A huge thanks to all of the racing reporters during the 2009 race.

I would like to individually thank the following boats: (more…)

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Thursday, July 23, 2009 (CHICAGO) – The light air sailing conditions of the 101st Race to Mackinac meant strategy and teamwork were keys to winning the Race, held July 17-22, 2009. The skippers of Zoom, Asylum, and Nice Pair share their winning strategies for this difficult race that took the 337 boats entered an average of 80 hours to complete.

‘This is a great feeling. We never expected or anticipated this,’ George Miz, winner of the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy Division, explained. ‘This is my 21st Mac and we’ve only won our section one other time, but we’re very pleased.’

The Zoom crew of Chicago, is owned by Miz, Peter Dreher, and Michael Newman and they won the fast-boat division with a corrected time of 55:09:53. Miz credits their success to good advice from a weather advisor to sail up the west side to take advantage of the shore breeze. ‘We agreed that was the plan, and we we’re not going to bail on the plan, which paid off in the end.’

For Jon Weglarz and crew on the Mackinac-Cup Division winner Asylum, it was all about the proper alignment of preparation, timing, and of course, homage to the wind gods. When asked about Asylum’s navigational strategy, Weglarz kept mum.

‘What can I say, I’m old school. We didn’t want a tracker so to not anger the winds gods.’ The crew of Asylum has over 100 collective Macs between them, although none of the crew have ever won a first in fleet. ‘We only drink water from Lake Michigan during the race. So I guess you could day were a bit superstitious,’ he added. ‘For us, it was the race of a lifetime.’ Asylum won with a corrected time of 54:35:39.

Among the multihulls, it was finally wedding bells for Bruce Geffen and crew on Nice Pair. ‘We’ve been bridesmaid to Matt Scharl on Gamera four times, it was pretty awesome to break his streak,’ Geffen remarked. ‘We are close competitors and friends, and he was the first to call me up with congratulations.’

Nice Pair benefited from the thermals off the Michigan beaches north of the Manitous, sailing so close at times they were in only 8 feet of water, pulling the boards up to not hit the sand. ‘This was critical for us as we were able to make-up about 30-40 miles before we hit Gray’s Reef.’ Geffen co-owners Gary Hall, Bart Hall and Brad Glance of Ann Arbor, Mich. won with a corrected time of 62:29:49, and they continued on sailing the SuperMac to Port Huron, where they placed 2nd.

Be it perseverance, strategy, or superstition, each skipper gave overall credit to his hardworking crew. ‘Even though my name makes the papers, it’s the people who sail with me who really make it happen,’ Geffen concluded. Similar sentiments echoed among each skipper, illustrating how sailing the Race to Mackinac is truly a team effort. The other overall division winners were Skye, owned by Bill Zeiler of Wilmette, Ill. in the Doublehanded Division, with a corrected time of 59:52:53, and in the Cruising Division, Intangible, owned by Tom Falck of Hinsdale, Ill. won with a corrected time of 56:15:21.

For all results, including section winners, go to www.cycracetomackinac.com.

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Thursday, July 23, 2009 (CHICAGO) — After one of the longest Chicago to Mackinac races in recent history, all the boats are in and the results are official.

The Overall Winners in the 5 Divisions are:

Chicago Mackinac-Cup Division Asylum, owned by John Weglarz of Chicago, Ill. with a corrected time of 54:35:39

Mackinac Trophy Division Zoom, owned by George Miz, Peter Dreher, Michael Newman of Chicago, Ill. with a corrected time of 55:09:53.

Doublehanded Division Skye, owned by Bill Zeiler of Wilmette, Ill. with a corrected time of 59:52:53

Cruising Division Intangible, owned by Tom Falck of Hinsdale, Ill. with a corrected time of 56:15:21

Multihull Division Nice Pair, owned by Bruce Geffen, Gary Hall, Bart Hall, Brad Glance of Ann Arbor, Mich. with a corrected time of 62:29:49.

The other two distinctive honors for the 2009 Mac go to the fastest racing boats to the Island.

Royono Trophy- First Racing Monohull to Finish Windquest, owned by Dick and Doug DeVos of Macatawa Bay, Mich. with an elapsed time of 47:57:40.

Rieck Trophy – First to Multihull to Finish Lucretia, owned by Fred Ball of Harbor Springs, Mich. with an elapsed time of 56:29:38

While 33 boats chose to retire, most citing reasons related to the slow conditions such as lack of provisions or crew commitments elsewhere, at nearly 6:00 am Wednesday morning the last of the fleet arrived on Mackinac. The boat was the cruising division boat the Hannah Frances, who starting on Friday, raced with an elapsed time of almost 111 hours. Congratulations to the crew of the Hannah Frances for sticking it out in a very tough race.

Please stay tuned for a follow-up release that recaps the race from the sailor’s perspective. For all results go to cycracetomackinac.com/results.cfm

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6:30 am island time - 07/22/09
The boats are mostly here, appears there is only one left unaccouted for at this point in time. 
Just in time for the tent to come down and to be kicked out of the municipal marina at Noon today.

I am taking to 8am ferry to start my travels home.  There will be a “wrap-up” report as well as additional pictures posted over the next few days.  Please check back.  The race is over, but the information isn’t. 

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Overall winners have been named in the Mackinac-Cup, Cruising and Doublehanded Divisions. The remainder of the results remain preliminary, as a third of the fleet in the 2009 Race to Mackinac have yet to finish. (more…)

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Currently it is sunny, windy, cold, cloudy & raining. Somehow all at the same time.

The Tartan 10’s have started to arrive. The Bushico arrived at 11:25 am island time, followed by Norboy at 12:53pm & Erica at 1:24pm.  At least one boat has finished in every class, with the exception of Sections 9 & 10. (more…)

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009 (Mackinac Island, Mich.) – ‘By 8 minutes!’ Bill Zeiler shouted to fellow doublehander Richard Sterns upon learning they’d won the Doublehanded Division. Despite finishing 5 ½ hours ahead of 2nd place boat Chaz, Skye narrowly pulled off the first place spot on corrected time. (more…)

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11:00 am - Island Time - As the morning plays out and noon approaches, it is starting to look & feel like a “normal” end for the Chicago to Mackinac race. (more…)

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As we hit Midnight Michigan time at Mackinac Island two things are happening -
#1 - the boats are starting to finish.
#2 - the number of boats remaining to finish is decreasing due to withdrawls.

Let’s start with some reports:
Peerless - in another hole - and this one happens to be filled with bugs. (more…)

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Currently 6 boats have called in between the bridge and the finish line.

They are the Cruising division - Final Diversion & Jug Band.

In the Turbo class we are expecting Equation, Runaway, Defiance & Vincitore.

At the moment - 9 boats have finished.

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