0 - Motor to Cooper Island
Leg 1 - The Channel Islands Race (Ginger, Cooper and Salt)
Leg 2 - Spring Bay to Leverick Bay, Virgin
Leg 3 - Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda to Anagada
Leg 4 - Anegada to Sandy Cay
Leg 5 - Sandy Cay to Norman Island
Leg 6 - Windward/Leeward Racing in The Bight Bay

This series of races led us to some of the most beautiful islands and introduced us to some of the most powerful people in this crazy sport we call sailboat racing. Our regatta stops offered geological formations millions of years old in The Baths, guided us to the bar at the end of world, and allowed us to jump off the transom to snorkel with a school of tarpon. We wondered more than once why we would ever go home. We love Detroit and the Great Lakes, but 35 degrees and raining in the Midwest is rough. Painkiller Cocktail, anyone?

Our finish kept us in the mix with some extremely talented pros and amateurs, but, honestly, the biggest concern was keeping our drinks cold for each race. Thanks to YETI, that concern was eliminated. So, never mind - we had no concerns. We didn’t win but we certainly didn’t feel like we lost. We still had $10 left for the DJ and we needed to finish our sailing journey with some more Journey.