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2023 Bayview Mackinac Race starts July 15

14-year-old girl drives 36-foot sailboat alone at night, wins Michigan race

A 14-year-old girl sailing her first Bayview Mackinac Race won Sunday
Merritt Sellers needed to sail the boat at night alone on the 204-nautical-mile journey.
The boat crossed the finish line more than an hour before the one that came in second place.
Her boat won its class and overall in the Chicago to Mackinac race last year with a crew of eight.

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — A 14-year-old girl sailing her first Bayview Mackinac Race with her father won the race in Michigan Sunday night after 33 hours of non-stop work.

As the duo pulled into the Mackinac Island harbor just after 9 p.m., a nearby crowd cheered, whistled and applauded.

The competition began for the J/111 sailboat "nosurprise" at 11:30 a.m. Saturday just north of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron for Merritt and Scott Sellers of Larkspur, California.

Merritt Sellers needed to sail the boat at night alone on the 204-nautical-mile journey (235 land miles) while her father rested below.

"I sat there, trimming the sail, eating Sun Chips, and thinking about how much I wanted to go to bed," Merritt said afterward.

A sailboat that typically raced with eight sailors had only two aboard.

Not only did they win, but they crossed the finish line more than an hour before their nemesis, a boat named "Utah" from Holland, Michigan, that carried seasoned sailors who had won repeatedly in the past.

"We got 'em at night," Scott Sellers, 50, told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, immediately after the race while docking his boat. "I worried they would get us. We went from 2 miles back to 2 miles in front."

And that was all Merritt, he said.

His daughter, he said, began sailing at age 7, and has accomplished already what many sailors try for a lifetime to do.

In the first two hours of the race, the daughter-father due had four sail changes. A lot for two people.

But Merritt Sellers kept calm at all times, using moonlight and flashlights to watch the little telltales on the sail and to track wind shifts and harness the wind. She said she learned more about navigation strategy on this race.

A critical moment came at 3 a.m. Sunday when she found herself alone in the cockpit, making pivotal decisions on her own that vaulted them into the lead.

"That was a key part of the race," Scott Sellers said. "Merritt wasn't here as a passenger."

She glanced over at her dad and said, "He trusted me."

More: Mackinac Island named best island in Continental US by Travel + Leisure

Their boat won its class and overall in the Chicago to Mackinac race last year with a crew of eight, including Merritt.

This was her first race from Port Huron to Mackinac Island.

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On Sunday night, Merritt called her mom after the finish. Jill and Scott Sellers, who actually met while sailing, now have three daughters who race.

Merritt sailed with her father and six others in the Chicago to Mackinac Race in 2021 and they won. Next weekend, 18-year-old Hannah Sellers will race that course with her father. Merritt said she's on backup.

"It's so cool to see so many girls sailing," Merritt said. "I'm on a sailing team with guys on it and, at first, I didn't feel I was quite one of them. I want more women in the sport."

On Monday morning, island visitors were still talking about the young sailor.

Irene Hoy, 50, a preschool instructor from Port Sanilac, has raced 15 Port Huron to Mackinac races and said, as a mother of 15-year-old twin girls, "When Merritt Sellers came in last night, I was proud of her as a mom and a fellow woman sailor. It gives me goosebumps. When they came in, I watched people stop and saying, 'She did it.' "

Now Merritt Sellers says she's hoping her father will consider doing the Trans Pacific Yacht Race from California to Hawaii. That race, founded in 1906, is 2,225 nautical miles (2,560 miles) that generally can take up to two weeks.

Editor's Note: Family members of reporter Phoebe Wall Howard compete in the Bayview Mackinac Race as members of the Port Huron Yacht Club. She is not affiliated with the Bayview Yacht Club or the Bayview Mackinac Race in any official capacity. Lady Irene Hoy is a member of the Port Huron Yacht Club and wife of a past commodore.

The Race to Mackinac: WBEZ’s guide to the world’s longest freshwater sailing competition

Culture & The Arts

This weekend, 245 boats carrying 2,000 sailors set sail from the Chicago Lighthouse in the annual event’s 114th running.

The Race to Mackinac, the longest and oldest freshwater annual sailing competition in the world, is here. On Friday and Saturday, roughly 245 boats carrying more than 2,000 crew members will sail for Mackinac Island, the resort destination off the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

Here’s your primer.

Race basics

For 333 miles — or 289.4 nautical miles — 245 entrants, give or take last-minute dropouts, will traverse the route from Navy Pier to Mackinac Island in this year’s event, according to Sam Veilleux, chairman of the 2023 race committee. The first Mackinac race took place in 1898, with just five boats, and the second was in 1904. With the exception of several years during World War I and 2020 during the pandemic, the race, organized by the Chicago Yacht Club, has happened every year, marking its 114th running this year. Competitors may enter the race, classified as an amateur event, by invitation only.

Sisters to sail the Race to Mackinac 100 years after their great-grandfather’s win was overturned

The majority of entrants travel to the race start via water — meaning they’re coming from harbors in or near Chicago or traveling from cities along connected lakes, mostly Michigan and Huron.

“Every year, we do have a few out-of-town boats that come from the coast, but it is quite an endeavor,” Veilleux said, noting that delivering a large yacht on a truck involves reassembling the boat in Chicago after shipment. Past races have included crews and boats from Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

As described by Veilleux, the route starts at the Chicago Lighthouse, near Navy Pier, and runs the entire length of Lake Michigan, passes through Grays Reef, enters Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac, ducks under the Mackinac Bridge and finishes at Mackinac Island.

The start of the 2003 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac on Lake Michigan.

How a crew wins and what they get

First to the island wins, right? Not quite.

The Chicago Yacht Club describes the Race to Mackinac as “a unique race, where the boat equivalent of ‘family sedans’ compete against ‘Formula One cars.’ ” What this means in practical terms is that boats, which range widely in technical capability, must be assessed in advance in order to be properly grouped by similar ratings. An algorithm takes boat measurements — including weight, size, sizes of the sails and more — to produce the standardized ratings.

The entrants compete in two divisions: cruising and racing. Boats in the cruising division are, according to Veilleux, “generally more comfortable” equipped with cabins, galleys and full accommodations.

“Boats that you’d go on, for example, a family cruise around the Great Lakes or around the Caribbean,” he said. There are three sections within this division, each based on speed.

Yachts in the racing division are built for speed — lightweight carbon-fiber hulls, sparse interiors — and compete in two section types: one in which the boats have identical specs, and another in which boats are handicapped, as in golf, based on relative performance characteristics.

Roughly split in half into “faster” and “slower” groups, the racing division is then further divided into similarly rated sections — this year there are 18, each with around 12-15 boats. The winner is determined by calculating time against a boat’s rating.

Sailors compete for three main honors: the Mac Trophy and the Mac Cup for the racing division, and, new this year, the Whitehawk Trophy for the overall winner in the cruising division. Each year, the two groups in the racing division — one faster, one slower — alternate between competing for the Trophy and the Cup so crews could possibly have their names engraved on both if they raced in consecutive years. The first three places in every section also receive a brag flag to display on their boat.

To be invited to the exclusive Island Goats Sailing Society, racers must have competed in at least 25 Chicago-to-Mackinac races, for a total of about 8,325 miles. Founded in 1959 by Hobart “Red” Olson, the society was named after sailors’ “appearance, aroma and behavior upon reaching Mackinac Island,” according to the Chicago Yacht Club website.

When can we expect results?

Most of the fleet takes from 40 to 60 hours to finish the race. Cannons will fire to release the cruising sections at 3 p.m. Friday, and the rest of the sections start from 11 a.m. Saturday every 10 minutes until 3 p.m.

To race around the clock, the crews sail in shifts. The multihull record was set in 1998 at under 19 hours, and the monohull record was set in 2002 at under 24 hours. Ideally, racers finish on or before Monday so they have time to rest before the awards ceremony Tuesday. While there’s no publicly available record of the longest time a boat has taken to finish the race, Veilleux said the club has a system for sailors to submit their final times even after the finish line is taken down on Wednesday.

During last year’s race, Veilleux said wild storms battered the fleet for about 12 hours on Lake Michigan, causing 29 boats to drop out. Veilleux competed last year in the cruising division and, although only sailing on the edge of the storm, experienced wind in excess of 55 knots.

“That’s like sticking your head out of a car window at highway speed,” he said.

Chuck Nevel, the club’s on-the-water director, stays on the island to direct boats as they complete the race. Once the boats start streaming in, they don’t stop. Neither do their supporters.

“If it’s 2 a.m. or if it’s 10 a.m., there are people out there cheering their family members on, their friends on, especially if it’s their first Mac,” he said.

“Everyone stinks, hasn’t taken a shower, sweating in their weather gear,” Nevel notes of the state of the crews as they disembark. But he concedes the members of the race committee, who work through the day and night to make sure everyone arrives safely into port, aren’t the freshest smelling bunch either.

One word for the atmosphere of the awards ceremony? “Jubilation.”

Sailors begin the Race to Mackinac in 2012. This year, more than 2,000 crew members will race on nearly 250 boats.

How to watch the race

From 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, the start of the race for the cruising division will be livestreamed on CBS .

On Saturday, you can watch the parade of boats in the racing division off the end of Navy Pier from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. An announcer will provide details of the vessels as they sail toward the start. Viewers should also be able to see the rigs from anywhere along the lakefront north of Navy Pier.

Race updates will be available on the Chicago Yacht Club’s Facebook , Instagram and Twitter feeds. But perhaps the best way to follow the race is to view each boat’s progress through the event’s race tracker website or via mobile app, which will become available on Thursday of race week. Download the YB Tracking app and “buy” the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac (it’s free).

Finally, why is it spelled “Mackinac” but pronounced “Mackinaw?”

Originally named Michinnimakinong by the Ojibwa tribe, the indigenous translation refers to the large crevice in the island: “mish” meaning great, “inni” meaning connecting sound, “maki” meaning fault and “nong” meaning land or place. The name was shortened to Mackinac by the French, and the British transcribed it phonetically as Mackinaw. Edgar Conkling, founder of Mackinaw City in 1857, was the one to spell it with a “w.”

Either way, the pronunciation is “ MACK-in-awe .”

Ysa Quiballo is the digital news intern at WBEZ. Courtney Kueppers contributed.

Countdown to the 114th Race to Mackinac - July 22, 2023

July 13, 2024

Registration for the 115th chicago yacht club race to mackinac opens february 1st.

At noon (12:00 p.m. CST) on Thursday, February 1, automatic invitations for the 115th CYC Race to Mackinac presented by Wintrust will be sent out and invited competitors will be able to register their entry. Remember that your docking preference for Mackinac Island, St. Ignace, or Straits State Harbor are honored as best as possible according to entry and payment order, so enter soon!

What’s New in 2024?

As we look forward to warmer temperatures and this year’s race, we plan to begin sharing a series of updates regarding changes to the competition we think you’d like to hear about. If you are new to the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, and interested in learning more about how to enter the race, please visit our new FAQ page.

Read on for recent updates to the 2024 race and remember that official race changes will be made when the new NOR and CMSR documents are available on February 1, 2024, when registration opens at noon (12:00 pm CT).

That’s a wrap! 114th Race to Mackinac is in the books

CHICAGO and MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich., July 25, 2023 – Another successful Race to Mackinac is in the books, with today’s award ceremony taking place on the great lawn of Mission Point Resort. The race known as ‘America’s Offshore Challenge,’ delivered a spectacular race yet again with its mix of squalls, calms and most of all, new memories for the 240 teams competing.

For the Mackinac Cup, awarded this year to the large racing boats overall winner, first-timer Final Final won Section 2 and the Cup. Owner Jon Desmond of Cohasset, Mass., admitted they had more than a few moments of angst when early on in the race they made a tactical decision to split from the fleet.

“We had this moment where it was like, ‘you realize we have just separated from the teams that have how many Macs under their belt’?” he said. The decision paid off, and the East-coast based Mills 41 is already planning its return to defend the victory.

Light-air woes stall the fleet

CHICAGO and MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich., July 24, 2023 – The dreaded “light and variable” wind forecast has descended upon the boats still racing in the 114th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Wintrust, stalling the fleet in northern Lake Michigan.

As of 3 pm EDT, there are 155 of 240 boats still on the race course, reporting boat speeds of 0.00 to five knots according to the YB Tracker. Just two of the 103 boats in the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy section (boats under 40 feet) have been able to finish, and with a bleak forecast for the afternoon, this year’s edition is quickly turning into a test of patience, and potential food and water rationing.

Race Starts July 12, 2024

2024 notice board, ** important dates **.

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By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: The Chicago Yacht Club, 400 East Monroe Street, Chicago IL 60603, Phone: 312.861.7777 https://cycracetomackinac.com/. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the link, found at the bottom of every email.

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Frequently asked questions.

The race starts in southern Lake Huron near Port Huron, Michigan. It finishes at Mackinac Island, Michigan.

The boats start leaving the Black River in Port Huron around 8 a.m. on race day and will continue leaving until around noon. From the Black River, they will proceed up the St. Clair River, under the Blue Water Bridge, into Lake Huron.

The first scheduled start time in Lake Huron is 11:30 a.m., with starts every ten minutes until approximately 1:30 p.m. The starts may be delayed due to weather conditions, lack of wind, or storms.

Spectators may visit www.bycmack.com during the race and click on “RaceTracking” link to watch real-time GPS positioning of all the race boats or on your mobile device download the free app YB Races and select the current race.

Boats will start arriving at Mackinac Island on Sunday afternoon and continue until Monday evening, all dependent upon the wind.

Finishes can be seen from Windermere Point on Mackinac Island at the south end of Main Street.

Results will be posted and updated on the website as they become available.

The Cove Island Course is 259 nautical miles (298 Statute miles). The Shore Course is 204 nautical miles (235 statute miles). The 1925 Original Course is 204 nautical miles (235 statute miles).

Shore Course – The fleet will head north from its traditional start in Southern Lake Huron along the Michigan shoreline before heading west, passing north of Bois Blanc Island, and finishing east to west at the finish line between Round Island and Mackinac Island.

Cove Island Course – The fleet heads north from its traditional start in Southern Lake Huron up Lake Huron through a virtual gate off the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in Canadian waters before heading west, passing north of Bois Blanc Island, and finishing east to west at the finish line between Round Island and Mackinac Island.

1925 Original Course – From its traditional start in Southern Lake Huron, the fleet will head north on one course along the Michigan shoreline before heading west, passing south of Bois Blanc Island, and finishing west to east at the finish line between Round Island and Mackinac Island. (The original course started three nautical miles south of the current one, off Lake Side Park, Gratiot Beach. As the race gained participants, the starting line was moved to its current location to accommodate the required starting line length and sufficient depth over its entire length.)

Southampton Course – DESCRIPTION TO BE ADDED

Six Fathom Bank Course – Only run in 1939, this course…..TO BE ADDED

Please submit a Race Information Request, Request for Information , found on the race website under the Competitors tab, Registration header, if you have not raced in the race as a Boat Owner.

Please review the Notice of Race (NOR) on the website under the Competitors tab, Official Board, and Documents.

Please refer to the Notice of Race on the race website under the Competitors Tab, Official Board, and Documents.

The Race Invitation will be sent out to Invited Competitors via e-mail one day before the opening of Race Registration. Please check the website regularly for all news and updates on the race. Official race documents are posted on the website under the Competitors tab, Official Board, and Documents.

The Safety Equipment Requirements (SERs) are updated every year.

Please check the website under the Competitors tab, Official Board, and Documents

There is no minimum age requirement to participate. The Boat Owner is responsible for ensuring that the crew is of proper age and has had enough experience to safely participate in this offshore long-distance event. Please refer to the Notice of Race and Safety Equipment Requirements for any minimum distance and overnight experience for some of the crew

The Race Committee reserves the right to withdraw your invitation if it determines that the crew does not, in the Race Committee’s judgment, have the necessary seamanship and skills for the race.

There is a “Crew/Boat Finder” List on the website, under the Competitors Tab, and Registration header, for you to sign up and/or find help. Please check this area regularly, as it is updated often with new entries.

The first Bayview Mackinac Race took place in 1925. The Race has occurred every year since, even through World War II and the Corona Virus Pandemic.

Sailors who have completed 25 Bayview Mackinac Races are called “Old Goats,” while those who have completed 50 are called “Grand Rams.” The official designation and recognition is made by application to the Society of Mackinac Island Old Goats, Detroit. Applications can be found on the website under the About tab, Societies header.

Double Goats are sailors who have completed 25 Bayview Mackinac Races and 25 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac Races.

Volunteers who have served for 15 years on the Race Committee are honored with the title “Old Forts,” as designated by the Race Committee.

Planning already underway for 100th running of the Bayview Mackinac Race

While the 99th annual running of the Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Sailboat Race is set for this July, sailors can already pre-register for the 100th running next year.

More than 160 boats are signed up to participate in the 2023 race, set for July 15.

“Registration for this year’s race is off to a strong start. Seeing the number of new and returning boats already registered is exciting. We have boats from Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, New York, and Ontario, Canada already signed up to race," Kevin Thomas, chair of the 2023 Bayview Mackinac Race, said in a statement.

In anticipation of the 100 th consecutive running in 2024, officials said pre-registration is now open. By pre-registering, sailors will be allowed to register for the race a week before official race registration opens in early October 2023.

Large fleet expected for 100th running

“Planning for the 2024 Bayview Mackinac Race is going very well; we are looking at some exciting ideas for sailors and the public. We are expecting boats and sailors from all over the world to come to Michigan to participate in the 100 th ," Charlie Trost, chair of the 2024 Bayview Mackinac Race, said in a statement. “We expect a large fleet for the 2024 race, maybe the largest ever, and with limited dockage, berthing on the island will be at a premium. The goal in opening pre-registration so early is to secure boats who have been regular participants of the race and give new and out-of-town boats time to plan.”

New competitors need to ask for an invite

The 100 th Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Sailboat Race will start on July 20, 2024. Current or returning competitors can register their boat record at www.bycmack.com . New competitors must complete a request for an invitation that can also be found on the official race website. Those with questions can email Trost at [email protected].

“Anticipation for the 100 th Race is building across the entire sailing community, and I believe you are seeing this reflected in the number of new and returning boats competing this year. I know I wouldn’t want my first Mackinac Race to be the 100 th ," Paul Hulsey, 2023 Bayview Yacht Club commodore, said in a statement.

The 2023 Race starts Saturday, July 15, with the first boats expected to cross the starting line at 11:30 a.m. on Lake Huron, just north of the Blue Water Bridge. The fleet races to the finish line at Mackinac Island on two courses: the shorter Shore Course (204 nautical miles); and the longer Cove Island Course (259 nautical miles).

Festival plans

The Blue Water Festival during Port Huron's Boat Week is set for July 12-15 this year. While event details have not yet been posted, prior years have involved carnivals, fireworks and street vendors, among other activities.

Traditional Boat Week events also include a parade on Wednesday, Family Night in the area of the 10th Street Bridge Thursday, and the city's biggest party during Boat Night Friday.

"It should be very similar from last year with the street fair, mannequins, carnival, concerts, food, and boats," Port Huron DDA Director Natacha Hayden said in an email. "I don’t have all the music line up yet, but I am planning on having entertainment on Saturday as well to complement the week." Contact Liz Shepard at [email protected].

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Get your Safety at Sea certification while we're waiting for sailing season to return! Nothing like prepping for sailing during the off season.

Visit Safety at Sea info to determine the Class that is right for you.

We’re grateful for the Jackson Park Yacht Club Foundation which has stepped forward to host. Program representatives from all around the Lake Michigan Region are sought to participate. We haven’t had a gathering like this in over 10 years—it’s SO overdue. Block your calendar now. You’ll be glad you came!

We ask that you limit to 2 representatives per organization, Registration closes five days before the event.

Due to unexpected changes at the US Sailing level for all the programs we planned to offer, we have had to postpone the 2024 event to 2025. Stay tuned for information on the new date - COMING VERY SOON!

https://www.lmsrfmidwinters.org .

1245 West Gull Lake Drive | Richland, MI 49083 | 312.857.6640 T | 786.358.3605 F | www.lmsrf.org Detailed contact information available in Contact Us link at top right

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Welcome to the 2024 Queen's Cup Race!

The 2024 south shore yacht club queen’s cup® race.

Plan now to enter the 85th challenge of one of the most storied yacht races on the Great Lakes. This year’s night race across Lake Michigan departs from Milwaukee, WI for South Haven, MI on June 28, 2024. Both Milwaukee’s South Shore Yacht Club and the South Haven Yacht Club will provide an experience worthy of this 85th Queen’s Cup Race. The race is open to all boats with a valid 2024 Midwest Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (MW-PHRF) rating certificate and ORC rating certificates. We will continue to have starts for the shorthanded fleet (with a limit of two crew per boat) and a cruising fleet for non-spinnaker monohulls. We are looking forward to increasing the participation of one design boats such as the GL52, J/111, Beneteau 40.7, Beneteau 36.7, and Tartan 10s. The racing between these boats and other one design boats has been close in prior years. The fee structure is based on boat length. This helps to make the fee schedule more affordable for smaller boats.

Queen's Cup Links Registration, Race Documents, Boats Entered Follow the Queen's Cup on Facebook 2024 Queen's Cup ® Race Results 2023 Queen's Cup ® Race Results Race Results Archive Queen's Cup ® Race Photos Sign up for the Queen's Cup ® 101 Seminar

Individual registration.

"Sailing the Queen's Cup ® Race 101 Seminar" will be held on April 9th at 7 PM at South Shore Yacht Club

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Private Lake Michigan yacht club will open to public for finish of summer sailboat race

Updated: Jan. 16, 2024, 9:06 a.m. |
Published: Jan. 16, 2024, 9:05 a.m.

The sun sets over Lake Michigan off South Haven, Mich., Aug. 18, 2022. (Garret Ellison | MLive)

Audrey Whitaker | [email protected]

SOUTH HAVEN, MI -- The finish line of an overnight sailboat race across Lake Michigan will return to South Haven this summer.

The 85th annual Queen’s Cup will depart from South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June 28. Racers sail toward a different club on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore each year.

South Haven Yacht Club will host finish line festivities this year. SHYC hosted the event in 2012, 2015 and 2017, according to city documents. The club expects about 100 boats to enter the harbor throughout the evening of Friday, June 28, and early hours of June 29.

Normally, the club at 401 Williams St. is only open to members and their guests. During this event, anybody will be welcome, co-organizer Lisa Kozicki said. There will be no charge for admission, but food and drinks are available for purchase.

SHYC will welcome racers and the South Haven community with a celebration from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, June 29. Many details are still in the works, Kozicki said, but there will be awards, live music and food trucks.

“Events that involve our beaches, harbors or downtown are always exciting for our community,” Assistant City Manager Griffin Graham said. “This is an event we’ve hosted several times in the past. It’s good for the reputation of our harbor and continues to show the welcoming nature of our community.”

The city of South Haven has approved the club’s request to house boats and race officials at the Southside Municipal Marina during the event.

Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive offers free email news alerts. Click here to sign up for alerts or for the daily “3@3 Kalamazoo” news roundup. Bookmark the local Kalamazoo news page here .

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2023 Bayview Mackinac Race – July 15 – 18, 2023

The Bayview Mackinac Race – which will begin on Saturday, July 15, 2023 – is recognized as one of the most challenging freshwater boat races in the world. Join the excitement of the Port Huron to Mackinac Race as boat racers sail Michigan’s Great Lakes to reach their final destination, Mackinac Island. It’s all Pure Michigan from start to finish!

Bayview Mackinac Race Quicklinks:

• Online Race Tracking – 2023 • Bayview Yacht Club – Race to Mackinac Facebook Page • Follow Via Twitter • Bayview Yacht Club Website

In the ten decades that the Bayview Mackinac Race has been sailed, much has happened. Wars, economic depressions, and other significant events have transpired, yet the Race has gone on. In fact, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wired a message to Bayview during World War II when word reached the White House that the Club was considering canceling the race. That message read: “Sail your race.” Even then, it was clear that this race was and is important for sailors and for the State of Michigan. Bayview did sail the Mackinac Race that year, and has done so every single year since the first Bayview Mackinac Race in 1925, making it the longest consecutively run freshwater race in the world. This year’s race starts on July 15, 2023.

In its own way, the Bayview Mackinac race has become a vital part of Great Lakes history, Michigan history, and sailing history.

Celebrate the start of the race in Port Huron. Then follow the course of the Port Huron to Mackinac Race as they head north along the shores of Michigan’s eastern coast. Join the festivities at the finish line on Mackinac Island. Where the hospitality and celebration is always second to none.

Visit Bayview Yacht Club Website >>>>

Bayview Mackinac Race On Facebook

Below are the latest postings from the Bayview Mackinac Race Page On Facebook.

Bayview Mackinac Race

Visit Bayview Mackinac Race on Facebook >>>

Chippewa Hotel – Bayview Mackinac Race – Photo Gallery (Click on photo for slideshow view) <>

Posted by Chippewa Hotel Waterfront on Wednesday, July 26, 2017

St. Clair Shores skipper finishes first in 99th sailing of Port Huron to Mackinac race

Sailboats lined up for the Bayview Mackinac Race.

Fast Tango, a 39-foot boat owned by skipper Tim Prophit of St. Clair Shores, finished in first place overall in the 99th sailing of the Port Huron to Mackinac race, which wrapped up on Monday.

The 10-member crew, representing the Bayview Yacht Club, recorded a time of 46 hours, 19 minutes and 46 seconds to finish more than 10 minutes ahead of Kevin Lemonds' boat, Janine, from the Grosse Ile Yacht Club. Janine's time was 46:30:21.

Fast Tango was making its 15th appearance in the Mackinac race with five previous class victories in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2022.

More: Big field, growing excitement highlight 99th sailing of Port Huron to Mackinac race

Prophit's 2023 crew included Canton's Brad Everingham, Port Huron's Grand Moore, Molly Radtke, David Paschke and RC Paschke of Grosse Pointe Farms, Kellen McGee of Lisle (Illinois), Marc Magnan and Dave Simon of Grosse Pointe Woods and Art LeVasseur of Grosse Pointe.

More than 190 boats competed in the longest consecutively run long-distance freshwater race in the country.

The race began just north of the Blue Water Bridge on Saturday with the boats racing to the finish line at Mackinac Island on two courses — the shorter Shore Course (204 nautical miles) and the longer Cove Island Course (259 nautical miles).

More: For boat Diablo, Bayview Mackinac Race will be a true family affair

Race chairman Kevin Thomas said the family aspect and the tradition of the race keeps sailing enthusiasts returning with close to 300 entries expected for the 100th race next year.

"You have the family side of it," Thomas told News reporter Ted Kulfan in a race preview last week. "It's something I've grown up with and you'll find that a pretty common story around these parts (Thomas' father and grandfather both sailed).

"I've been doing this race since I was 14 years old. My favorite thing is how unique this sport is. It breaks the age barriers. You finish this race and you're all on the island and they all have something in common. There's a tremendous team exercise to it."

Diablo, a Grosse Pointe Farms boat owned by Brad Kimmel and Steve Young and featured in another preview by Kulfan, finished in 15th place in a time of 47:42:16.

Full results of 2023 Port Huron to Mackinac race

Tim Prophit on Fast Tango avoids starting line crash for a win in Chicago to Mackinac race

Tim Prophit, of St. Clair Shores, didn't crash the boat at the starting line as he feared he would.

So, that was good.

"We brought the mayhem," he told the Detroit Free Press late Monday. "We dodged a couple bullets."

The skipper of Fast Tango — and past commodore of Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit — did more than simply dodge bullets. He won his class and placed second overall in his division in the Chicago to Mackinac race. When he talked to the Detroit Free Press, many of the boats in his class were still stranded on the water more than eight hours later because the wind died.

Winning an 11th first-in-class title in the epic sailboat race is astonishing by every objective measure, especially just one week after winning a first-in-class and first overall in the 99th annual Bayview Mackinac race from Port Huron to the island in high winds.

This week, not only did Fast Tango nearly crash into the race committee boat at the start, as well as a competitor's boat, but it headed into the final leg at the back of the pack, said Prophit. The sailor is known for his sleeve tattoos, use of profanity and finding sustenance in cigarettes and coffee.

But it's his racing skill and ability to navigate the wind that stun the sailing community.

"We had to get north as fast as possible and work our way east to get the breeze off the Michigan shore. We won that way in 1992," Prophit said. "The guys who went more west, which was our original plan, absolutely destroyed us. They had more breeze. They were all ahead of us except two boats. But we predicted the air on the lake would die and air close to the Michigan shore would not die. That's when we started striking back. We were in 10th or 11th place and we just went to work."

Racing on Lake Huron and Lake Michigan

This is his 11th first-in-class victory from Chicago to Mackinac in 28 attempts.

Last week, his 11th first-in-class win in the Bayview Mackinac race was accomplished after 41 tries.

The crew of Fast Tango met for a team dinner after the race at the Pink Pony on Mackinac Island and Prophit couldn't finish his hamburger.

"I was so excited I couldn't eat," Prophit said. "This is pretty huge."

Fast Tango, a North American 40, raced 51:24:56 hours. Das Boot 3.0, an Italia 9.98 sailboat owned by Jay Muller, of Ludington, placed second. Dark Horse, a Hobie 33 owned by Dan McGraw, of Atlanta, and Matt Krogstad, of Mill Valley, Calif., placed third.

Fast Tango "gave their all," Prophit said. "I'm (profanity) exhausted."

Liquid Lounge II was the one to beat

Molly Radtke, of Grosse Pointe Farms, who also raced and won on Fast Tango a week earlier, credited Prophit's "intensity and leadership" and boat and crew preparation. She said Prophit takes apart the boat by hand, cleaning and fixing and examining pieces, prior to the races.

Jim Caesar, of Chicago and on the J/109 sailboat Liquid Lounge II, won the overall category (and the Chicago to Mackinac trophy) racing against some 100 other boats by finishing in 49:59:14 hours. On corrected time, which rates boats based on design as well as sails, Fast Tango trailed Liquid Lounge II in the bigger division by only 13:36 minutes, according to the race website .

The margin is palatable, Prophit said. One year he lost by four seconds and considered therapy.

This year was rough, but better.

"I had an insane start," he said. In addition to thinking he was going to hit those boats, "I thought we were over (the starting line) early. But someone on race committee gave us thumbs up," Prophit said. "We pulled it off. The tactician on the boat says, 'Tim, start here.' I put the boat where I'm told. We don't win every start but we win a lot. Good starts are a great contributor to good finishes. If we had gotten buried at the start, we may have had a different outcome."

More: At 15, Merritt Sellers returns to Mackinac races and inspires young first-time sailors

Peter Wenzler, of Grosse Pointe, said after the team dinner: "We never stopped. We never quit. We had a game plan, and even after it looked like it wasn't such a great plan, we kept working it. The guys say, 'Never quit. We can win this.' Everyone thinks we have a chance to win it all. ... The big thing for us was our strategy Saturday night. It just appeared we were not doing well. By Sunday morning, we were in 11th of, I think, 12 boats in our class. We were kind of beating ourselves up."

Trailing under shooting stars

The weather and the forecasts were out of synch, especially involving wind.

"While the conditions were physically mild, the varying wind patterns required a lot of teamwork in order to keep the boat moving effectively," said Dave Simon, of Grosse Pointe Woods. "The race was visually gorgeous, beginning with the Chicago skyline, moving to the stunning sand dunes of the Michigan west coast and a good number of shooting stars each night."

With these victories, sailors are watching for Prophit to win the highly prestigious Barthel Trophy. The award goes to the boat with the best overall scores in the Port Huron to Mackinac race, the Chicago to Mackinac race and the Trans Superior race that begins near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and ends in Duluth, Minnesota, on Aug. 5. It is one of the greatest honors for sailors who race the Great Lakes.

Bayview Yacht Club Commodore Paul Hulsey, who placed third in class on the J/130 Pendragon in the Chicago to Mackinac race, told the Free Press during and interview as he drove home to Grosse Pointe late Monday: "I don't think there's any way Tim won't win it. There aren't enough entries in the Trans Superior to overtake him."

Reading the clouds

The Chicago to Mackinac race had 240 entrants in all divisions, according to the Chicago Yacht Club.

Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit saw its first female commodore in 100 years make the podium, too.

Lynn Kotwicki, of Royal Oak, raced on the J/120 Hot Ticket, owned by Michael Kirkman, of Novi, and won first in class after 49:04:23 hours on the water.

"When the wind shut(s) off, we engage even more, you focus more," Kotwicki said. "For a lot of people, light air is boring. That's when we work harder. It's about looking outside the boat, and anything you see — what's the competition doing, what's the weather doing, looking at the cloud patterns and understanding what could be next and be ready for it. Then adjusting the sails, choosing the right sails, positioning the boat for when you think where the wind is going to come from."

She added, "You can tell that by watching the cloud patterns. There's different looking clouds and understanding what those clouds mean and having the boat set up to be ready to react to what's coming."

The J/120 sailboats raced well in the class won by Hot Ticket. Proof, owned by Michael Fozo, of Grosse Pointe Farms, placed second. And FUNTECH, owned by Charles Hess, of Birmingham, took third.

U.S. Naval Academy team improves

Avenger, the J/105 boat raced by U.S. Naval Academy sailors, placed fifth in class in the Chicago to Mackinac race after 52:43:17 hours on the water. They placed eighth in the Port Huron to Mackinac race this year after driving up from Annapolis .

More: Merritt, Scott Sellers come from 'dead last,' win 46.5-hour race from Chicago to Mackinac

More: Sailors overcome emergency at 2 a.m. in rough waters to win Bayview Mackinac race

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Skipper Pat Fisher, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, told the Free Press on Tuesday: "The conditions were, in a lot of ways, similar to the Bayview Mack(inac), with a wide variety of wind speeds and conditions on the lake. When we crossed (Lake Michigan), it was blowing probably 18 knots. Then, a few hours later, the wind started to die a little bit. And it was kind of a drift fest. I really hope that Navy decides to come back in the near future. It was a really good experience."

The U.S. Navy said it viewed the competition as a nice opportunity to connect with sailor s and potential recruits.

Editor's note: Phoebe Wall Howard, an autos reporter, also writes about sailing and Mackinac Island. She is a member of the Port Huron Yacht Club and part of a longtime sailing family that has visited Mackinac since her childhood.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard : 313-618-1034 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid .

Boats set sail from Monroe Harbor for annual Race to Mackinac

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Boats set sail Saturday morning from Monroe Harbor for the annual Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac.

"This is super exciting," said John Desmond, a sailor in the race. "I don't think there's a lot of places in the world where you can have this kind of a view of the city."

230 boats are traveling well over 300 miles to Michigan's Mackinac Island in Lake Huron.

This year is the 114th running of the famed regatta, known by many as 'the Mac.'

"When you leave, you always look at the skyline to see how far away you're getting," said Michael Schultes, a sailor in the race. "And when it's gone, you say my goodness, we're in the race."

2,100 sailors from around the world and across the country set sail.

RELATED | Race to Mackinac returns on Lake Michigan after 2020 COVID-19 cancelation

"Year-after-year, I keep saying, this is the last one, but I keep coming back," said Jamal Alwattar, a sailor in the race. "It's really challenging. It's an endurance race."

This year is Alwattar's 31st time in the regatta.

Boat crews range in size from just two members to as many as 22 people, depending on the size of the boat.

"There is a lot more communication going on, as opposed to just like two people, you have to talk to everybody so everybody understands what's going on," said Luci Ramirez, a sailor in the race.

For 15-year-old Ramirez and 16-year-old Lauren Gullo, this is their first time in 'the Mac,' and they were eager to get sailing.

"I'm very excited about getting there and celebrating with my family once I get there," Gullo said.

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Lake Michigan Clipper Cup

Race to the party!

The 2024 Lake Michigan Clipper Cup / 38th Running

The annual Clipper Cup race is administered jointly by Muskegon Yacht Club in Muskegon, Michigan and Port Washington Yacht Club in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

The start is off of the Muskegon, Michigan pierheads on Lake Michigan's east side with the finish in Port Washington, Wisconsin on the lake's west side for a distance of 66.9 miles.

August 9, 2024

Muskegon, Michigan to Port Washington, Wisconsin

Watch this site for more information including notice of race, information, updates and either downloadable or online entry forms. You may also contact us using info(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)clippercup.com or contact the committee secretary at 231-740-8454

Bayshore Yacht Club hosts the largest Wednesday night racing fleet this side of Lake Michigan. This is an all volunteer organization for both boats and people.

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Escanaba man travels world with sailing races.

Courtesy photo SailGP race officials Mel Roberts and Ian Murray (in the white hats from left to right) pose with, from top to bottom, regatta services staff Josh Anthony, Tré Maxwell and Al Green.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — A young man who was born and raised in Escanaba and spent his summers sailing on Lake Michigan has been traveling the globe working regatta services for international hydrofoil catamaran races. As events are held in different host cities in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the 2023 to 2024 season is from June to June. With SailGP, Joshua Anthony has worked in eight countries in as many months.

Right now, he’s about 8,700 miles away helping run the Sail Grand Prix in New Zealand.

Josh, age 24, graduated from Escanaba High School in 2017 after attending Holy Name. When there was open water, he was often near a harbor.

“He’s been sailing since he was five,” said his mother, Cindy Anthony, adding that the only reason he didn’t start sooner is because she didn’t allow it.

“I grew up sailing with my family — been taught with my father all my life. His father was a sailor,” said Josh, speaking with the Press from a hotel in Christchurch, on the opposite side of the globe with a 17-hour time difference. “Just always had an affinity for sailing. We always tried to do at least a week-long sailing trip for the past several summers.”

He became more than familiar with the waters of northern Lake Michigan and in recent years explored farther.

Through connecting with other community members with similar passions, Josh said that he’s been fortunate enough to travel to Newport, R.I. to crew on Bob Yin’s J/80 and to Savannah, Ga. with Steve Harris on his Lightning. Both Yin and Harris are members of the Escanaba Yacht Club.

In 2022, Josh applied for an internship with Sail GP, a high-tech global racing league with 10 national teams that aims to be “the world’s most sustainable and purpose-driven sports and entertainment platform.”

“I’ve always had a dream of working in the sailing industry, and there aren’t many opportunities in the Midwest. I saw the ad for it online, and it was just a chance to get in, and so I took it,” said Josh.

That position, initially, was specifically to work one event — the United States Sail Grand Prix I Chicago at Navy Pier. Josh secured the role with regatta services, kept in touch, and was called back again to work one of the last races of that season in San Francisco. This year — SailGP’s fourth — he was offered a permanent role and now goes everywhere the fleet does.

Each with a crew of five, teams for Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and Germany race on F50 catamarans. Each boat has two sails — a jib and a modular wingsail — to harness the wind for propulsion. Hydrofoil technology lifts the twin hulls above the surface of the water when at speed, reducing drag and allowing the crafts to reach speeds around 60 mph as they fly over the water on struts. Electric motors and lithium-ion batteries hydraulically power certain mechanisms, like the trimming of the jib sheet and depth of the daggerboards. Continual developments are made across the design class.

Not only are the boats themselves cutting-edge, so too are the methods used to capture footage and data on the races. Metrics are streamed to all teams, which helps their strategists and makes for close competition — but the public can see all those numbers, too.

“The F50 is basically a mobile data center,” said SailGP Chief Technology Officer Warren Jones in a video released by Oracle, the cloud computing service partnered with SailGP. “We have 30,000 data points on an F50 … anybody with an internet connection and a browser (can) go in and have a look at this information and view what’s going on on an F50 in real time.”

That info includes each boat’s speed, heading, ride height, pitch angle, roll angle, hydrofoil rake angle, wingsail camber and more.

But a chart of performance data isn’t as intriguing to some as watching the actual races, which are televised and made engaging and easily-understandable by the use of digital overlays coordinated in a studio in London with the aid of teams on-site.

Josh is one of a five-person regatta services team that arrives to start setting things up seven days before the event begins. As the week goes on, they deal more with telemetry systems and race management.

For this weekend’s race, Josh arrived in Christchurch on Friday the 15th, with work beginning in Lyttelton Harbor on the 16th. His team’s first task was to unpack two shipping containers and prepare the five team chase boats by equipping them with a new, third set of radios and the necessary wires and antennae.

Setup at these events is done in phases, with multiple crews working in their respective, specialized areas. The race yachts themselves arrive in containers and need to be assembled.

“Wing team takes care of the wings for all the yachts. Foil teams, they’re constantly maintaining and polishing, waxing, fixing, repairing all the foils, rudders and a couple other items,” Josh explained. “And then the electronics team, they’re doing all the electronic work on the race yachts, the controls, the main systems for the foils, rudders, wings and so forth.”

A communications team is contracted out with German company Reidel, who also does similar work for Formula 1.

When it’s time to move to the next phase of race prep, said Josh, “then we kind of switch hats and go into the broadcast side of things, where on Thursday we rig the TV boats as well as the two helicopters.”

Another side job Josh does for other sailboat races is controlling GPS-powered buoys for MarkSetBot. That gig is separate from SailGP, but the skills translate.

“During (SailGP) racing, I am in control of nine autonomous race marks using the same software, essentially,” Josh said. “And I can control and move the race marks depending on course changes and so forth.”

Regatta services also tracks information that is essential for the London studio’s production.

“Our team is in charge of helping make sure that the graphic overlays for the live broadcast is running smoothly and clear,” Josh said. “Our system has, like, little tracker systems on all the assets, including the race marks, the chase boats, the TV boats… so then back in London, they have an anchor point to put the yellow circle around the race marks for the broadcast.”

The first day of racing in New Zealand includes three fleet races beginning Saturday, March 23 at 3 p.m. NZDT, which was 10 p.m. Friday night EDT. Day two races take place the same time on the following day. Live and past streams may be viewed on the SailGP app, YouTube, and Facebook.

In the U.S., the televised broadcasts are delayed; CBS Sports Network airs everything on Sunday afternoon, local time. This weekend, viewers can find a program from 2021 called “SailGP: Racing on the Edge” discussing the story of the league at noon. New Zealand’s day one races will be shown at 1 p.m., and day two airs at 2:30 p.m.

Next week, Josh will return home to Escanaba after six weeks away. Immediately before Christchurch, he had two weeks to kill in New Zealand and Australia after the season’s eighth event, which was held in Sydney.

Events earlier in the season brought the fleet and crews to Chicago; Los Angeles; Saint-Tropez, France; Taranto, Italy; Andalucía-Cádiz, Spain; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Abu Dhabi, UAE. In coming months, they will go to Bermuda; Halifax, Canada; New York and San Francisco.

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