chicago yacht club race to mackinac winners 2023

The 46-foot sailboat Skye is one of 245 yachts that will compete in this year’s race from Chicago to Mackinac Island.

Justine Tobiasz

The Race to Mackinac: WBEZ's guide to the world’s longest freshwater sailing competition

The Race to Mackinac, the longest and oldest freshwater annual sailing competition in the world, is here. On Friday and Saturday, roughly 245 boats carrying more than 2,000 crew members will sail for Mackinac Island, the resort destination off the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

Here’s your primer.

Race basics

For 333 miles — or 289.4 nautical miles — 245 entrants, give or take last-minute dropouts, will traverse the route from Navy Pier to Mackinac Island in this year’s event, according to Sam Veilleux, chairman of the 2023 race committee. The first Mackinac race took place in 1898, with just five boats, and the second was in 1904. With the exception of several years during World War I and 2020 during the pandemic, the race, organized by the Chicago Yacht Club, has happened every year, marking its 114th running this year. Competitors may enter the race, classified as an amateur event, by invitation only.

The majority of entrants travel to the race start via water — meaning they’re coming from harbors in or near Chicago or traveling from cities along connected lakes, mostly Michigan and Huron.

“Every year, we do have a few out-of-town boats that come from the coast, but it is quite an endeavor,” Veilleux said, noting that delivering a large yacht on a truck involves reassembling the boat in Chicago after shipment. Past races have included crews and boats from Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

As described by Veilleux, the route starts at the Chicago Lighthouse, near Navy Pier, and runs the entire length of Lake Michigan, passes through Grays Reef, enters Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac, ducks under the Mackinac Bridge and finishes at Mackinac Island.

The start of the 2003 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac on Lake Michigan.

Brian Jackson

How a crew wins and what they get

First to the island wins, right? Not quite.

The Chicago Yacht Club describes the Race to Mackinac as “a unique race, where the boat equivalent of ‘family sedans’ compete against ‘Formula One cars.’ ” What this means in practical terms is that boats, which range widely in technical capability, must be assessed in advance in order to be properly grouped by similar ratings. An algorithm takes boat measurements — including weight, size, sizes of the sails and more — to produce the standardized ratings.

The entrants compete in two divisions: cruising and racing. Boats in the cruising division are, according to Veilleux, “generally more comfortable” equipped with cabins, galleys and full accommodations.

“Boats that you’d go on, for example, a family cruise around the Great Lakes or around the Caribbean,” he said. There are three sections within this division, each based on speed.

Yachts in the racing division are built for speed — lightweight carbon-fiber hulls, sparse interiors — and compete in two section types: one in which the boats have identical specs, and another in which boats are handicapped, as in golf, based on relative performance characteristics.

Roughly split in half into “faster” and “slower” groups, the racing division is then further divided into similarly rated sections — this year there are 18, each with around 12-15 boats. The winner is determined by calculating time against a boat’s rating.

Sailors compete for three main honors: the Mac Trophy and the Mac Cup for the racing division, and, new this year, the Whitehawk Trophy for the overall winner in the cruising division. Each year, the two groups in the racing division — one faster, one slower — alternate between competing for the Trophy and the Cup so crews could possibly have their names engraved on both if they raced in consecutive years. The first three places in every section also receive a brag flag to display on their boat.

To be invited to the exclusive Island Goats Sailing Society, racers must have competed in at least 25 Chicago-to-Mackinac races, for a total of about 8,325 miles. Founded in 1959 by Hobart “Red” Olson, the society was named after sailors’ “appearance, aroma and behavior upon reaching Mackinac Island,” according to the Chicago Yacht Club website.

Sailors say the Race to Mackinac is a bucket list event. Its distance makes it a test of endurance and preparation. Here, boats line up for the start of the 1982 race.

Kathleen Reeve

When can we expect results?

Most of the fleet takes from 40 to 60 hours to finish the race. Cannons will fire to release the cruising sections at 3 p.m. Friday, and the rest of the sections start from 11 a.m. Saturday every 10 minutes until 3 p.m.

To race around the clock, the crews sail in shifts. The multihull record was set in 1998 at under 19 hours, and the monohull record was set in 2002 at under 24 hours. Ideally, racers finish on or before Monday so they have time to rest before the awards ceremony Tuesday. While there’s no publicly available record of the longest time a boat has taken to finish the race, Veilleux said the club has a system for sailors to submit their final times even after the finish line is taken down on Wednesday.

During last year’s race, Veilleux said wild storms battered the fleet for about 12 hours on Lake Michigan, causing 29 boats to drop out. Veilleux competed last year in the cruising division and, although only sailing on the edge of the storm, experienced wind in excess of 55 knots.

“That’s like sticking your head out of a car window at highway speed,” he said.

Chuck Nevel, the club’s on-the-water director, stays on the island to direct boats as they complete the race. Once the boats start streaming in, they don’t stop. Neither do their supporters.

“If it’s 2 a.m. or if it’s 10 a.m., there are people out there cheering their family members on, their friends on, especially if it’s their first Mac,” he said.

“Everyone stinks, hasn’t taken a shower, sweating in their weather gear,” Nevel notes of the state of the crews as they disembark. But he concedes the members of the race committee, who work through the day and night to make sure everyone arrives safely into port, aren’t the freshest smelling bunch either.

One word for the atmosphere of the awards ceremony? “Jubilation.”

Sailors begin the Race to Mackinac in 2012. This year, more than 2,000 crew members will race on nearly 250 boats.

Chandler West

How to watch the race

From 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, the start of the race for the cruising division will be livestreamed on CBS .

On Saturday, you can watch the parade of boats in the racing division off the end of Navy Pier from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. An announcer will provide details of the vessels as they sail toward the start. Viewers should also be able to see the rigs from anywhere along the lakefront north of Navy Pier.

Race updates will be available on the Chicago Yacht Club’s Facebook , Instagram and Twitter feeds. But perhaps the best way to follow the race is to view each boat’s progress through the event’s race tracker website or via mobile app, which will become available on Thursday of race week. Download the YB Tracking app and “buy” the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac (it’s free).

Finally, why is it spelled “Mackinac” but pronounced “Mackinaw?”

Originally named Michinnimakinong by the Ojibwa tribe, the indigenous translation refers to the large crevice in the island: “mish” meaning great, “inni” meaning connecting sound, “maki” meaning fault and “nong” meaning land or place. The name was shortened to Mackinac by the French, and the British transcribed it phonetically as Mackinaw. Edgar Conkling, founder of Mackinaw City in 1857, was the one to spell it with a “w.”

Either way, the pronunciation is “ MACK-in-awe .”

Ysa Quiballo is the digital news intern at WBEZ. Courtney Kueppers contributed.

Sports | Sanford Burris skippers Maverick to record time…

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Sports | Sanford Burris skippers Maverick to record time in Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac

That was 1 hour, 6 minutes and 11 seconds faster than the record set by Roy P. Disney aboard Pyewacket in 2002.

The Maverick crew celebrated briefly as it crossed the finish line between Mackinac Island and the Round Island Lighthouse on Sunday. It then kept sailing as part of the “Super Mac” race, a combination of the Chicago Mackinac and Bayview Mackinac races that continued into Lake Huron for a total of 496 nautical miles.

Maverick also claimed the Royono Trophy for being the first racing monohull to finish the 115th edition of the race, which is sponsored by Wintrust. Southerly winds and overnight storms created the perfect conditions for an incredible downwind race.

Burris, from Kirtland, Ohio, is co-owner of the carbon fiber Andrews 80 along with William and Ward Kinney. Burris sails with his sons and many longtime friends. Also among the 20-member crew is Evolution Sails founder Rodney Keenan.

“I will tell you from my perspective, I wish the record had lasted longer, but these things are inevitable,” said Disney, a grandnephew of Walt Disney. “Given how long it took to break that record shows how difficult a course it is and what a classic sailboat race it is.”

Photos: 115th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac

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Tense battle, finish line drama for Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac

• Updated: Jul. 23, 2023, 10:01 p.m.
• | Published: Jul. 23, 2023, 9:03 p.m.

Whitehawk passing Round Island Light House, claiming first-to-finish in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. Photo courtesy of BlockIsland Steve and the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac.

• Tanda Gmiter | [email protected]

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI - When the Cruising Division boats took off from Chicago on Friday, Eagle One, a sleek 65-foot boat owned by Tim Lariviere of Grosse Pointe, shot out to an early lead in Lake Michigan for the 114th annual Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac.

When light winds on Friday and into Saturday made it clear it was going to be a tactical race, the vessel tracker showed Eagle One’s crew of mostly past commodores from the Bayview Yacht Club took the vessel across the big lake to hug the Michigan coastline. Eagle One led for nearly the entire 333-mile race - the longest annual freshwater sailing race in the world.

Until the last mile. That’s when the big 104-foot ketch Whitehawk, owned by Peter Thornton, sailed past Eagle One to take first-to-finish line honors.

“Racing into the Mackinac Straits, the majestic ... Whitehawk had every sail raised and every trick out of the bag to overtake Eagle One , the sleek 65-foot cruising boat that had led the entire fleet since the start,” race communications staff said.

“Trailing Eagle One for 288 nautical miles, it took until the final mile for Peter Thornton’s Whitehawk to overtake and clinch line honors of the 114th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Wintrust.”

Lariviere and his crew credited Thornton for a well-earned victory. It’s his second consecutive line-honors win with Whitehawk.

There are lot of boats still in the race among the different divisions, and some may not be arriving at Mackinac Island until Monday. The race starts near Chicago’s Navy Pier, heads up Lake Michigan, rounds the top of The Mitten and sails under the Mackinac Bridge before approaching the finish line near the Round Island Lighthouse alongside Mackinac Island.

While the Cruising Division began Friday with light winds, Saturday’s start for the sleek Racing Division was hit by a squall that pelted some of the boats with rain.

“Sunday afternoon and evening, the two fleets continue to make their way up Lake Michigan, sailing in moderate conditions along the Michigan shoreline. The faster boats competing in the Racing Division are expected to finish overnight, with the remaining teams crossing the finish line throughout the day Monday,” race officials said.

Want to track the boats? Each entry is equipped with a satellite tracker that sends information on speed, location and direction every 15 minutes. Race Tracker: https://yb.tl/chicagomac2023

Follow the Race on Social Media: #CYCRTM

Fun Facts about the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac

• This year’s race features 2,100 crew from 16 countries
• 45 U.S. states are represented
• There are 240 total entries
• Boats range from family cruisers to state-of-the-art carbon fiber racing vessels
• Boats range from 29 to 104 feet long
• Crew numbers range from 2 to 22 per boat

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250 starters in 115th Chicago-Mackinac Race

13 July 2024 - Chicago, US -  An impressive turnout of 250 boats from throughout the USA and CAN have assembled in Chicago for today’s start of the 115th edition of the Chicago-Mackinac Race . This annual race of 290 miles is the oldest annual freshwater distance race in the world, with a start held off the urban city front of downtown Chicago to finish at the small island of Mackinac that lies at the confluence of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The fleet has been divided into 5 divisions: Cruising, Mackinac Cup, Mackinac Trophy, Double Handed and Multihull, with overall and Class (or “Section” as the locals call it) trophies awarded in each. Scoring for all monohulls uses the ORC rating system, now in its third year of use at this event, with the fastest boats required to have ORCi certificates.

The weather forecast points towards a downwind start to this race, with a southerly breeze starting out light but building throughout the day and evening, so ratings from the Chicago-Mac Downwind course model have been chosen to score this race. The downwind conditions are favorable for good progress of the fleet on the race course, but will probably not be strong enough to challenge the course record of 23H 30M 34S set by Roy Disney’s PYEWACKET in 2002.

Nonetheless, the fastest boats in the 103-entry Mackinac Trophy Division will be the 12 entries in Section 1, along with the 9 entries of GL 52’s. This group is highly competitive, with numerous generations of TP 52’s that have raced actively in the Great Lakes and beyond.

This year there are 25 entries that have chosen to lengthen their offshore experience from 290 miles to 495 miles in the 2024 Super Mac Race. They will use the finish line at Mackinac Island as a scoring gate, continue to sail east into Lake Huron and then south to another finish line at the southern end of that lake at Port Huron.

There are 5 sections in this race, ranging from Turbos to a Cruising class, and all will likely remain there a few days more to race back to Mackinac in the 100th Bayview Mackinac Race that starts on July 20th . This milestone race as a massive turnout of 332 entries and will also be rated and scored using ORC.

For more info on the 115th Chicago-Mackinac Race, including YB tracker positions, results, photos, etc., visit https://www.cycracetomackinac.com .

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Sailors overcome emergency at 2 a.m. in rough waters to win Bayview Mackinac race

Waking up on a boat to the sound of a loud pop is rarely good.

In this case, it signified crisis. But Kellen McGee didn't panic.

She ran up to the deck of Fast Tango about 2 a.m. July 16 to find the sail over the side of the boat and in the water.

An important piece that held the sail up had broken just 14 hours into the 99th annual Bayview Mackinac sailboat race from Port Huron to Mackinac Island that began July 15.

She needed to slip into a harness to shimmy up the mast in high winds and rough waters.

"The little loop of rope that connects the top of the sail to the rope that holds it up at the top of the mast had broken," McGee, 34, a particle accelerator physicist from Chicago told the Detroit Free Press. "That means the shackle that connects to the top of the sail, that is connected to the rope that holds it to the top of the mast, is still up there. ... And you've got to send somebody up the mast to go get it and bring it back down again. This is what the bowman ends up doing."

McGee, who handles the sails, works the bow of the boat, called the foredeck. She's the bowman.

"The boat was bouncing around a lot. It was pretty wavy," McGee said. "The mast is 60 feet tall, and it's moving around way more than the boat. Imagine a long stick at the top of the boat. That's where you have to go to get the halyard (line) back. I put on a climbing harness and ... my crewmate used winches to haul me up as if I was a sail."

Crew members woke up Grant Moore, of Port Huron, to hoist McGee up the mast. Crewmate Molly Radtke, of Grosse Pointe Farms, provided backup by hoisting a secondary safety line while Moore hoisted the primary safety line on the boat based at the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit.

"If you lose your hold up there, you end up swinging around like a pendulum. You can get smashed into the spreaders. You can get banged into the mast. All sorts of things," McGee said. "One of the major ways to get severely injured is if you lose your grip on the mast going up."

The whole incident lasted about 10 minutes, she said. "They were very, very gentle in lowering me down."

It was after 2 a.m. July 16 on the longer of two courses raced, the Cove Island course, with David Simon, of Grosse Pointe Woods, driving. After McGee made it down, she monitored the stability of the situation and then had to do a sail change.

The Fast Tango crew planned to win the Port Huron to Mackinac race and couldn't afford any mistakes in the highly competitive Cove Island course. Tim Prophit, a notoriously fearless (and winning) skipper from St. Clair Shores, slept through the whole incident.

"Breakages happen all the time," McGee said. "Responding to them while you're sailing is really part of sailing."

The crew sailed into the harbor on Monday to cheers from spectators at the Pink Pony bar at the Chippewa Hotel. They finished in 48:26:30, winning Class F and placing first overall in the Cove Island Course.

"This first overall is 41 years in the making (on Fast Tango)," Prophit said, standing on Main Street on Mackinac Island after the race. "The crew that sailed was (obscenity) awesome."

While Prophit has won his class in the Bayview Mackinac race 11 times, this was the first overall on his 1978 North American 40, which he polishes and maintains by hand. This year, he rebuilt the engine and a major section of the deck.

Radtke said, "Some of us have been sailing together for over 45 years. We reconnected on Fast Tango. ... Crew that have recently passed or are no longer with us were with us on this race. It was pretty emotional. Tim brought the band back together."

McGee will be racing the Chicago to Mackinac event on July 22 but not on Fast Tango. She'll be competing against Prophit on a sailboat named Unknown Lady.

'Dynamic' conditions

Annapolis team : Avenger , the J-105 boat raced by U.S. Naval Academy sailors, placed eighth in Class F on the Cove Island course. Skipper Pat Fisher, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, told the Free Press, "It was certainly challenging with very dynamic conditions but we all learned a lot about offshore racing in the Great Lakes. The wind and sea state were constantly changing from 3 knots of breeze and flat water to 24 knots and large waves. We learned about how to change the configuration of the boat and how to sail to match the condition on the lake. We are looking forward to continuing on to sail the Chicago-Mac."

'This has got to be a dream'

Shore Course winner : A boat named Trav'ler, owned and skippered by Jeremy Thompson, of Fort Gratiot, Michigan, won Class O and the overall Shore Course on his Grampian 30 named for his sons Travis Thompson, of San Francisco, and Tyler Thompson, of Holland, Michigan.

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"It just doesn't seem possible," Jeremy Thompson said Wednesday. "We've never won overall, never even won close to overall. There were over 100 boats in the race. All these boats that put so much money in and have professional crews, it just doesn't seem possible that my family and I could do that. I don't know. This has got to be a dream, got to be."

His crew includes his wife, Melinda Thompson, his brother in law, Trevor Floyd, of Fort Gratiot, and Brett Kimball, of Port Huron. They finished in 47:25:16 hours. This was Thompson's 19th Bayview Mackinac race. On his boat alone, he has won his class three times, placed second and placed third.

Editor's note: Phoebe Wall Howard, an autos reporter, also writes about sailing and Mackinac Island. She is a member of the Port Huron Yacht Club and part of a longtime sailing family that has visited Mackinac since childhood. Her husband competed in the same class as Fast Tango and Avenger.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.

Chicago to Mackinac sailboat race: Storm snaps masts, tosses sailor into Lake Michigan

A fast-moving summer storm Saturday night on Lake Michigan left carnage in its path after three huge sailboats snapped masts and a fourth boat had to rescue a man after he fell overboard, all in the middle of the night under total darkness during the first day of the Chicago to Mackinac race .

“It was about 11:30 Eastern Time and we outpaced a couple storms. The team was getting ready … when a squall hit us. The wind picked up from about 18 knots to over 30 knots and shifted 80 degrees,” Skip Dieball, 53, of Wilmette, Illinois, a tactician racing on the 52-foot Usual Suspects, said on Sunday. “Sometimes in the daytime, you can see some of the shifts coming, the wind pattern on the water. But it was so dark we couldn’t see anything. We told each other we would prepare early. We were, and it just came really fast.”

Disaster was averted after Madcap, a Santa Cruz 52 owned and skippered by John Hoskins, responded to a man overboard report from Callisto, a J/125 owned and skippered by Jim Murray. Both boats resumed racing the 333-statute-mile (289-nautical-mile) race without injury.

In addition to Usual Suspects, owned by Eric Wynsma, masts broke on the 65-foot Sagamore owned by Laura and Tone Martin, along with the 45-foot Sapphire, owned by Robert Radway. No injuries were reported, according to Laura Muma, communications director for the Chicago to Mackinac race.

Despite being on high alert to take down sails, the demasting events were intense.

‘Loud as the loudest thunder’

As soon as the mast snapped, Dieball said the crew started doing a head count to be certain all 13 sailors were still onboard. The rig could have come down on the crew if they had been in their normal stations, but they were scattered. While the mast “broke violently,” Dieball said, “it did not come down violently.”

The race boat, with its custom carbon fiber mast, strong and light but brittle, is designed for high-performance racing and often used in America’s Cup races.

When the mast broke, it sounded like a “crack of thunder” immediately overhead, Dieball said. “It’s as loud as the loudest thunder.”

When the mast settled, the crew had to rapidly assess next steps. The biggest fear is that the broken mast will bang against the boat and puncture a hole, Dieball said. A mast on a boat that size can be 60 or 70 feet tall, he said.

“Part of your safety equipment is having cutting devices that get the mast away from the boat. The mast had broken in three different spots and it was time to start cutting things away,” Dieball said. “Carbon fiber, in many ways, is sharper than steel. We had to make sure no one was in a spot where one of the pieces would actually cut them.”

So sailors took out cutting tools and knives they’re required to carry as part of the racing protocol — and sliced away rigging as fast as possible, letting material sink into the water.

‘Survival mode’

Skipper Eric Wynsma, a real estate developer from Grand Rapids, had three of his grown kids racing, too. This was his 25th Chicago to Mackinac race.

“We were just in survival mode,” Dieball said, cutting away for about 30 minutes. “After the (storm) cell went through, the wind died off. So it wasn’t like we were battling elements. We were into the race about nine hours, finishing about a third of the course, and we returned to Muskegon.”

After stabilizing the situation, the Usual Suspects crew contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and reported debris in the water. The race boat didn’t need assistance once the rigging was cut away, Dieball said. They made certain nothing was wrapped around the propeller and Usual Suspects spent the next three hours motoring back, arriving about 5 a.m.

No one was freaking out, Dieball said. “It was all business.”

The costly damage prevents Usual Suspects from racing the Bayview Mackinac race from Port Huron to Mackinac, which starts Saturday.

Fast Tango fights DeTour

Tim Prophit , of St. Clair Shores, owner and skipper of the 40-foot Fast Tango, didn’t get slammed by the storm, but his nine-member crew prepared by making sail changes and reefing the main sail for better control.

“All of a sudden, the waves felt different, a different pattern, a different height. And the temps dropped,” he said Sunday while racing. “We were paying very close attention to the weather.”

Fast Tango won its class and placed second overall in the Chicago to Mackinac race last year, and was the overall winner in the Port Huron to Mackinac race.

This year, Fast Tango is battling the 34-foot DeTour, owned by Chuck Stormes, of Grosse Pointe Farms, no stranger to winning class and overall trophies.

Christy Storms said early Sunday afternoon she couldn’t look at the tracker to see how her husband was doing. It made her crazy. She didn’t know there had been a storm, she said, thank God, or she would have been worried sick.

“This is the first year I’ve been trying to not stalk him,” she said. “It’s tough looking every minute. It just makes me crazy.”

Family members are known to sleep with their phones under their pillows, call and text each other every hour through the night until the race is finished.In years past, Christy Storms said, “it was like crack. It just make me so anxious.”

So, she went online, noticed he was doing great, took a snapshot of the tracker, put her phone down and went to bed with their 11-year-old dog Striker.

Early Monday, Prophit confirmed that Fast Tango won first in class against 11 competitors. They crossed the finish line in 41 hours, 59 minutes, 47 seconds.

Chaos on other boats, too

Following the storm, 15- to 20-knot southerly winds continued to propel the 247-boat fleet north, Muma said in the race update.

While mast loss made headlines with sailing reporters, other boats had serious issues that went unreported. And they kept going, hoping for the best.

Mark DenUyl, of Marysville, Michigan, owner and skipper of the 34.5-foot Good Lookin’, watched his carbon fiber bowsprit snap in half during the high winds right about 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Now it’s held together with electrical tape and sail tape.

Crew member Brennan Churchill, 22, texted his dad at home in Kimball, Michigan, with an update on the damaged equipment used to extend the sail, so it captures more wind.

“He knew better than to tell his mother,” Tracy Heany Churchill said Sunday. “He knows I go into freakout mode.”

Ron Churchill always sails with his son, who won his first Mackinac race at age 15, but Ron couldn’t leave work as a senior operations manager for a natural gas storage facility to do both the Chicago and Port Huron races to Mackinac.

“I feel like I’m lost right now. I just feel like I’m supposed to be there,” Ron Churchill said Sunday.

Brennan Churchill described the boat tipping so far to one side that the crew was in waist-deep water, his father said. “Everybody stayed on the boat. Water was washing over them.”

The sudden gust of wind created such force that it likely flexed and snapped, he said. As a result of the damage, the crew held steady until daylight to try and figure out what to do, Churchill said. “They did a good job with just staying composed and keeping the boat moving well.”

On Monday morning, Good Lookin’ crossed the finish line in third in class against a dozen other J/105 boats despite damage to critical equipment.

Cara DenUyl and her 19-year-old daughter, Riley, woke up at 5:30 a.m. Monday to watch online the Good Lookin’ finish. “It was a nail-biter. It was close between second and third. They were in second place at 2 a.m. Sunday, when that storm hit. Then they fell back all the way to seventh place. At the time, we didn’t know the storm had hit. Somehow they got everything fixed enough to keep going, thankfully. I feel relief that they made the podium.”

‘Breathtaking’ speed

With storms come great wind. Or, in sailor speak, great air.

Winn Soldani, race chair of the Chicago to Mackinac race, said this weekend’s storms brought “epic” conditions that weather models predicted, which is important for safety.

“We’re watching boats going 20 knots, or about 23 mph, and it’s breathtaking,” Soldani told Shifting Gears from the finish line near the Mission Point hotel on Mackinac Island on Sunday.

“When the squalls hit, the wind changed direction very rapidly, from out of the south to out of the west, at 33 to 35 mph,” he said. “Some of these sails are the size of tennis courts. They’re huge. So this changes pressure on the mast.”

That’s what causes masts to snap, Soldani said. Strict safety protocols protect the 2,200 sailors racing this year, and that’s why they’re required to wear special tracking devices on their bodies at all times.

Storm winds create record-setting conditions

As a result of the strong winds, this race broke the speed record.

The 80-foot Maverick finished in 22 hours, 24 minutes, 23 seconds, breaking a record set 22 years ago by 66 minutes, 11 seconds. 

Sanford Burris, of Kirtland, Ohio, sailed with his sons and friends on the carbon fiber Andrews 80 they have spent the past three years upgrading, according to Muma. The 20-person crew included Rodney Keenan, founder of Evolution Sails.

“The team celebrated briefly as the Maverick team crossed the race to Mackinac finish line between Mackinac Island and the Round Island lighthouse … and then kept on sailing,” said the Chicago to Mackinac news release.

Maverick is one of 25 sailboats registered for this year’s “Super Mac” race, a combination of the Chicago Mackinac and the Bayview Mackinac races, which means they will continue into Lake Huron, heading south to Port Huron, for a total of 565 statute miles (495 nautical miles).

More: Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry Co. sells to Florida billionaire

Phoebe Wall Howard, a Free Press auto reporter for nearly seven years, now writes a column on car culture, consumer trends and life that will appear periodically on  Freep.com  and in print. Those columns and others will appear on her Substack at  https://phoebewallhoward.substack.com/about  Contact her at [email protected].

What is the Race to Mackinac?

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There’s a flurry of activity this week on the Island! Over 2,000 sailors, plus their friends, families, spectators, and organizers are descending on the island for the 115th running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. 

The Mac (as they typically call it) begins in Chicago and travels 333 miles up Lake Michigan, passing under the Mackinac bridge, and finishing at the island.

It’s the world’s longest-running freshwater sailboat race with a rich history dating back to 1898. The race has run nearly every year since 1906 with a brief hiatus for World War II and in 2020, due to the pandemic. 

Lake Michigan challenges the racers with all kinds of conditions. The lake’s weather changes not only from year to year, but minute to minute. At the Saturday start last year, the earlier boats had crystal blue skies, but the later starters were met with torrential rain, proof that conditions on Lake Michigan can change in an instant.

The Race to Mackinac is a bucket list item for sailors from all over the World. Racers and boats come from all over the world and have included Olympic medalists and America’s Cup sailors.

There are all kinds of different boats that race up here to Mackinac. The cruising division, made up of more comfortable vessels, departed Friday afternoon. The racing division, made up of sportier, speedier sailboats departed Chicago Saturday morning. It takes about two full days to finish the journey and unless there is an emergency, racers do not stop or use their engines. They race through the night, taking shifts and continuing to race the boat while others on the crew sleep. They also bring all the food and water they will need for the trip when they leave the dock in Chicago. There are strict safety requirements racers have to adhere to as conditions on Lake Michigan can be punishing, including severe storms some years.

This year’s race has about 260 boats in it and about 2000 sailors competing.  You’ll see the sailors and their friends and families on the island through Tuesday when there is a large awards ceremony at Mission Point.  

If you’d like to see more, we suggest you stop by Windermere Point where the race ends, and walk by the harbor to see the boats moored. 

TO LEARN MORE:

Frequently Asked Questions

There have been several books written about the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. The Chicago Historical Society maintains an archive of historical records available for review at their offices.

" There Will Always Be A Mackinac Race ." 1925, covering Mackinac Races from 1898 through 1924.

" The Permanent Trophies of the Chicago Yacht Club , 1962," Published by Chicago Yacht Club.

" Tales of the Chicago Mackinac Race ," 1998, published by the Island Goats Sailing Society. Available for purchase at the Chicago Yacht Club.

"100th Race to Mackinac Program/Summer Blinker," published by Chicago Yacht Club 2008

According to Commodore Bill Parks - one of her regular Mackinac crew shown in the Monroe Street photo of the dismasted Fleetwood -- she was a custom 39’ ketch, stretched by increasing the length between the stations of a 34’ John Alden design and built by "Red" Nimphius in Neshkoro, Wisc. As measurement rules changed, Nick redesigned the rig to achieve the best rating within the new rules. Final "as built" line drawings of this extremely handsome winner were drawn by Commodore Parks.

The Q’s, built to the Universal Rule for measuring and handicapping boats, dominated the Mackinac Race until 1927 when a second time prize was awarded and the winners of the Universal and Cruising Divisions alternated beween the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy and the Mackinac Cup.

In 1927, ‘28, ‘30, ‘31 and ‘33, L. L. "Ole" Karas 

(MIDDLE IMAGE) captured the time prize in Q 48, Siren, a 43-footer designed by William Gardner and built in City Island, New York, in 1910. In 1942, he repeated his victory in Q 16, Falcon II, designed by Frank Paine and built by Lawley in 1929. Next he bought the longest Q ever built, the 53’ Q 15, Cara Mia, also designed by Frank Paine and built in 1929, in which he captured the time prize in 1945, ‘47, ’48 and ’49 — the year in which he converted her from a sloop to a yawl. As yachting columnist Frank Heyes wrote in "Fifty Years of Chicago-Mackinac Races," published in Yachting in 1957, "Karas’ record of ten victories in his own boats and three while sailing as a crew on the winning 43’cruising boat Rubaiyat in 1936 and ‘37 and the 62’ yawl Manitou in 1938 will probably never be equaled." Many of the old-timers remember Ole from working in his boatyard east of the river just north of Irving Park Road.

Sailing under various names and owners of the same L. Francis Herreshoff-designed 50’ 6" double-ender, Q 12 won time prize five times — as Gloriant in 1939, owner A. M. Hermann; in’43 and ‘46, (Spindle), owner Vitas Thomas; and in ‘50 and ‘51 as Gale, owner Harry G, Nye, former International Star Class Champion, who converted her to a masthead rig.

Fortunately, many of these winning boats are presently owned, or have been or are being restored. 

Rubaiyat, owned by CYC member Denison Weaver, is in San Diego; Cara Mia is in Milwaukee, the restored Falcon II will be launched within the month in Warren, Maine, and Gale is sailing in a resort in Flathead Lake, Mont. The restoration of the Q’s, the "greyhounds of the Great Lakes" recently received national publicity when Dennis Conner, America’s Cup skipper, launched Cotton Blossom II.

The Race to Mackinac Committee is a committee of active Chicago Yacht Club member-volunteers. The committee represents the club as the Race Organizing Authority and is led by the chairman. The committee planning process is a 12 months long and accounts for thousands of volunteer hours.

The chairman of the Mackinac Committee is appointed by the Commodore of Chicago Yacht Club and approved by the flag officers. The chairman has extensive on-the-water experience with offshore yacht racing. Other Committee members are appointed by the Chairman. The 2023-2024 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac Committee consists of the following members of the Chicago Yacht Club:

• Winn Soldani, Chair
• Kevin Foote, Vice Chairman
• Shawn O'Neill, Selections Chair
• Ron White, Chief Measurer
• Jennifer Steffler, PRO/YB Tracking
• Leif Sigmond, DRO/Documents
• Clark Pellett, Safety/Education
• Rick Lillie, Inspections/Safety
• Helle Getz, Scoring/Awards
• Steve Sickler, YB Tracking
• Lloyd Karzen, Island Operations
• Lindsey Duda, Communications
• Claire O'Neill, Communications
• Adam Collins, Growth
• Jerry Gurthet, Technology
• Tom Falck, Technology/Entry Management
• Mike Kaspar, Jury Secretary
• Graham Sauser, Social/Sponsorship/Communications
• Sam Vielleux, Past Chair/Judges/Documents
• Dan Floberg, Ratings
• Frank Jaeger, Growth

CYC Staff:

• Chuck Nevel, CYC OTW Director
• Patrick Burks, CYC Regatta Manager
• Abbie Wilson, CYC Communications

Together, these volunteers and many other CYC member volunteers dedicate thousands of volunteer hours towards making the Race a success.

History of the Mac Committee

Considering the number of times that there has been a Mackinac Race, the appointment of a chairman of the Mackinac Race Committee is a quite recent process. In 1965-1967, John D. Kinsey, a member of the Race Committee, was named Assistant Chief Observer of the Mackinac Race. Mr. Kinsey accompanied the fleet to Mackinac aboard the Coast Guard Cutter, a "standing only" position, there being no chairs aboard.

In 1971, Richard S. Latham, Commodore in 1967-68, was appointed Special Regatta Committee Chairman.

The first appearance of a Mackinac Committee Chairman was in 1972, about the time of fiberglass boats gaining popularity. Mark H. Baxter became the first chairman.

As you undoubtedly know, members of the Island Goats Sailing Society have sailed in at least twenty-five Chicago Mackinac Races. We Goats do not just graze and drink together, but are involved in many activities to perpetuate and commemorate the Chicago Mackinac Race. It will be pleasant to have the space to tell of our contributions to Mackinac Island's Medical Center, about our Large Red Nun Buoy and Plaque on the beach near the Finish Line and of our most enjoyable meetings, honors and other activities. The most characteristic quality of Island Goats is their sense of humor about the seeming absurdity of the many situations encountered in getting to Mackinac Island each July. Goat Anne Juell expressed it well when she said "Friendship is the most important part of the racing.

Five sailboats set out from Chicago, beginning what would grow into the longest annual freshwater sailing race in the world. Its second running took place six years later in 1904. After that, it was called off only during World War I. 

Gale-force winds took down most of the fleet.  Mavourneen, a 30-foot sloop, was one of only four boats to brave the Straits of Mackinac, winning with a corrected time of 28 hours, 21 minutes. Officials decided a shorter distance would be safer and moved the finish line from Mackinac Island to Harbor Springs, Mich., on Little Traverse Bay in the 1912 and 1913 races. But by 1914, it was back to the full distance. 

This race proved one of the most grueling to date. Only eight of the 21 participating crafts managed to finish, with six retreating to Chicago in the first 12 hours. The Chicago Tribune reported that the yachts "limped back to port during the night after a battle with a northeast gale, which for a time threatened to send two of the crafts to the bottom of the lake." 

With winds gusting to 75 mph, only 8 of 42 boats finished during the "Year of the Big Blow." The crew of the Reverie was rescued by the Coast Guard after being swept overboard. 

Sailors encountered winds of 60 mph. Out of 167 starters, 88 withdrew. Media mogul Ted Turner, who raced aboard his American Eagle, publicly retracted a statement he made calling Lake Michigan a "mill pond." 

A cold front rolled in and wreaked havoc on the race. Fifteen boats withdrew. The violent storm broke booms, tore down the mast of one boat and capsized another. Roy Disney's boat, Pyewacket, broke the Mac Race time record held by Dick Jennings and the Pied Piper. 

A strong storm hit the fleet in the northern part of the lake, caused damage to many boats and tragically resulted in the death of two sailors. These were the first racing-related deaths in the history of the race.

This race, dubbed as “one for the books,” saw an unprecedented number of successive severe storms batter the fleet on the first night. One of the fastest races on record, the fleet experienced spectacular lightning and sustained wind speeds in excess of 55 knots forcing 29 teams to retire.

In the traditional definition of a "race," the first to finish wins. However, the Chicago Race to Mackinac is a unique race, where the boat equivalent of "family sedans" compete against "Formula One cars." Through a complex system of handicap ratings and sections, in this race, like-boats compete against each other and the handicap ratings are used to correct the elapsed time. This keeps competition fair and even, as skippers vie for the honors of the Mac Trophy, Mac Cup and overall Section winner.

Nevertheless, an Indy Car will still beat a family sedan any day of the week, so the traditional conception of "First Place" honors is awarded to both the first monohull and first multihull to finish.

Since 1950, the Royono Trophy has been awarded for "line honors" or simply "getting there first." The trophy is named after John B Ford Jr.’s Royono III (pictured), which was the first to finish in four consecutive Chicago to Mackinac races from 1946 to 1949; but to the dismay of Mr. Ford, Royono never remained in first place on corrected time. Initially, race documents stated the Royono Trophy was awarded to "the first yacht crossing the finish line." But in recent years, the trophy has been designated with the further clarification as the award for "the first monohull yacht to finish the race." This was due to the introduction of the first multihull yachts participating in the Mac in 1996 as an exhibition division. And quite an exhibition it was, as Chicago’s most accomplished recent adventurer, Steve Fossett, ran the course in 30 hours 35 minutes 28 seconds with his 60 foot catamaran named Stars & Stripes. There were 7 multihulls entered that year competing for only flags and plaques.

In 1998 a permanent trophy was offered for first overall based on multihull PHRF handicaps. The handicap winner was Meade Gougeon on Adagio, a G-35 trimaran. Also In 1998, the Martin D, Rieck Trophy was presented by the Harken Marine family and offered by the Mac Committee as the Multihull First to Finish trophy. There have been seven winners of the Rieck Trophy, but besting Steve Fossett’s magnificent reach up Lake Michigan in 18 hours 50 minutes 32 seconds in 1998 remains elusive. The current record for the Royono trophy was set by Pyewacket in 2002, with a run of 23 hours 30 minutes.

The winners of both the Rieck and Royono trophies demonstrate the fastest times in history from Chicago to Mackinac Island; 333 miles of determination, skill, and ultimate speed. This race allows for varying levels of competition, yet as boat technology and design sophistication continue to advance, the quest for speed will always remain.

Chicago Yacht Club's most famous event is the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, which is the longest annual freshwater sailing race in the world.

Starting in 1898 with a mere five boats, The Mac has evolved into a world-class sporting event. After the first race in 1898, the Race to Mackinac was not held for five years until the second race in 1904. By 1906, the race had developed a healthy following and, in that year, the original Mackinac trophy was purchased. The race has seen occasional sustained violent weather in the blows of 1911, 1937 and 1970. After gale force winds took down most of the fleet in the Mac of 1911, the finish in the 1912 and 1913 races was changed to Harbor Springs on Little Traverse Bay instead of Mackinac Island. Race organizers felt the shorter distance was safer. From 1914 until 1916 the Mac was back to its full distance until WWI. From 1917-1920 there were no Mac races due to the strains of the War, which took away yachtsmen and put many boats out of commission. Since 1921, the Race to Mackinac has run consecutively every year, remains the longest annual freshwater distance race, and is recognized as one of the most prestigious sailing races in the world.

Today, sailors from Maine to California make this race an invariable part of their summer. Moreover, each year the Mac hosts sailors from as far off as Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. Although the Mac remains primarily an amateur event, this race has a proven track record of attracting some of the finest sailing talent in the sport. The monohull record of 23 hours, 30 minutes, and 34 seconds set by Roy Disney’s Pyewacket in 2002, and Steve Fossett on Stars and Stripes set the multihull record of 18 hours, 50 minutes, and 32 seconds in 1998. Both records still stand today. The unpredictable weather and fickle winds on Lake Michigan make the Race to Mackinac a supreme test, which many competitors feel rivals any ocean race. As one veteran sailor put it, "It’s fun, but it’s serious fun."

2008 marked the 110th anniversary of the first race, and the 100th time sailors raced 333 miles from Chicago to Mackinac Island. Although there have been changes to the race over the years, the basic elements of this venerable contest have remained unchanged for over 100 years. Stripped down to its essence, The Mac, like all sailboat racing, is still primarily a test of strength, endurance, strategy and willpower. And let’s not forget the dearest friend (and most menacing foe) of all sailors-- the wind. 

The First Mac 

Although the races began in 1896, the race outcomes were not conclusive. The first race to Michigan City was disputed when Vanenna claimed the race and Siren protested because she had old sails that were inadequate for the race. To this day, the second race to Milwaukee is still in dispute, for the fog caused both sloops to sail off course and thus started the question, "did the race ever finish?"

A couple of years passed until the 1898 announcement for a series of three races sponsored by the Chicago Yacht Club. Owners George Peate of Siren and W.R. Crawford of Vanenna set out to make the record straight. They agreed to a three day regatta on June 4th, 11th and 18th. Both owners engaged in much boosting and betting, and they were prepared to spend whatever it took to be ready.

Behind this backdrop was the hangover from the loss of the Fisher Cup of 1883 between Chicago's Cora and the Canada's Atlanta. This loss began a declining effect on memberships to the Chicago yachting community for close to 15 years. By 1897, there were only six members and two yachts representing the Chicago Yacht Club. A strong drive for membership in 1898 increased this number rapidly to sixty members and sixteen yachts, thus laying the groundwork for creating new excitement and an era of racing at the Chicago Yacht Club.

After three races in June of 1898, Vanenna remained undefeated and the discussion emerged to have a very unique and challenging race. In 1897, the New York Yacht Club sponsored a long distance race attracting vessels of larger sizes. The Chicago Yacht Club saw an opportunity to create its own attraction for larger vessels and renew the sport of sailing for the Chicago sailing community. Mackinac Island was a destination that was favored by many sailors by taking a multi-port route up Lake Michigan. Many Chicago Yacht Club members throughout history had houses or stayed on the island for vacations. These members conceived of a race that would challenge every sailor to the weather, winds, storms, and seas, as well as the big question: What course do you take on a 333 mile race?

And so began the first Mac Race with two sloops, Siren and Vanenna and three schooners, Hawthorne, Toxteth and Nomad. The excitement was immediate and the wagers and posturing began. Once again, Siren and Vanenna would dance with each other on the Great Lakes.

After 52 hours 17 minutes and 50 seconds - Vanenna claimed her place in history as the first winner of the Race to Mackinac Island. Siren placed second, 37 minutes and 20 seconds behind her nemesis, but beat the schooner Hawthorne by 45 minutes. 

Available soon

Sponsorship opportunities are available for the 115th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac.

Jim Williamsen Chicago Yacht Club General Manager [email protected] (312) 861-7777 x3776

Thank you to our sponsors of the 115th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac

The most boats ever will compete in the 100th Bayview Yacht Club race to Mackinac Island

Billed on its website as the “world’s longest continuously run long-distance freshwater yacht race,” the 100th Bayview Mackinac Race is set to start Saturday.

A record-setting 334 boats have registered for the 100th year of the race, shattering the record of 316 in 1985 and a huge contrast compared with the 200 boats that raced last year, said David Stoyka, spokesman for the Bayview Yacht Club, which puts on the race.

Bayview Yacht Club says boats start leaving the Black River in Port Huron around 8 a.m. on race day and will continue leaving until around noon. From the Black River, they will proceed up the St. Clair River, under the Blue Water Bridge, into Lake Huron.

The first scheduled start time in Lake Huron is 11:30 a.m., with starts every 10 minutes until approximately 1:30 p.m. The starts may be delayed due to weather conditions.

This year, for the 100th running, the race will follow the original 1925 route and span 204 nautical miles. From the starting point, the boats will head north along the Michigan shoreline, passing south of Bois Blanc Island, sailing west to east at the finish line between Round Island and Mackinac Island, organizers said.

The range of boats are expected to finish in between 30 and 60 hours.

The sailors

Teams at all skill levels have entered the race, which draws competitors from around the world.  The highly skilled racers know they will cross the bow of competitors within inches. Still, there's always risk of a crash with the slightest miscalculation.

"Everybody recognizes this is super intense," said champion sailor  Tim Prophit , 65, of St. Clair Shores, past commodore of Bayview Yacht Club and owner of Fast Tango, a North American 40 sailboat.

The teams are vying for trophies and flags to show their accomplishments.

The J.L. Hudson Trophy is awarded to the boat with the best corrected time in Division I, and the Canadian Club Classic Trophy is awarded to the boat with the best corrected time in Division II.

How can spectators follow the race?

Spectators can go to bycmack.com during the race and click on “RaceTracking” link to watch real-time GPS positioning of all the race boats, or, on your mobile device, download the free app YB Races and select the current race.

Boats will start arriving at Mackinac Island on Sunday afternoon and continue until Monday evening, all dependent upon the wind.

Finishes can be seen from Windermere Point on Mackinac Island at the south end of Main Street.

Sailors who have completed 25 Bayview Mackinac races are called “Old Goats,” according to the club, while those who have completed 50 are called “Grand Rams.” 

"Double Goats" are sailors who have completed 25 Bayview Mackinac races and 25 Chicago Yacht Club race to Mackinac races. This year’s Chicago to Mackinac race encountered strong winds in Lake Michigan , snapping some boats’ masts and tossing one sailor overboard. No one was hurt.

Volunteers who have served for 15 years on the Race Committee are honored with the title “Old Forts,” as designated by the Race Committee.

This story includes material from a staff report by former Free Press reporter Phoebe Wall Howard and from the Bayview Yacht Club.