RACE TO MACKINAC

WHITEHAWK CLAIMS FIFTH STRAIGHT LINE HONORS AS RACE TO MACKINAC FLEET CLOSES ON THE FINISH

Peter Thornton’s 104-foot ketch, Whitehawk, claimed line honors for the fifth year in a row, finishing the 117th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac Presented by Wintrust at 3:31 p.m. ET / 2:31 p.m. CT  on Sunday with an elapsed time of 1 day, 23 hours, 11 minutes.

It marks the fifth consecutive year that Whitehawk has been the first boat to complete the 333-statute-mile race from Chicago to Mackinac Island.

Because of Whitehawk’s handicap rating, its final position within the Cruising Division remains to be determined as the division’s remaining boats continue toward Mackinac Island. Each boat is assigned a rating, which corrects their finish time to ensure a fair race across boats of various designs.

With the Cruising Division beginning on Friday, Thornton said despite navigating tricky wind conditions in the Manitou Passage, “it was almost a perfect race from our standpoint.”

At 86, with more than 40 Mac Races behind him, Thornton is still looking ahead—both to more races of his own and to passing the tradition on to his grandson. “He’s taken a real interest and done about 10 Macs now,” Thornton said, breaking into a slight smirk. “So maybe we’ll keep the thing going.”

Additional Cruising Division competitors are expected to arrive throughout the evening and overnight.

Attention is also turning to the front of the Racing Division, where the GL52 teams are expected to begin reaching Mackinac Island later tonight. With several boats still in contention and corrected times dependent on the remainder of the fleet, the race for the Mackinac Trophy remains wide open.

[Correction: Earlier publishing cited four consecutive line honors finishes. Upon tracker review, this has been updated to five. Congratulations Whitehawk!]