Canadian Mystery Ship at the 2011 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac
by Greg Nicoll on 15 Jul 2011
Clark Carruthers and Steve Jay arrived from Sarnia after a 95-hour trek. Event Media
Steve Jay and Clark Carruthers (19-year Chicago Mac veteran) docked their 1971 C&C 35 Mark 1, Mystery at the Chicago Yacht Club this morning after traveling 535 miles and 97 hours from the Sarnia Yacht Club, in Ontario Canadia.
Steve and Clark were previous winners of their section in the 100th anniversary. More recently, they have flagged in four of the past six Chicago Mackinac races. Why this race? The Chicago Mackinac Race is governed by the rules of the Offshore Racing Rules (ORR). Under these rules, Steve and Jay feel that they are fairly ranked.
In 2004, three major US yacht clubs – the Chicago Yacht Club, the Cruising Club of America and the Transpacific Yacht Club – joined forces in an alliance called the Offshore Racing Association (ORA). ORA was created to promote and support the use of Velocity Prediction Program (VPP)-based handicapping and took on the task of developing a new measurement-based rating rule that provides the fairest handicapping possible.
Working in collaboration with US SAILING, ORA has undertaken promotional and developmental tasks providing an increased level of manpower not previously directed toward the AMERICAP II™ rule while US SAILING has retained the function of certificate issuance. This new rule which is the next evolution of the AMERICAP II™ rule has been given the name Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) and started to be used in the 2006 racing season. The Offshore Racing Association (ORA) administers the ORR (http://www.offshorerace.org/).
The C&C 35 Mark I has a very active fleet in the Sarnia Port Huron sailing waters. This year, Mystery will be battling it out against Brian Geraghty's C&C 35 Mark I, Siochail, from the Bayview Yacht Club.
Steve is very active in junior sailing and served on the committee of the SailFest Regatta that took place last weekend at the Sarnia Yacht Club. This year, in addition to co-owner Clark, Mystery will be crewed by his two sons, Christopher and Chandler.
Fair winds, Mystery!
http://www.cycracetomackinac.com/
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