The J/24 North Americans Come to Port Credit
The J/24 North Americans Come to Port Credit
Over the next week, a car will turn into our yard towing a twenty-four foot sailboat that set out from Seattle. Another is coming up from Key Largo. One is driving in from Edmonton, two are making the run from Nova Scotia, and five are heading down the highway from Ottawa.
From September 30 to October 4 we host the 2026 J/24 North American Championship together with the Canadian J/24 Class Association. Twenty-six crews are entered so far, it is the continental title for one of the most widely sailed keelboats in the world, and it is the final regatta of our ninetieth season.
You are welcome to come and watch. Here is what will be happening, and where to stand.
Why a Twenty-Four Foot Boat Draws a Continent
The reason crews will drive across a continent to race here comes down to the boat. A J/24 is twenty-four feet long, weighs about as much as a large car, and rides on a trailer behind one. That is how a continental championship pulls boats from Seattle and Florida to a lake in Mississauga.
One-design racing does the rest. Every J/24 is built to the same measurements, and those measurements get checked before anyone races, right down to the crew standing on the scales. It takes the boat out of the argument and leaves the crew. More than a thousand sailors hold class membership around the world.
We know this boat well, because we own a fleet of them. Our J/24s are what our adult Intro to Racing course sails, what our BoatHub members book by the slot, and what goes out on Monday nights. The boats arriving on trailers from Seattle and Jacksonville are the same design somebody learning with us will steer for the first time next spring. We are quietly pleased about that.
SAIL A J/24 YOURSELF
Our adult courses, including the introduction to racing aboard our own J/24 fleet. pcyc.net/adult-learn-to-sail
The Boat With Our Burgee Won the Worlds Here
In September 2017 we hosted the J/24 World Championship. Sixty-three crews came, racing ran from the fifteenth to the twenty-third, and a Canadian boat finished on top: Clear Air, sailed by Rossi Milev with Gayle Gray, Mark Goodyear, Jon Messenger and Jeremy Edwards.
Rossi is the reason the fleet is coming back to us. He led the effort to bring the North Americans to Port Credit alongside the Canadian class association, which was revived in 2025 under veteran J/24 sailor Vince Somoza after several quiet years, with the aim of rebuilding the class in Canada.
He also arrives in form. Last weekend in Portland, Maine, Clear Air won the 2026 J/24 U.S. National Championship out of a thirty-three boat fleet, with Monica Morgan, Vince Somoza, Federico Donzino and Geoff Becker aboard. Rossi will be racing on his home water, out of this club, having just beaten most of the people about to follow him here.
Ten Years On, the Same Names Come Back
We last hosted the North Americans in September 2016, when forty-six boats came and Will Welles took it on Cougar. Third that year was Clear Air. Fourth was Evan Petley-Jones on Lifted. Fifth was Aidan Glackin on Mental Floss.
All three are entered again. Petley-Jones is trailering Lifted in from Chester, Nova Scotia. Glackin brings Mental Floss, which finished second at those US Nationals last weekend and took the American national title. Tony Parker, runner-up at our 2017 Worlds, returns with Bangor Packet from Annapolis.
The rest of the fleet is a proper spread. Kurt Dammeier brings Amuse Bouche from the Corinthian Yacht Club in Seattle, and Michael Goldfarb sails WarCanoe out of Seattle under a New York Yacht Club burgee. Jay Miles is trailering Blister up from Key Largo, Paul Abdullah brings Tremendous Slouch from Jacksonville, and Jasper Van Vliet heads east from California with Evil Octopus. Ted Bartlewski drives Drivers Wanted in from Edmonton. Nepean Sailing Club in Ottawa has six boats entered, the largest contingent of any club in the fleet, and crews from Erie, Cleveland, Rochester, Ithaca, Canandaigua and Toms River fill in the rest.
You get the boat names for a week too. This fleet includes Brain Cramp Too, Mental Floss, Barking Squirrel and Tremendous Slouch.
FOLLOW THE REGATTA
Schedule, notice of race, entry list, arrival details and live results right through the week. 2026j24nachampionship.com
What Happens, and What You Will See
Boats start arriving the Saturday before, and our registration desk opens in the Lakeshore Room at nine on Wednesday September 30. Crews spend that day proving their boats are legal: class membership, a measurement certificate, a sailmaker's stamp on every sail, insurance, and the crew themselves on the scales. Bow numbers come last, and the bow number is what lets you race.
Launching is its own spectacle. Our mast crane sits too close to the two J/24 launch cranes to be used alongside them, so every crew steps their own mast with gin poles they have brought from home. Harbour staff bring each boat down to the crane, and there is an arc sprayed on the gravel to line the keel up for a clean lift.
Racing runs Friday through Sunday, October 2 to 4. The organisers chose these dates deliberately, for the strong winds and fair conditions this lake tends to serve up in the autumn. In 2016 the race committee brought a race home to finish in front of the club, which is a fine thing to watch from shore.
Chris Howell, who directs the International J/24 Class Association, was generous when the regatta was announced, saying the club "has always exceeded expectations with its hospitality." We plan to earn that again.
Come Down and Watch
One honest word on logistics. We are in haul-out that week, so club parking is tight and the competitor lot is spoken for. If you are coming purely to watch, Lakefront Promenade Park sits right beside us and gives you the water with easier parking. Full directions are on the event site.
It is worth the trip. The racing happens within sight of shore, the fleet comes back to our docks every afternoon, and championship sailors are generally delighted to tell you what went wrong on the second beat if you ask them. Walk the docks in the evening and read the transoms.
Ninety years ago a handful of sailors founded this club because they wanted somewhere to race. The first weekend of October, the best J/24 crews on the continent will be doing exactly that in front of us, and we would love you to come and see it.
SEE OUR RACING PROGRAMME
Club racing, our open regattas, and everything we run on the water. pcyc.net/racing-regattas