Chicago to Mackinac Boat Race

The Chicago to Mackinac Sailboat Race is run by the Chicago Yacht Club. It is one of the longest fresh-water races in the world, with hundreds of boats entering the race each year. It starts off the mouth of the Chicago River in Chicago, crosses Lake Michigan, barely enters Lake Huron, and finishes in the Round Island Channel, off Mackinac Island, Michigan. The race course runs 333 mi (536 km). 294 boats completed the 2005 race with finishes ranging from 33 to 69 elapsed hours. Steve Fossett set the overall race record, 18 hours, 50 minutes, in 1998 with the yacht, the Stars and Stripes. Roy E. Disney set the monohull record, 23 hours, 30 minutes, in Pyewacket in 2002.

The Chicago to Mackinac Race is often confused with the Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race. They were held on the same weekend until 1939, when both clubs agreed to alternate the date of their Mackinac races, scheduling them a week apart.

The first race was run in 1898, with the sloop Vanenna winning against four boats. The 100th Running was completed in July 2008.

Sailors who have completed 25 of these annual races are called Island Goats. In 1959, The Island Goats Sailing Society was formed with 10 of these sailors to perpetuate and commemorate the Chicago to Mackinac Race, along with its legends and lore. By 2008, the society had grown to 270 members in good standing.^[1]

The 103rd running of the Race began on July 16, 2011.^[2] 361 boats were entered in the race. Two sailors died in the 2011 race when WingNuts (berthed in Saginaw, Michigan) capsized in 75 mile per hour winds. These were the first directly "weather caused" deaths in the history of the race; however, numerous boats have been lost in other races.^[3]

• Boat race at mackinac summer 2009.jpg

  taken at mackinac island on June 29th 2009, at the end of the boat race

References

1. ^ "Roster of Island Goats". Island Goats Sailing Society. 2008-05-31. http://www.islandgoats.org/roster.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 
2. ^ "Race to Mackinac". Chicago Yacht Club. 2011-05-27. http://www.cycracetomackinac.com/. Retrieved 2011-05-29. 
3. ^ Karoub, Jeffrey (July 17, 2011). "2 die after boat capsizes in Chicago-Mackinac race". Detroit, Michigan: Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbefQDZwMae2y3b9lbgahLgUWrqQ?docId=caba0b3649984bea98d271e62059826c. Retrieved July 16, 2011. 

External links

• Chicago Yacht Club - Race to Mackinac
• Island Goats Sailing Society website
• ChicagoMackinac.com
• Chicago to Mackinac Records (2003 & prior)
• Video Documentary of 100th Running of Chicago Mackinac Race
• Meteorological Analysis of the 2011 Chicago Mackinac Race