The Classic Lightning Regatta – 2025

By Jim Force

Picture a perfect summer day–blue sky, puffy white clouds, green hills bordering a sparkling
lake.
Now picture the same scene lined with brilliant white triangles and brightly colored puffs
moving along that shoreline.
That was the scene the weekend of June 21-22 as 26 one design Lightning sailboats scooted
across New York state’s Keuka Lake near Hammondsport at the annual classic Lightning
regatta.
16 of the boats were restored woodies, and 10 were modern boats competing in a separate
race.
I participated as crew on Ed Ferrier’s Lightning 5450, built in the early ‘50s. From Fort Wayne,
Ind., Ed had found this old-timer in a garage and had spent two and a half years on the
rebuild.

The owner had died, and Ed got the boat for free from his widow. “Did you like to sail?” Ed
had asked her. “I hated it,” she said. “Did your husband like to sail?” he asked. “He hated it,”
she said.
Ed said when he trailed the boat out of the garage, the family all gathered in the empty
garage and took celebratory photos of themselves.
He had rebuilt and refinished everything, from the bottom, to the centerboard trunk, to the
spars, rigging, rudder and tiller, and the deck which he coated with a non-skid rubberized
coating called SoftSand. The boat was brilliant red, topsides, deck and bottom.

Ed insisted on using the original sails, turning down offers from others to lend him newer
ones. The oldies were made of some archaic fabric that may have been the prototype for
dacron. In any case we finished 14-14-11 in the three classic races, 13th overall.
The classic regatta is the brainchild of Bob Astrove, an accomplished Lightning sailor from
Maryland. This was at least the 15 th we’ve held over the years. Boats have to have been built
before 1990 and many carry wooden masts, although aluminum is allowed. This year entrants
came from as far away as Kansas City. The oldest was boat #348, built in the early ‘40s.
The event is hosted by the Keuka (pronounced Q-kah–ask Rich Barker)) Lake Yacht Club.
Volunteers and a knowledgeable race committee make it happen.

The Y-shaped lake is nearly 12,000 acres in area and 20 miles long. The nearby Finger Lakes
Boating Museum hosts a Friday night pasta dinner and conducts tours of their building (an old
winery) which houses many fine old woodies–canoes, power boats, and sailboats. A highlight

is the original wood form used by the Skaneateles Boat Company to build the first 19-foot,
hard chine Lightning back in 1938.
At age 86, I struggled a bit to move about and hike, but I’d love to go back next year.