Tuesday, August 9, 2011

103rd Race to Mackinac 2011

This year's Chicago Yacht Club's race to Mackinac Island captured by my iphone's Hipstamatic app.

July 15-18, I competed in the 103rd Race to Mackinac. Our S2/9.2, "Intuition",  finished 9th in it's division and weathered the horrific thunderstorm that swept through close to midnight July 17.  The sailboat "Wingnuts" capsized during the storm and 2 of it's crew lost their lives. It is the first time in the history of the race that anyone was killed sailing in the race.

Our boat had a crew of 6, with designated pairs rotating shifts. Two of the crew had competed in the race the past 3 years (finishing 2nd in their division the last 2 years).  For the rest of the crew it was the first time to compete in one of the most challenging and longest annual freshwater sailing races in the world.
Total elapsed time  72:56:17 
I'm already planning for next year's 104th challenge.