Fort Peck Sailing Club Hosts Sailing Event This Weekend

This weekend, sailors from Montana and Canada will converge on the Fort Peck Marina for big water, big fun and big sky. The 2015 Fort Peck Lake Sailing Regatta begins Friday, Aug. 14, with a racing seminar from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. The seminar will be for the benefit of all sailors and race committee members, or for anyone curious about sailboat racing in general. Also at 2 p.m., there will be a brief dry-land presentation covering starting sequences and signals, course layout, and rules. At 3 p.m., practice races will be held on the water with individual coaching for new racers. Finishing the evening at 6 p.m., there will be an onshore dinner.

On Saturday, Aug 15, registration will be from 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. in conjunction with breakfast, and will be followed by a competitors meeting at 9 a.m. The on course race warning signal for all sailors will sound at 10 a.m. Onshore lunch will be noon or 1 p.m., and races will continue in the afternoon until 5 p.m. Dinner will be at 6 p.m.

The event continues on Sunday, Aug 16, with breakfast served 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. The on course race warning signal will again sound at 10 a.m. Lunch will be held at 1 p.m. and races will continue until 2:30 p.m. An awards ceremony will be held after the racing concludes.

This year, the Fort Peck Sailing Club again sponsored a poster contest. Students from the Nashua High School Art Program were invited to create painted works of art representing sailboats racing on Fort Peck Lake. Under the direction of art teacher Ms. Jamie Hanson, 18 students produced art. This is the second year Nashua High School students have created art for the poster.

The 2015 winner of the Regatta poster contest is NHS junior Natasha Chamberlain. Her artwork was used as the centerpiece of the poster, which is used to advertise the event. Chamberlain's depiction of white-sailed sailboats beating up through the beautiful blue waters next to the Fort Peck Dam was very colorful. The vistas from below the dam were created with a glorious multitude of purples, oranges, yellow and red.

If you're curious about the event, contact Rafe Sigmundstad at [email protected] or 406-263-2468, Julie Burke at [email protected] or 406-939-0280, or Page Anderson at [email protected].