The Sugar Bowl Regatta has been held since 1934. The races have taken place on Lake Pontchartrain every year since 1935, except during World War II and immediately after Hurricane Katrina in 2006. Lake Pontchartrain is a 630 square mile lake with a mean depth of 10–16 feet. The sailing competition is divided into two separate phases, over four two-day periods, beginning in late November and concluding on New Year's Eve. The sailing competition typically features more than 200 sailboats divided into separate divisions. Sailing crews from all over the United States, including intercollegiate and high school teams compete in the regatta. The races were originally conducted by the Southern Yacht Club, America's second-oldest yacht club, but are currently conducted in conjunction with the New Orleans Yacht Club.
History
The Sugar Bowl Regatta was established in 1934 by the Midwinter Sports Association to be part of a winter carnival of sports offerings in conjunction with the Sugar Bowl football game. The regatta is the only non-football event that has continued in the same format for the entirety of the Sugar Bowl organization. The "Race of Champions" has been a premier Sugar Bowl Regatta race involving the Gulf Yachting Association one-design boats since Davis Wuescher of the Southern Yacht Club captured the first title in 1934. Since that time, the regatta has expanded to its current form that includes many additional classes such as Performance Handicap, Rhodes-19s, Finns, Lightnings, Flying Scots, many Board Boat classes, and several J-Boat fleets. The Sugar Bowl also sponsors the Optimist Mid-winter Championship, the Great Oaks Regatta, and high school and intercollegiate sailing competitions. The "Race of Champions" began as a Gulf Yachting Association inter-club competition sailed in the then-popular wooden-hulled gaff-rigged Fish Class, but eventually changed to adopt the fiberglass design, Flying Scott. The Sugar Bowl Regatta has featured multiple Olympians, including Gilbert Gray, who captured Olympic Gold in the STAR class in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. George Friedrichs, with crew Barton Jahncke and Gerald Schreck brought home the gold from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico in the Dragon class. John C. Lovell, took silver in the Tornado class in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and competed in the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics. John Dane III became America's oldest Olympian, sailing in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The Sugar Bowl "Race of Champions" trophy has become a nationally-prestigious prize in sailing. Gilbert Gray won it in 1941, 1946 and 1947, becoming the first sailor to win it three consecutive times. John Dane III was the first to win in the "Race of Champions" in three consecutive years in 1986-88.
