LYRA 2026 Brings Large Fleet to Etobicoke Yacht Club
By Roger Renaud
The Lake Yacht Racing Association’s annual regatta (LYRA) was held at the end of August at the Etobicoke Yacht Club, Toronto combined with EYC’s Open Regatta. It was a huge success attracting 63 boats, the most participation registered at any significant Lake Ontario regatta in the past while.
The Freeman Cup Race was hosted and run by the Mimico Yacht Club, a neighbour of the EYC with whom they share the same basin in Humber Bay.
LYRA was founded in 1884 to serve and represent yachting interests on Lake Ontario, Eastern Lake Erie, The Upper St. Lawrence River and the Finger Lakes. LYRA encourages the sport of sailing and sportsmanship among sailors, both at the junior and senior levels, and contributes goodwill between Canada and the United States through its sailing events. LYRA is an original Canadian event with roughly 53% of it’s membership (Yacht Club) being Canadian Clubs.
The 2026 LYRA Regatta is considered to be a huge success. Over the past decade, while hosted in Canadian waters, participation at all significant regattas has been extremely low. The Freeman Cup race has not seen a dozen boats participating in years. For example, the 2025 LYRA event saw participation in the low 30’s. This year there were 23 starters for the Freeman Cup race, and there were 63 boats participating in the 2 days of course racing, which includes 6 boats from the American south shore.
Luc D’Aoust, Race Director of LYRA says: – “This year was an experiment in efforts towards increasing participation levels”. “Merging the LYRA Regatta with the Open Regatta of a LYRA member Club was the right thing to do”. “We now have to build on what we learned” says Luc. Participation levels doubled!
The format and start time of Freeman Cup Race was also an experiment. Depending upon weather forecasts, various turning marks were available to set a course and distance. This theoretically allowed flexibility to run a day race and allow the fleet to finish late afternoon. Some would say the course configuration was confusing, and the distance of 9 miles was a mistake for such a historical and distinguished race. It was a very light-air race. This is all a part of the learning process.
Two racing circles set up for course racing. One for handicap divisions, and the other for one-design fleets.
The winners
Alpha Course:
- ORC Fast 30+: CAN 3002 Notorious – Kevin Brown FARR 30 MCC
- PHRF-1: CAN54299 Absolute – Mike Armstrong Dobroth MORC 30 NOTLSC
- PHRF-2: 34195 Renaissance – Peter Kirkwood C&C 38 BHYC
- PHRF-3: 69 Distant Thunder – Jim Wente C&C 27 Mk V EYC
- PHRF NFS: 2338 Dragon Fly – Rankin Middlebrook CS36T EYC
Bravo Course:
- 8 meters: GBR2 Lafayette – David Wolfe 8mR modern PCYC
- J105: Can 110 Hey Jude – James Rathbun RCYC
- J80: Can 81 Innocent Bystander – David Doyle RCYC
- Dragon: Can 60 Corte – Kent Aggus – EYC
- Beneteau First 36.7: Neptune’s Car – Brian Rutter MCC
The Freeman Cup Race
- ORC – Long Time Running – Bill Reid – Farr30 from the Kingston Yacht Club
- PHRF 1 – Absolut – Mike Armstrong – Dobroth MORC30 from the NOTLSC
- PHRF 2 – Puffin – Darin Sameshima – J80 from the National Yacht Club
- PHRF NFS – Third Mate – Frank Vetricek – Hughes 38 from the Etobicoke Yacht Club
Freeman Cup Overall was won by Long Time Running – Bill Reid – Farr30 – KYC
Other LYRA News
The Yacht Racing Union of the Great Lakes (YRUGL) is pleased to announce the Great Lakes Match Racing Championship for the Richardson Trophy will he held at the Chicago Yacht Club this fall. Dates are September 11 – practice Day, with September 12- 13 being the racing days.
The ‘LYRA waters’ will be represented by Richard Rychlik Jr. out of the Oakville YC. There will be four teams competing. These will be sailed by the ‘youth teams’, under age 23. LYRA has been focussed on the youth racing, and especially match racing. LYRA will be sponsoring Richard and his team. The boats used is the Thom 28. Chicago has a fleet for this purpose.
Competition for the Richardson Cup was first held in Chicago in 1912, between Universal Rule P Class yachts. Match racing on Lake Ontario has also declined in the past 10 – 15 years. LYRA has an objective to bring it back in the spotlight. LYRA is focussed on youth, and youth competition. This will be the first time in 15 years this competition is held.
A prominent sailing/racing official said to me a month ago: – “Roger, LYRA is dead”. My answer is: “LYRA is dead only if you want it to be”. It is everyone’s responsibility to support sailing organizations, and events, such as LYRA.
On behalf of Sailing in Canada, thank you all for participating, and for supporting the efforts of your LYRA team. And, thank you to all the organizers and volunteers involved in making this year’s regatta a success.
Did you know the University of Toronto is home to Canadian Youth Match Racing Champions?
