Stormy, challenging Chicago Mackinac Race

2023 Chicago Mackinac Race © Stephen R Cloutier

The annual pilgrimage by land and sea to the fabled Mackinac Island took place last weekend on Lake Michigan. This year's 289.0nm Chicago Mackinac Race saw the fleet start in light to medium southeasterly winds and bright sunshine.

By 2:00 pm, all 198 racing boats were on their way north up to the beautiful and impossibly quaint Mackinac Island; famous for no cars and lots of horse-drawn buggies. There were 99 boats in the Mackinac Trophy Division (30 J/Teams = 30.0%) and 99 boats in the Mackinac Cup Division (33 J/Teams = 33.3%).

The weather forecast from various sources all pointed to unstable atmospheric conditions that may produce thunderstorms, hail, and up to 45 kt winds Saturday evening between 8:30 to 10:30 PM. Then, by Sunday morning for those bigger, faster boats, more thunderstorms, and a big breeze Sunday morning around 8:00 to 10:00 AM. For most boats, it was spinnakers or Code Zeros for most of the race- like up to 90% of the race! It was fast enough angles that the 80-foot canting-keeler MAVERICK set a new course record of 22 hrs 24 min (sailed by a Cleveland crew that had many current/ex J/Boats owners of J/24s, J/35s, J/105s and your editor Stu Johnstone as navigator/ strategist!).

For most J/Teams in the race, it would go down as a fast, thrilling race, with a few moments of stark terror thrown into the mix! Most of the fleet missed the Sunday AM storms. However, no one missed the Saturday late evening firestorms, with sheet lightning, squalls up to 45+ kts, and plenty of torrential rain. It was bad enough weather conditions that three boats lost their rigs. Here's how it all broke down by division.

J/111 Class - 15 boats

Winning his first Chicago Mac Race was George Golder's TERRIER team from Charlevoix, MI by the slimmest of margins of 58 seconds! It was a match race to the final moments in the Mackinac Straits! Second went to the veteran team of Scott Sellers's NO SURPRISE (with both daughters Merritt & Hannah). Taking the bronze medal was Colin Caliban's NO QUARTER. Rounding out the top five was Blane Shea's STRIKING BACK in fourth place and Mark Symonds's PTERODACTYL taking fifth position.

J/109 Class - 8 boats

Like their 111 colleagues, the J/109 teams also saw a duel to the finish line between two very well-sailed teams. Winning by the slimmest of margins of 2.0 seconds was Peter Priede's FULL TILT over the quartet on SMEE AGAIN (George Miz, Peter Dreher, Mark Hatfield, and David Neenan)!! Taking the bronze medal was Mike Hendrie's BULL. Rounding out the top five was Jim Caesar's LIQUID LOUNGE II in fourth and John, Will, & Woddy Hansmann's BLOODLINE took 5th place.

J/105 Class - 14 boats

Amazingly, this class grew by 6 boats over last year's race! Winning was Mark Fruin's NYCTOSAUR by nearly an hour! Second, went to class veteran Clark Pellet's SEALARK, followed in third place by Mark Denuyl's GOOD LOOKIN. The balance of the top five include John Kalanik's PURA VIDA in fourth and Jon Weglarz's THE ASYLUM in fifth place.

Division 5 Doublehanded - 7 boats

Without a doubt, the Las Vegas oddsmakers not only gave strong odds to the three J/88 teams racing this year, but they wiped out the podium!! Winning the past three years straight has been Andy Graff & Scott Eisenhardt's EXILE, and now they "four-peated" yet again!! Chasing them hard was Ben Marden's BANTER in second place and Justin Acker & Ted Lockwood's McQUEEN in third place!

Section 2- 10 boats

Rick Hennig's J/145 SIC PARVIS MAGNA took 5th place, followed by Bill Schanen's J/145 MAIN STREET in 7th place.

Section 3- 13 boats

Crushing this division was Jim Murray's J/125 CALLISTO, winning their division by over three hours! Taking 7th place was Bob Klairmont's J/160 SIROCCO.

Section 4- 10 boats

This division includes two J/Crews that have been on the podium multiple times. Not surprisingly, it was Tom Papoutsis's J/133 RENEGADE that garnered the silver medal, while Randy Kuhn and Jim Richter's J/44 CHEEP N DEEP II took the bronze medal.

Section 5- 12 boats

The J/122s faired quite well in this division. Winning was Doug Evans's ELBOW ROOM, followed by Matt Songer's EVVAI in third place, Len Siegal's LUCKY DUBIE in fourth place, and Matt Schaedler's BLITZKRIEG in fifth place.

Section 6- 17 boats

Winning the so-called "J/120 Division" was Mike & Bob Kirkman's HOT TICKET. Charlie Hess's FUNTECH RACING took the bronze medal, while Mike Fozo & Robin Kendrick's PROOF took fourth place, and Bob Eger's CALIFORNIA GIRL took fifth place.

Section 7- 16 boats

Winning this division was the modified J/105 SLEEPER, sailed by Joe Kurta from NEKA SAILING on Long Island, New York! Third place went to past winner Tod & Heidi Patton's J/112E BLONDIE.

Section 8- 15 boats

This section featured an eclectic mix of J/Boats at the top of the leaderboard. Winning was Ray Douglas & Kristine Maybach's modified J/109 COURAGEOUS. Taking the silver medal was Ben Wilson's J/99 RAMBLER just 44 seconds behind on corrected time! Fifth place went to Joel Carroll's J/105 LITTLE HOOLIGAN. Then, sixth place was Larry Taunt's J/35 BAD DOG!

Section 10- 15 boats

Winning was George Petritz's J/29 TFWB RELENTLESS, they had a one-hour six-minute lead on corrected time!!

More information at cycracetomackinac.com