Welcome to the Scotch Bonnet Light Race website 2026.
Chairman John Cake and his committee are busy getting ready for another AWESOME SBLR for 2026.
Now Online
2026 Notice of Race
and
REGISTRATION.
GYC members click here for volunteer opportunities.
SPECIAL OFFER - advanced sale picnic tickets are available for only $15 here. Offer ends August 21.
- The SBLR will once again have satellite based real time tracking from YB Tracking thanks to:
Bob Johnson’s Auto Group - We will be using PHRF-LO point to point correction for the race scoring. click here to learn more.
- The Race Starts on Friday. Skippers meeting will be at 5 pm and first signal at approximately at 6:30pm
- Spinnaker, Genoa Only, and Multi-Hull divisions
- Picnic and Awards Ceremony Sunday August 30 starts at noon, Awards at 3
- SAVE MONEY! When ordered during registration, save $5 on picnic tickets.
- Awards for 1st 2nd and 3rd in each division and 6 perpetual trophies
- Single and Double Handed racers welcome
- A LYRA Tier 2 Event
- Profits will benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
- Online Apparel Store COMING SOON!
- Your Passion Rewarded
Weather Prediction and the Scotch Bonner Light Race
John Cake - June 2026
Sailing inherently takes place in local weather. Obvious. Since sailboats are also inherently slow, and usually
slower than the wind, predicting the weather is of great interest to sailors. Weather prediction through mathematical
modeling was first developed in the 1940s. The first computer application was for the ENIAC computer in 1950.
A 24-hour prediction could be calculated in about 24 hours. Maybe not very useful. By 1972, when the Scotch Bonnet Light Race
was first run, the science of weather prediction had improved. Forecast models based on atmospheric dynamics, with corrections
for near ground level, enabled predictions for regional locations. For the SBLR racer this was accessible largely thru local TV
and radio broadcasts and print media. The reliability was questionable, especially at any specific location and access to current
information was limited to broadcast times.
The Weather Channel debuted in 1980 with 24 hour weather information. This was a huge improvement in access for the public.
Apple developed the Weather APP for iPhones in 2007 allowing fully obsessive weather watching from your back pocket.
In development now are AI models. These are not based on calculations of the physics of the atmosphere but on iterative machine
learning processes. Kind of like my grandfather.
So that’s what we have now. It has never been easier or safer to enter the SBLR. Take the challenge.
It will be a story you can tell your grandchildren. Better yet, take them with you and let them tell the stories.
Registration is open.
A Navigational History of the Scotch Bonnet Light Race
John Cake - May 2026
The Scotch Bonnet Light Race was first run in 1972. It was 82 nautical miles of open water sailing and is
still the same race it was 54 years ago. What has changed however are the navigation systems available and
used by the racers. Of course we don’t know specifically what system each boat has used in each year but
we do know generally what was available. Initially the racers relied on dead reckoning to find the island
and get back to Rochester. No one was permanently lost, but there is a story of one boat ending up in the
Bay of Quinty! Don Wolf told of once returning so late on Sunday that some club members got together to
buy watches with calendar functions for Don and his crew so that next time they would know when to come home.
Obviously, finding a tiny island after 40 miles of open water was a challenge.
Sometime in the early 1970’s Loran C became available on Lake Ontario.The system was based on time differences
between radio signals broadcast from different antennas. Paper charts were available with printed LORAN signal
lines used in calculating location. Early recreational receivers cost as much as $5,000 but soon dropped to
$1,000. Expensive, but they provided accurate positioning and were quickly adopted. The LORAN system faded
into obsolescence with the development of GPS and was discontinued in 2010.
Currently racers are using GPS navigation. The Global Positioning System was first fully operational in 1995
with 24 satellites but with a degraded signal for civilian use. The undegraded system was made available on
May 1, 2000. Early receivers were costly, buly and hard to use but adoption was rapid and system costs fell
along with improved electronics. The introduction of smart phone technology integrated with digital maps,
cellular networks and internet enabled devices have elevated GPS location capability into daily life on land
and on the water.
At this time portable Starlink internet access is available to recreational boaters offering real time weather
data and any other information boaters may want. You can now cross the lake while watching your favorite sports
team play or reruns of Sex in the City.
Also Automatic Information Systems are now fully implemented on commercial ships and available for recreational
boaters. It provides information on vessel identity, location, type, voyage, heading, speed and rate of turn.
It has never been easier or safer to take on the challenge of the Scotch Bonnet Light Race. Still the lake is
still the lake and the weather is still the weather. The challenge still remains and you know you want to do it.
Registration is open.
2025 Video from Robert Lang
Apparel - Online preorders coming soon.
Schedule of Events:
(Unofficial, The schedule is in the Notice of Race section 6)
End of early registration...Tuesday August 11, 2026 at midnight Registration Deadline.......Tuesday August 25, 2026 at midnight Check-in....................Friday August 28, 2026 14:00-16:45 Competitors’ Meeting........Friday August 28, 2026 17:00 First Warning...............Friday August 28, 2026 18:30 Awards Picnic at GYC........Sunday August 30, 2026 12:00 noon Awards Presentation.........Sunday August 30, 2026 15:00
2026 poster (low-res)...
Scotch Bonnet is GOLD
from Emily Conklin Program Manager, Sailors for the Sea:
Congratulations! On behalf of all of us here at Sailors for the Sea, we'd like to award the Genesee Yacht Club our Gold Level Clean Regatta certification for the Scotch Bonnet Light Race.
click here to learn more.
Jon LaRue flies in from California to Race on Waahuu, from Pultneyville Yacht club. He sent the following for the 2024 SBLR:
A great Scotch Bonnet this year. Thank you to GYC for hosting. Here is a pic I think you might like. I took it as we were rounding at about 4am.
My phone must have done some kind of long exposure thing because it was pretty dark at that hour!
Tracking
The Scotch Bonnet Light Race has Real Time On Line Race tracking thanks to:
YB Tracking is the world leader in satellite based tracking and reporting. Bob Johnson Auto Group's support means there is no additional cost to competitors. Anyone in the world can follow the progress of the race through the internet, as it happens. For more information on this awesome technology see:
Perpetrual Trophies
Allen Trophy for the best corrected time of the entire Spinnaker Fleet
Giambra Trophy for the first monohull to finish, elapsed time
Stewart Trophy for the best corrected time of the entire Non-Spinnaker Fleet
Warren Miller "New Issue" Trophy for the first new skipper to finish on corrected time, Genoa Only course.
Founder's Cup for the first GYC yacht under 30' LOA to finish the regular course of the Scotch Bonnet Light Race
SBLR Ernie Coleman Memorial Trophy is awarded to the best performing yacht club in the
Scotch Bonnet Light Race based on each club's top 3 finishing sailboats. To qualify, boats must
be in divisions of at least 3 boats. In the event of a tie, among the boats involved, the club with
the boat which has the best corrected time in the spinnaker fleet would be the winner.
See all of the past winners here Perpetual Trophy Winners - 2025 (PDF)
