Chicago to Michigan City to Chicago

June 27, 2025
Annual Regatta

Event Details

Host Columbia Yacht Club
Location Chicago, USA
Certification Level Platinum
Website Link https://www.columbiayachtclub.org/

Best Practices Achieved

1. Eliminate Single-Use Water Bottles and Provide Water Refill Stations

• Columbia Yacht Club (COLYC) has a water refill station located on the rail deck and has proper signage to notify racers. • Additionally, COLYC does not sell single-use water bottles, but instead sells aluminum water bottles with screw tops to allow for racers to reuse at our water refill station.

2. Eliminate Plastic Straws

• COLYC does not use plastic straws, but instead uses Agave Fiber Straws. 100% NATURAL - Mexican Agave drinking straws are made from natural Agave (Mexican Tequila Plant), making them one of the most sustainable renewable drinking straws available today.

3. Serve Food with Plastic-Free Dinnerware

• COLYC uses bamboo plates for our buffets at the regattas and reusable glass/plates for indoor dinning. • All silverware used was biodegradable.

4. Skip Bags or Go Reusable

For this regatta, there were no skipper bags given.

5. Award Practical Items or Use a Perpetual or Upcycled Trophy

• COLYC reward regatta winners with flags that captions enjoy flying and occasionally alcohol bottle.

6. Publicize Your Sustainability Efforts

• COLYC shares Sailors for the Sea’s conservation message within the yacht club. We promote the green boater pledge within our weekly emails and we are working on building out a public website to share our great efforts and stories. • COLYC Conservation Committee website: https://sites.google.com/drakedata.io/colyc-conservationcommittee/home

7. Involve Local Organizations

• COLYC is teamed up with Sailors for the Sea not only for green regattas, but also for a green boater pledge competition between other yacht clubs in Chicago.

8. Post Educational and Reusable Signage

• COLYC had electric signs promoting the regatta and had signage posted throughout the regatta party on our sustainable efforts and promoting the green boater pledge. • Regatta details were shared on Clubspot: https://theclubspot.com/regatta/YHK8AH0JVf

9. Serve Local Food or Source Seafood Sustainably

COLYC works with local venders to locally source as many food offerings as we can. Here is a list of our current local venders: - Nichols Farms - Mick Klug Farms - Werp Farms - Shawn Michelle Ice Cream - Heaven's Honey - Agave Straw Co - Verterra Fallen Leaf Products - GFS Compostable Cups - Fortune Gourmet - Wabash Seafood - Midwest Produce - Plantswitch

10. Organize a Green Team

At COLYC, the Conservation Committee is our designated team that promotes conservation on our waters and organizes volunteer events.

13. Use Paperless Event Management

COLYC uses our website, CASRA's website, and Clubspot online platform to post all Notice of Race (NOR), sailing instructions, registration, and results. We do not print out any of the details to give to captions, but we instead encourage them to use their phone/tablet to access the information. CASRA: https://chicagosailracing.org/races Clubspot: https://theclubspot.com/regatta/YHK8AH0JVf

15. Prevent Toxins from Entering the Water

• COLYC promotes the proper disposal of oil as we have a designated oil drop-off canaster on our dock for racers to use as needed. We also follow all federal and state laws to make sure that no toxins leak out into Lake Michigan. • Next regatta we will work on talking about sunscreen and how that can affect the water.

16. Increase Awareness of Wildlife and Habitat Protection

We have added details on our conservation website to promote local wildlife and the efforts we can do to help: https://sites.google.com/drakedata.io/colyc-conservationcommittee/wildlife-habitat?authuser=0

18. Promote Alternative Transportation

COLYC promotes alternative transpiration with outdoor and indoor bike rakes, Divvy bike station close by, and use of CTA trains and buses. Car pooling is always encouraged to the regattas if sailors are driving.

19. Reduce Day-of Emissions

COLYC is conscious of the boats we send out to set markers and only use the boats that are necessary. The committee boat for each course is anchored and engine turned off.

20. Inspire Future Action

At Columbia Yacht Club, our commitment to Clean Regattas continues to grow. In 2025, we took a major step forward by pledging to make all of our hosted regattas certified Clean Regattas. This club-wide initiative reflects not only our pride in past conservation efforts, but our intent to set a strong example for others in the sailing community. We've also seen growing momentum around our Conservation Committee, with new volunteers joining who are passionate about protecting the waters we sail on. By embedding sustainability into our culture and growing our volunteer base, we aim to inspire lasting environmental stewardship both on and off the water.