2026 GL52 Little Traverse Cup - Day 3
by Caroline Rochford 11 Aug 17:24 BST
Yesterday was bittersweet. While we are definitely sad to see our 2026 racing season come to an end, we are looking back so thankful for everything we accomplished this year.
Because it was the final event of our season, Little Traverse Cup saw not only individual awards handed out, but also series and season-wide awards.
Starting with event specifics; scores were as close as they have been all season. Multiple teams traded places on the leaderboard throughout the weekend and each race had us on the edge of our seat. However, despite not winning either race, Katana managed to hold onto their lead and walk away with the LTC win. In perhaps the biggest shakeup of the weekend, Mockingbird knocked both Windquest and Wizard down and finished second overall, their first in-shore podium finish this season. Tricky shifts and wind conditions proved challenging for Windquest to navigate and they dropped to third place overall with Wizard, Hooligan (who won race 7!), and Fjord falling behind them respectively. We would like to take a moment and thank all of the teams that joined us this year whether it was for one event or multiple, we love getting to see as many GL52s as possible make it to the race course.
In an unexpected twist, the overall series results also came down to final day performance. After a stellar final day at LTC, Mockingbird managed to eke by Windquest in a tie-break, claiming the 2026 Great Lakes Trophy. This award included scores for the three inshore events as well as the offshore events. Only teams that sailed every inshore were eligible for this trophy. Huge congratulations to Chris Duhon and the entire Mockingbird team. They worked exceptionally hard this season and fought back against several set backs, especially break downs after immensely challenging back-to-back offshore races.
Also up for grabs was the 2026 North American Championship. This award included our Summer Series, as well as our Southern Series in Pensacola. Though they had a slightly up and down Summer Series, their dominant performance in Pensacola secured the victory for Peter Askew and Wizard. Congratulations to Peter and team Wizard, they are fierce competitors and always make for exciting racing.
This year we also handed out a very special award to a team that not only showed up and raced hard at every event this summer, they literally showed up and raced every event. It is very rare that a team competes in all the inshore events as well as all of the offshore events; many choose to forgo at least one event to avoid how grueling the full schedule can be. For that reason, we were incredibly honored to award John Brynjolfsson and Team Fjord the "Man in the Arena" Award. Congratulations Team Fjord for showing such passion and resiliance.
Full results for individual events and season trophies can be found by visiting our results page.
As we close out our 2026 racing season we are both saddened and excited to send off two of our own as they head across the Atlantic. Katana is taking their talent and joining the Super Series. They are wasting no time, and will be in action for the final Super Series event of the season in Valencia, this October. Wizard is also taking their skillset to Europe, and will be making their way to the UK to compete in the 2027 Admirals Cup. We are so excited to watch these teams compete and excel in Europe, and we will be cheering them on stateside.
Make sure to follow our social channels and watch out for more exciting updates and news coming soon!