Two United States Coast Guard cutters
will chaperone the record 435 entrants for the 100th running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race To Mackinac. The annual race starts at 10 am Saturday and ends Sunday.
The starting point for the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac begins from Chicago lakefront and pursues a 330-mile (530 km) course to the island of Mackinac. It is the longest annual freshwater sailboat race in the world.
One sailor, John Nedeau of Muskegon, Mich, has 60 years of experience racing in the Mac.
Every other year during the 330-mile Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac it seems the fleets spend at least half a day becalmed and drifting under the center of a slow moving high pressure system. Skippers who understand the interaction of gradient winds with shoreline thermal breezes will have a competitive advantage. While satellite weather equipment can forecast the size and movement of a high pressure system, racers still need to decide where they want to be with respect to the shoreline when the system arrives. Thunderstorms could make the Chicago Yacht Club’s race to Mackinac a rough ride for hundreds of sailors.
As Race preparations hit fever pitch, skippers, members, family, and friends came together last night at the Bentley Warning Gun Reception to share stories, strategies, and memories of the Mac.
Of the hundreds of sailboat races held in Chicago’s waters every year, the Mac is the only one many people know. Ray Burchett, 78, a veteran of 43 races, can’t sail the race this year, but his voice holds the excitement of the teenager who first went to the Island in ‘46.
You can now track participants progress from beginning to end of the Chicago Yacht Club Mackinac race. The link is: http://charthorizon.com/races/2008_chicago_mackinac/htdocs/
Chicago Yacht Club Mackinac Race…
Not only the longest annual freshwater sailing race in the world, The Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac for 2008 will also be the largest offshore sailing fleet ever tracked by GPS. Chicago Yacht Club will require all participants in “The Mac” t…
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[...] Wisconsin shoreline, Point Sable, Sleeping Bear sand …SailBlogs - http://www.sailblogs.com|||Chicago Yacht Club Mackinac RaceChicago Yacht Club Mackinac Race will have all boats outfitted with position transponders for the [...]
[...] Mac" is by invitation only from Chicago Yacht Club. …Sue - http://sue-rd.blogspot.com/|||Chicago Yacht Club Mackinac RaceChicago Yacht Club Mackinac Race will have all boats outfitted with position transponders for the [...]
[...] Wisconsin shoreline, Point Sable, Sleeping Bear sand …sailblogs - http://www.sailblogs.com|||Chicago Yacht Club Mackinac RaceChicago Yacht Club Mackinac Race will have all boats outfitted with position transponders for the [...]
[...] Mac" is by invitation only from Chicago Yacht Club. Chicago Yacht Club Mackinac RaceChicago Yacht Club Mackinac Race will have all boats outfitted with position transponders for the [...]
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