Sail-World.com : Mackinac fleet heads to the finish
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Mackinac fleet heads to the finish |
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'Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac'
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As the day progressed forward, so too did the boats participating in the 100th Running of the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. The sound of the cannon firing, indicating a boat crossing the finish line, became more and more frequent.
As of 6:29 p.m., 90 boats had finished and 16 retired. Nearly all boats in from the Turbo and Great Lake 70 sections are in as the cannon continues to sound almost every minute as a stream of boats continue past Round Island light at the finish.
With each finish came word of the challenging and often unpredictable conditions on the race. 'The race typified all conditions one can experience on the race,' said Michael Brotz, skipper of Great Lakes 70 Chance, and a veteran of 27 Macs. 'We experienced everything. Flies, wind, no wind, hot sun, wind shift. It was relatively slow, and at some times relatively fast sailing.'
The three person crew aboard the F-25C 27-foot carbon trimaran Gamera agreed that the erratic weather made the race all the more challenging. 'We went in with the game plan to stay to the right, and although we eventually made it there, the weather made it extremely difficult to do so,' said skipper Matt Scharl, of Chicago, Ill. With a crew of only three men, sleep was a luxury, and dedication a necessity. 'The weather really beat us up and made it a hard race,' said crew member Mark Zaranski, of Chesteron, Ind. 'At one point, we were going 15 knots and couldn’t see. It was a lot of work.' All there hard work paid off, as Gamera was the first Multihull 2 section boat to cross the finish line.
Despite the majority of Cruising 1 and Cruising 2 section boats still south of the 45th parallel, a few boats have powered forward to gain significant ground. Glenn and Elsa Gustafson’s Windara has not lost its significant lead, as it sails 4.4 knots east and makes it way under the Mackinac Bridge. Micjay and Mirage, also in the Cruising 1 section, are battling it out on the course and have made their way through Grays Reef and are heading east at 6.2 knots and 6.3 knots respectively.
As the sound of the cannon erupts, skippers and crew are eager to find out who is crossing the finish line and what the final results are. 'We believe the race is won between midnight and 6.a.m.,' said Scharl. 'Now we just have to wait and see if that’s true.'
The results website has been experiencing some technical difficulties today, but please stayed tuned to the Chicago Yacht Club website for more information and the track the boats at www.chicagoyachtclub.org .
CURRENT TOP STANDINGS BY SECTION (in corrected time)
GL70
1. Stripes 48:17;10
2. Evolution 48:46:45
3. Nitemare 54:19:05
MULTIHULL 1
1. Nice Pair 52:37:08
2. Lei Loe 53:22:15
3. Caliente 53:24:09
SECTION 1
1. Natalie J. 51:59:06
2. Rampage 52:40:17
3. Fine Line 53:32:33
SECTION 2
1. Scout 50:17:51
2. Renegade 50:55:42
3. Hot Water 51:02:02
SECTION 3
1. Skye 49:52:33
2. Sufficient Reason 50:36:30
3. Pterodactyl 50:48:16
TURBO
1. Equation 49:51:47
2. Vincitore 52:56:11
3. Windquest 54:27:27
by Event media
6:15 AM Tue 22 Jul 2008 GMT
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