Dogdayz first to finish Chicago Mackinac race

by Christie Denson on 21 Jul 2009 The first boat to finish the 101st Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac is Dogdayz, with a finish time at 07:50:04- making the elapsed time for this first boat at 64:40:04. This is the longest elapsed time for a first to finish boat in the past few years.

But they’re not done – Dogdayz, skippered by Dan VandenBossche of New Baltimore, MI, continues on to Port Huron in the SuperMac. The majority of the fleet remains 100 nautical miles out.

Reports from the water are of extremely light winds. Two boats, Volare and Bad Dog, have already withdrawn due to the slow conditions. The rest of the cruising fleet was parading around Gray’s Reef and a cluster of boats are in the Manitous. The MaxZ86 Windquest, favored to be the fastest boat, at last tracking ping is still 39.8 nm away.

One of the more interesting developments will be the progress of Farr40, Flash Gordon 5. Skippered by Helmut Jahn, Flash made a strategic decision to sail up the west side of the Lake along the Wisconsin shoreline, making a huge gain on their fellow Section 2 boats, as well as the other fast boats in Turbo, Section 1 and the GL70s.

At the last tracking ping, Flash was 78 nm miles out on the west, while GL70 Evolution was only 78.8 miles from the finish on the east side. It’s exciting to see which strategy plays out as the 101st Mac moves into day 4.