‘Race to Mackinac’ sets sail from Navy Pier – NBC Chicago

The Chicago Yacht Club’s 115th Race to Mackinac set sail from Navy Pier Friday afternoon as the first of more than 250 boats headed north.

The nearly 300-nautical-mile journey presented by Wintrust takes sailors from Chicago on Lake Michigan to Lake Huron and ends just off Mackinac Island.

In the racing and cruising classes there were 252 registrations this year, 26 of which were newcomers.

“We’re trying to get new people interested in the sport and encourage new boats to join,” said Jennifer Steffler. The chief race officer was on deck on Friday, helping the sailors with the final preparations.

Steffler said forward planning is key because once the boats leave Navy Pier, there is limited troubleshooting they can do on land.

“Each boat has a tracker that sends a signal about every 15 to 30 minutes, depending on where on the lake it is,” Steffler said. Although no emergencies are expected, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel will follow the sailors all the way to Mackinac Island.

About 50 cruisers set sail from Navy Pier on Friday afternoon, including The Jug Band, where Wayne Titus works as a watchman.

This year it is his fourth Mac.

“I expect we will actually have better weather than last year,” he said, also referring to the storms that marked the 2022 race.

About 200 other boats will set sail in various classes on Saturday morning from 11 a.m. Tanya Bleeker, the first mate on the Moxie, will also be competing in the racing class.

“We’re really excited, it looks like there’s a maximum downwind course this time, which will be a lot of fun,” said Bleeker. Her nine-person team – along with skipper Laura McCranner – consists entirely of women. This is a first for the Mac in more than two decades.

“Being the first all-women’s team in 25 years is incredibly exciting,” Bleeker told NBC Chicago.

She and McCranner hope Moxie’s success this weekend will help bring more representation to the boating world.

“And we have new people on our boat who haven’t had the opportunity to race Mac yet,” McCranner said. “We want to introduce them. That’s our goal.”

The headwind will make for a faster race this year. McCranner hoped Moxie would finish in 54 hours.

“The difference is that with downwind you have two people working the whole time. It’s constant work,” she said. “It’s fun. It’s going really well. But it’s a lot of work.”

Each year, the Mac attracts sailors from nearly all fifty states and several countries to compete. It began in 1898 with just five boats and is now the longest annual freshwater sailing race in the world.