During last night’s storms, three of the larger boats in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac’s Racing Division reported dismasting: Sagamore, Farr STP 65 owned by Tone and Laura Martin; Usual Suspects, a TP 52 owned Eric Wynsma; and Sapphire, an Arcona 435 owned by Robert Radway. No injuries were reported on board and all three are safely in port or motoring to port.
Additionally, there was a man overboard reported on Callisto, a J/125, owned and skippered by Jim Murray. Madcap, a Santa Cruz 52 skippered by John Hopkins, recovered the sailor. Both boats have resumed racing.
The majority of the Cruising Division was north of the storms and were not impacted as severely as the Racing Divisions.
Following the storm, 15-20 knot southerly winds continued to propel the 247-boat fleet north and at the current pace, there is a strong potential for the 22-year-old race record to be broken.
As of 8:30 a.m. ET, there is a pack of six boats racing toward the Straits of Mackinac [See tracker HERE]; any of which could earn the new Race to Mackinac race record. The current record, set in 2002, is 23 hours, 30 minutes, 34 seconds, held by Roy Disney’s Pyewacket, a Reichel Pugh 75.
Five of the six boats in the hunt for the record are TP 52s – a 52-foot carbon fiber high-performance boat: Katana, owned by John Huhn; Natalie J, owned by Phil O’Neil; Wizard, owned by Peter Askew; Mockingbird, owned by Chris Duhon; and Robert Hughes’ Heartbreaker. Maverick, an Andrews 80 owned by Sandy Burris rounds out the leaders.
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