Whitehawk wins line honors 2025 Race to Mackinac
by Laura Muma 20 Jul 18:06 PDT
July 19, 2025
Whitehawk, the beautiful wooden 104-foot ketch owned by Peter Thornton, is the first boat to finish the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Wintrust, finishing Sunday at 12:51 p.m. ET / 11:51 a.m. CT for an elapsed time of 1 day, 20 hours, 31 minutes.
Due to Whitehawk's rating, it is unclear where it will place in the 41-boat Cruising Division.The boats are assigned a handicap rating, which corrects their finish time to ensure a fair race among boats of various speeds and sizes. As of press time, Whitehawk's competitors were still racing.
With the Cruising Division beginning on Friday, Thornton said they lucked out in finding the gap in the weather. "On the radar we saw the rain moving toward us to the north and south of us, but we lucked out into a great weather window with the clear skies and more importantly, good breeze."
He did say the winds waned to 3-4 knots at times but they always had breeze, which was not the case for the boats behind him. The rest of the fleet is currently struggling to get through the Manitou Passage.
Thornton estimates he's done at least 40 Mac Races and his advice to first timers is simple. "Enjoy it. Every one of these is different and has its special moments," said Thornton. "One of my grandsons was on board for his first race this year and couldn't get over the incredible starry sky, and watching all the crew work that goes into making our boat go fast."
As of 8 p.m. ET, only the second boat (also in the Cruising Division) - Cynthia Lyn - has crossed the finish line.
Track the fleet here.