Kids Have a Blast!
at Island’s 4th of July
Sailors Hope for Wind as Mackinac Readies for 3 Regattas
Chicago to Mackinac July 16; Bacardi Bayview Race July 23; Mackinac to Manitoulin July 27
By Karen Gould

Logan Baker of Houston, Texas, learned to spray water with the aid of local firefighter Joe Gugin at the Fourth of July Kids’ Day, sponsored by the Mackinac Island Fire Department.

Sailors will tackle Lake Michigan and Lake Huron this month as Mackinac Island prepares for three major sailing events. The largest and longest of the regattas is only a week away, and with a recent history of dead calm winds plaguing races around the state, sailors are hoping to simply be able to finish each event.

Lack of wind forced the Mackinac Island Yacht Club to place a time limit on boats participating in last week’s Around-the-Island Regatta. A similar fate befell last year’s Chicago-to-Mackinac race when more than 17 boats dropped out owing to calm winds. This month’s 66.6-mile Milwaukee-to-Muskegon Queen’s Cup sailing race across Lake Michigan ended in frustration as boats crawled a mere eight miles in six hours to the West Michigan shoreline and skippers failed to find even a breath of air as they tacked back and forth, hitting what sailors call the doldrums.

At left: A spectacular fireworks show was presented at Mackinac Island’s Fourth of July celebration.

Putting a spin on the wind issue, Angie Bournias, media representative for the Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race, between Port Huron and Mackinac, said that sailor’s lore has it that a year that ends in the number five usually results in very windy race conditions. For example, in 1985, almost 100 boats dropped out of the race when winds caused 12 foot waves on Lake Huron, and in 1945, a storm was so bad that only six of 40 boats finished the race.

Skippers line up their boats as crews prepare to take on the unpredictable Lake Huron waters for the start of the 2003 Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island classic. A similar scene will take place later this month for the 2005 race, with nearly 300 boats participating.

The Mackinac sailing challenges begin with Chicago Yacht Club’s Race to Mackinac Saturday, July 16, followed by the Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race Saturday, July 23. Rounding up the sailing regattas will be the international Mackinac to Manitoulin Yacht Race, which begins Wednesday, July 27.

Sailors skippering 300 boats will begin the 335-mile trip north on Lake Michigan from Chicago as the starting horn signals the beginning of the 97th sailing of Race to Mackinac Saturday, July 16 at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

“This race has always been about the lake,” said Rick Lillie of the Chicago Yacht Club and chairman of the race. “There may be 299 other boats out there as competitors, but the real competition is that of captain, crew, boats, and sails matching wits and endurance against the lake.”

Taking on the challenge of Lake Michigan will be boats coming from both the east and west coasts. The boat traveling the greatest distance to enter the race is a Transpac 52 named Beau Geste from Hong Kong, skippered by Carl Kwok.

Mr. Lillie said the longest race was probably in 1955, when the first finisher was Revelry , which crossed the finish line 78 hours after the race start. Roy Disney's Pyewacket holds the race record for speed at 23 hours, 30 minutes, set in 2002, he said.

More than 75 boats will be carrying transponders this year. Racers can be followed on www.chicagoyachtclub.org.

Just under 300 boats and approximately 3,000 sailors have registered for the 81st consecutive running of Bayview Yacht Club’s Port Huron-to-Mackinac race, which offers sailors a choice of two Lake Huron courses. The shorter, 235 statute mile course takes sailors along Michigan’s shoreline. The longer route, a more tactical race course, called the Southampton Course, is 290 statute miles along the eastern side of Lake Huron near Southampton, Ontario.

The race starting point is 4.5 miles north of the international Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron at 11:30 a.m.

In a letter to sailors participating in the race, Governor Jennifer Granholm called the event, “a race known as much for its competitive nature between sailors as for Lake Huron’s fickle, but exciting sailing conditions.”

In 1950, Escapade made the fastest race finish in 25 hours, 47 minutes. The first place boat in the slowest race was Blitzen in 1963, which crossed the finish in 74 hours, 35 minutes.

Continuous coverage of the race can be followed on www.byc.com/mack05.

Rounding up the sailing regattas will be the 2nd Annual Mackinac to Manitoulin with about 30 boats registered. The international sailing event begins at Mackinac Island and finishes at Canada’s Manitoulin Island and is sponsored by three yacht clubs, Mackinac Island, Bayview, and Little Current, Ontario.

This race will have two legs, with racers spending a night at Little Current and then finishing at Gore Bay. The Little Current club is part of a waterfront development project and currently is has limited dockage, but the project is expected to be completed by next year making it possible for the race to be open to more boaters.

“Manitoulin is the world’s largest fresh water island and sailing to it is essentially racing through a wilderness area,” said David Rowe of the Mackinac Island Yacht Club. “It’s absolutely beautiful,” he said. “The coast is lined with pink granite rocks.”

He noted Little Current has a population of about 1,200 people and, last year, 300 residents turned out for the awards banquet.

The race, approximately 130 miles long, requires precision navigation following a strict course because of the rocky waters. Sailors also must maneuver around various islands enroute, said Mr. Rowe. “It is purely a navigator’s race.”

Information on the race can be found at www.lcuc.ca/race.

(Photograph courtesy of Bayview Yacht Club)