You Are Suddenly Thinking About Making Reservations...You Are Suddenly Thinking About Making Reservations...when you wake up after reading this, you will not remember anything...but you will be very thirsty and you will have an incredible urge to make hotel reservations for the 2014 Lightning North American Championships.
Greetings all. I hope this finds you all well and thinking hard about how you can squeeze in one or two more Lightning regattas before the water turns hard.
Our organizing group has been very active of late. We're almost done with our draft NOR and we've been planning all manor of social events. We've been in contact with the city of Sheboygan to discuss alterations we can make to city streets to make the traffic flow around our regatta site more convenient for what we hope is 300+ sailors. Since I wrote the last blog post, next year's PRO Rich Reichelsdorfer has run a few more regattas and in doing so, given all the mark set and RC boats their last bit of exercise for 2013.
The most important thing on our minds as planners now is the hope that people who are giving some thought to attending the North American Championships next Summer start evaluating the lodging options that are available and book reservations early! When we say early we mean early...this week would be great. We've already heard of several teams who have already booked and that makes us happy.
Why the rush? After all, Sheboygan is NOT short of hotel rooms... In fact you will soon see that there are many options from which to select...at a wide range of price points. There will be VERY convenient accommodation for every team attending...if you want to be within walking distance of the club, you can have that...if you want a private beach you can have that...as I say there are MANY options and Sheboygan pricing isn't Midtown-Manhattan pricing if you get my drift. So why the rush? Well, August is a busy time here. And we already know that there will be some car races held the weekend of the WMJs at Road America in Elkhart Lake which is about 15 miles away. There are always lots of people who want to come up and play the Golf Courses at Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits which have hosted PGA Championships and Women's US Opens. Those folks book early and we don't want you to miss out.
One Bit Of Reality Here:
There are at least 10 hotels or motels within 10 minutes of regatta site..most are used to having sailors as guests. One has rooms over $500.00/night. Some are under $90.00/night and even less if you have discount codes. All of the following places are aware of the 2014 Lightning North American Championships. But none of them is offering a 'special' regatta rate. Why you ask? Because we think the best way for everyone to get the best housing value is to look at the options and pick their own place to stay. No one place would ever be able to block off rooms for the whole group, and what if you hated that place anyway?
I took a tour of the most convenient lodging options this weekend. My wife was VERY accommodating and accompanied me on the Tour 'd Parking lots. These hotels are all viable places to stay. Personally, I would stay in any of them without a question.
Sorry for the dorky poses...I am apparently a dork. Who knew?
This is the Holiday Inn Express. It's in a brand new area just off I-43 at Highway 28. There is a lot of retail around here. Restaurants...Starbucks...Target...Harley Davidson dealership and restaurant. In short, my kids would like to move here. It's about 8 minutes to the SYC from here.http://www.ihg.com/
The America Inn is right across the street from the Holiday Inn Express. It too is brand new. So if you like the convenience of being able to buy anything you could ever need within 2 seconds of your motel, but you don't want to live with people who stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night, the AmericaInn might be for you! Plus they have suites...perhaps for drying foul weather gear somewhere else besides your teammate's bed?
http://www.americinn.com/Hotels/WI/Sheboygan
This is the first of two VERY nice hotels in nearby Kohler, WI. The Inn on Woodlake is a Kohler resort which includes access to a variety of Kohler activities including a spa and sports facility including indoor tennis and massage and anything bones tired from hiking might need. Kohler is less than 10 minutes from the SYC and I'm going to predict that there will not be insane traffic on the route.http://www.americanclubresort.
This is the second of the VERY nice hotels in Kohler, WI. It's called The American Club. It's the only 5 diamond resort in the Midwestern United States which (as you know) includes some very large cities. The American Club is exquisite. It is at the most expensive end of our hotel pricing scale, but as you recall from macro economics class Freshman year, incredible value can be found at the most expensive end. You should certainly consider staying there. I'm willing to bet you a Fresca that you would find yourself sleeping in the most comfortable bed you have ever enjoyed at any regatta...ever. If you notice, there is no picture of me in front of the American Club. My wife forbid me from getting out of the car. She said it was too nice for the likes of me.www.americanclubresort.com/
This is the Sheboygan La Quinta Inn. It is a really nice property that is very well kept. It is also less than 6 minutes from the regatta site, so I'd say it's the closest of the places that you need a car at all. They get closer from here so that each of the following places is literally walking distance away. This La Quinta is also close to I-43 and probably the closest Sheboygan motel to Road America, so if you like what you see on this site: www.lq.com/lq/properties/propertyProfile.do?propId=1005
you should probably move quickly and reserve some space.
The Fountain Park Inn would be the PERFECT place to stay for anyone who loves the Beach Park motel in St. Pete. It's a classic motel. It's directly across the street from Fountain Park which is the scene of a twice-weekly farmers market that is absolutely delightful. Fresh flowers. Fresh produce. Fresh artisan cheeses and breads. Local honey...honey. The Fountain Park is also about 7 minutes on foot from SYC. Great option.www.fountainparkmotel.com/
The Grand Stay is a very new property. It has suites with kitchenettes. It has ample parking. It is a 90 second walk from the restaurants in downtown Sheboygan and about a 6 minute walk in the other direction from the Yacht Club. This would be a great choice if you wanted to park your car immediately after measuring your boat and not start it again until after the awards banquet. Yep, that will be possible next August!www.grandstayhospitality.com/grandstay_sheboygan_wi.php
The EconoLodge is just across the street from the Grand Stay. So it's is very conveniently located to sleep in and still get to the boat in the morning. We're talking 5 blocks from the lake. The only thing to keep in mind is that the EconoLodge does not seem to be very chatty. Nothing whatever on their marquis? I feel like you can learn a lot about a hotel based on what's up on their marquis...this place is just waiting to be taken over by sailors...with those 4" black magnetic letters. The mind boggles!www.econolodge.com/hotel-sheboygan-wisconsin-WI240
The Harbor Winds Hotel is intimate and it's right on the newly-rennovated Sheboygan river.
There are boat slips right outside your river view window. There are about 6 restaurants within less than 200 yards and a liquor store immediately across the parking lot. And there is a liquor store immediately across the parking lot. This might just be the closest hotel to the regatta. I'm going to say you could walk there in 4 minutes.
http://harbor-winds-hotel-sheboygan.magnusonhotels.com/
This is the Holiday Inn Express. It's in a brand new area just off I-43 at Highway 28. There is a lot of retail around here. Restaurants...Starbucks...Target...Harley Davidson dealership and restaurant. In short, my kids would like to move here. It's about 8 minutes to the SYC from here.http://www.ihg.com/
http://www.americinn.com/Hotels/WI/Sheboygan
This is the second of the VERY nice hotels in Kohler, WI. It's called The American Club. It's the only 5 diamond resort in the Midwestern United States which (as you know) includes some very large cities. The American Club is exquisite. It is at the most expensive end of our hotel pricing scale, but as you recall from macro economics class Freshman year, incredible value can be found at the most expensive end. You should certainly consider staying there. I'm willing to bet you a Fresca that you would find yourself sleeping in the most comfortable bed you have ever enjoyed at any regatta...ever. If you notice, there is no picture of me in front of the American Club. My wife forbid me from getting out of the car. She said it was too nice for the likes of me.www.americanclubresort.com/
you should probably move quickly and reserve some space.
There are boat slips right outside your river view window. There are about 6 restaurants within less than 200 yards and a liquor store immediately across the parking lot. And there is a liquor store immediately across the parking lot. This might just be the closest hotel to the regatta. I'm going to say you could walk there in 4 minutes.
http://harbor-winds-hotel-sheboygan.magnusonhotels.com/
One more thing: I think they do bonfires with s'mores every night in the Summer. And one more one more thing...the awards banquet will be held here.
blueharborresort.com/
As I mentioned earlier, Sheboygan County has become a tourist haven. This will come as something of
a surprise to any Lightning sailor who was last here in 1976. But it's true! This is by of saying that there are lots
of vacation homes for rent in the area as well. I suggest you go to www.vrbo.com/ and select Southeastern Wisconsin.
You could put a few teams together and get a beach house. Just a thought.
Ok, almost done here. There will be more posts about what to do in Sheboygan and the surrounding area as
we get closer to the regatta date. If you want to start getting to know Sheboygan and beat the rush, take
a look at www.visitsheboygan.com/
Any tourism site that has webcams of the harbor and the beach and has links to sailing activities rocks!
I'm willing to bet we interview someone from Sheboygan County Tourism in this space soon, so keep checking back.
Can't wait to see everyone here. BOOK ROOMS NOW!!
