Record Number Yachts To Sail 100th Chicago-to-Mackinac Island Race
By Karen Gould

In 1956, Chicago to Mackinac racers sailed beneath the Mackinac Bridge, then under construction. The bridge opened to traffic November 1 of the following year. Today, the bridge serves as a marker for sailors as they near the Mackinac Island finish line. (Photograph courtesy of the Mackinac Bridge Authority)

In July, 460 sailboats and more than 4,500 sailors will flood the Straits area during the 100th sailing of Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac, filling the Mackinac Island marina and spilling over into St. Ignace and Mackinaw City.

Racers will leave Chicago near the Navy Pier July 19 and sail 333 nautical miles to the finish line between Mackinac Island and the Round Island Lighthouse.

Tom Paquin, park and recreation manager with the Department of Natural Resources and manager of the Mackinac Island marina, said 63 slips are made available for the racers.

The marina has 76 slips with 13 reserved for seasonal boaters. But boats there are rafted together, and between 300 and 310 can squeeze into the marina and raft off other docks in the harbor, said Christie Kirchner, communications director for the Chicago Yacht Club.

The remainder will dock at St. Ignace and Mackinaw City.

The St. Ignace City Marina is allocating 100 slips for the event, said Marina Director Gene Elmer. The marina has 120 slips and reserves six for local boats, with 114 slips available for transient boats.

Slips will be assigned soon for each race boat expected, he said, so the yachters will know their boat slip before leaving Chicago. This will eliminate confusion, with boats arriving all through the day and night.

Last year, the marina hosted 30 boats from the race, he said.

With 100 boats, crew, and family members this year, he added, "I think we're going to have a lot of people in town."

At Mackinaw City, 35 slips have been reserved by racers so far, said Harbor Master Dave Paquet, with more than 40 slips still available. The site has 104 slips, with 26 reserved for seasonal boats and 78 for transient boats.

"We have received a tremendous response to the 100th race," said Greg Miarecki, chair of the 2008 Mackinac Committee.

Normally, the race is capped at 300 boats, but 325 participated in the 1998 race, which marked the centennial of the first race.

The race ran intermittently until after the first World War, and the 100th sailing is this year.

The longest annual fresh water sailing race draws boats from 27 feet to 90 feet long and takes 40 to 60 hours to complete, depending on the winds.

All 460 boats this year will be fitted with transponders to relay via satellite their positions throughout the race. They can be monitored over the Internet.

Only five boats competed in the first race in 1898. The Vanenna won after 51 hours of sailing.

Boats setting records include Pyewacket, owned and skippered by Roy Disney, which set the monohull record in 2002 with an elapsed time of 23 hours 30 minutes 14 seconds.

For multihulls, the record of 18 hours, 50 minutes, 32 seconds was set by Steve Fossett sailing the Stars and Stripes in 1998.

A $5 million renovation project at the Mackinac Island marina that began last September is on schedule to be finished in May, said Mr. Paquin.

In case of construction glitches, he said, the DNR has scheduled the marina to be closed until June 15, but if the work is finished before then, the marina will open earlier.