Sail-World.com : Heading for the finish line - Race to Mackinac
|
|
Heading for the finish line - Race to Mackinac |
As of 2:09 p.m. Monday, only nine boats have crossed the finish line in the 100th Running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, with Randall Pittman and crew aboard Genuine Risk reaching Mackinac Island first at 1:18 a.m. this morning. With over 400 boats in the fleet still out on the water, the boats remain head to head with one another in their quest for victory.
Among the biggest and fastest boats in the Turbo section, Genuine Risk, Windquest, Equation, Vincitore, and Defiancehave reached the finish line. According to the tracker, Lucky and Runaway are slowly closing in on the Mackinac Bridge at 3.9 knots east and 1.8 knots east respectively.
It continues to be a close race in the Great Lakes 70s class as boats compete for a top finish. With Terry Kohler and Pete Reichelsdorfer’s Evolution and Bill Martin’s Stripes crewsalready relaxing on the Island, the rest of the section is mixed in with the Turbos and racing towards Mackinac. Tom Neill’s Nitemare pulled ahead of the competition to cross the finish line at 2:09 p.m., edging out Jack Jenning’s Pied Piper, who has slowed down to 1.1 knots east towards the finish line.
The majority of Section 1 boats have passed through the Manitous and are making their way through Grays Reef. This can be anyone’s race, as the lead continues to go back and forth between the front boats Talisman, Main Street, and Pinball Wizard. With such a close race, it will be a nail biter until the end.
Windara, the Cinderella story of this year’s Mac, continues to hold an impressive lead in the Cruising division. Although it has lost a bit of its speed from this morning, Glenn and Elsa Gustafson’s Windara has made its way through the Manitou Passage and is heading 6.9 knots east north east towards Grays Reef.
Last year’s Mackinac Cup winner, Tom and Gytis Petkus’ Vytis, has fallen behind the leaders of the J105 section, most of which entered the Manitou Passage this morning. Pronto II caught strong winds, and pulled ahead of Junto to take the lead in the J105 section.
With a little over half of the fleet reaching the 45th parallel today, hundreds of crews and boat still have a long route ahead of them, plagued by unpredictable Lake Michigan weather and wind. 'The wind has been very fluky, it blows 12-13 knots and 5 minutes later it’s at zero. We’ve been sitting a lot,' said Ted Jones, aboard Section 4 boat, Painkiller.
As the boats continue to make their way north to Mackinac, friends and family can track their performance, look at photos, and read 'Tales from the Water' on http://www.chicagoyachtclub.org/ .
by Event media
3:01 PM Mon 21 Jul 2008 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
If you want to send this story to a friend, please use link below
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Heading-for-the-finish-line---Race-to-Mackinac/46729
Click for further information on
North American News
Related News Stories:
MORE STORIES ...
|
Based on your current download speed Sail-World has delivered large images (660 pixels long side.) If you would like to see only small images (300 pixels long side) click here . For medium sized images (500 pixels long side) click here . If you would prefer to see text only (without pictures) click here
| |
