CYC Race to Mackinac - Infinite Diversion first in Cruising Division

by Rachelle Treiber on 15 Jul 2013 In the Chicago Yacht Club’s Race to Mackinac, congratulations are in order for Infinite Diversion, a Hanse 630 owned and skippered by Joseph Haas, on being first to finish in the cruising division. Haas, a past commodore at the Chicago Yacht Club, finished with his crew of seven at 13:48 CDT. This is the second year in a row that Infinite Diversion has crossed the finish line first in its division, but this years’ time far surpassed last year’s 22:37 CDT finish.

Haas said there were some low spots with low winds rounding Point Betsie that allowed his competitors to catch up, but they were able to pull ahead through the Manitous.

'We always have a great time on the race. We didn’t stop the entire way until the finish when we ran into some problems. Past the bridge we encountered an easterly breeze under spinnaker and just got slammed,' Haas said.

The 42 boats in the cruising division this year set sail at 3:10 p.m. CDT on Friday.

The next closest boats to the finish line in the cruising fleet are Roxy, Lugnuts and Jug Band.

This is the first year the race has had a first to finish award in the cruising fleet. For Haas, that means his boat has secured a spot in the race’s history.

'This is a great crew with a lot of experience and I’m happy to race with them,' he said. 'Compared to past races, this one was the most fun. We finished first and now I get my name on a trophy forever.'

Racing fleet update:

In the hotly-contested Turbo section, Il Mostro and Windquest have been neck and neck throughout the race, but as of 4:30 p.m. CDT Windquest was leading Il Mostro by approximately 6.6 nautical miles, with Windquest passing by Gray’s Reef.

Windquest is going 9.3 knots and is 20 nautical miles from the finish and Il Mostro is going five knots and is 26.6 nautical miles from the CYC Race to Mackinac website