J/Teams Dominate Stormy Bayview Mackinac Race!

(Port Huron, MI)- The 102nd Bayview Mackinac Race, hosted by Bayview Yacht Club, was not for the faint of heart. In the second major offshore race of the summer, teams were pushed to the limit by nasty weather conditions. The race began on Saturday, July 18th, with teams having to navigate thick wildfire smoke blown down from Canada. And, following the start, the weather conditions only continued to deteriorate.

Throughout Saturday and into the early morning hours of Sunday, racers battled multiple squalls with consistent breezes of 30+ knots, and some teams reported gusts over 40 knots and waves over 10 feet. Of the 146 boats that started the race, only 105 made it to the finish line. No stranger to the Great Lakes distance races, skipper Bob Hughes (owner of multiple HEARTBREAKERs) remarked on how truly challenging this year’s conditions were, “[this was the] hardest Mac race I have ever done (between 39 Chicago and 20 Bayview races)!!”

“We’ve heard a lot of horror stories,” said Pamela Wall to Shifting Gears Media- she’s harbormaster and past Commodore of the Port Huron Yacht Club. “I’ve been told about seasickness where they don’t have enough crew to handle these kinds of conditions; that’s not surprising given reports of 8-10 ft steep waves offshore. One boat here realized their rudder shaft was wobbling. If your rudder falls off the boat, you’re not going to be able to steer. Hydraulic failures. Two boats here are dismasted, and there may be more coming. A lot of equipment issues. Also, just the idea of facing Saginaw Bay sounded brutal— there were sustained 20-25 kt winds, but gusting in the high 30s. That’s daunting and just hard on humans. ‘Seasick Saginaw Bay’ is its nickname. It’s choppy, and in this weather it’s going to be super choppy. If you need all hands on deck, and you’ve got six people seasick, you’ve got nobody to sail the boat.”

This year’s race featured the two traditional courses for the race:

– The 259-mile Cove Island course rounds a mark set off Cove Island, Canada, along the northeastern part of the lake; the fleet then heads to the finish line off Mackinac Island.
– The 205-mile Shore course sails straight north from the start, along Michigan’s eastern coast, across the mouth of Saginaw Bay, leaving Bois Blanc Island to port, and then to the Mackinac Island finish line.

Cove Island Course
This longer course had 34 J/teams of 101 boats participating; J/Boats were 34.0% of the fleet!

Division C- 15 boats
Robert Klairmont’s J/160 SCIROCCO finished in fourth place. Just 6 boats finished; 9 boats dropped out!

Division D- 16 boats
Incredibly, despite the wild and stormy conditions, there were four J/111s in the top five! Just 8 boats finished; 8 boats dropped out.

1. Tim Clayson’s J/111 UNPLUGGED
2. Mark Symonds’s J/111 PTERODACTYL
3. Jeff Schaeffer’s J/111 SHMOKIN JOE
4. Carl Hanssen’s J/111 VARIANCE

Division E- 19 boats
The J/120s won and took four of the top six places! 8 boats finished, 11 boats retired!

1. Mike & Bob Kirkman’s J/120 HOT TICKET
2. Charlie Hess’s J/120 FUNTECH RACING
3. Chris Ongena & CJ Ruffing’s J/120 NOBODY’S FAULT
4. Jim Denner & Jon Berg’s J/120 LATITUDE

Division F- 19 boats
This class was loaded with talented offshore racing teams. J/109s swept the podium, and J/Boats were 7 of the top 10 teams! Just 10 boats finished; 9 boats retired.

1. Kevin Lemond’s J/109 JANINE
2. Mike Hendrie’s J/109 BULL
3. Brad D’Arcangelo’s J/109 CONSIG
4. Dennis Meagher’s J/35 SNIPE
5. Mike Welch’s J/35 FALCON
6. Bob Asher & Wes Ory’s J/99 SHING-A-LING
7. Tim & Amie Ross’s J/35 BLACKHAWK

Shore Course
The shorter Shore course had five J/Boats sailing in a fleet of 44 boats; J’s were 11.4% of the fleet.

Division H- Doublehanded- 8 boats
All three J/crews finished in the doublehanded division. These teams had to be “tough as nails” living through such challenging storm conditions! Scott Sellers was sailing with his teenage daughter, Merritt!

1. Lease Shock’s J/105 SOUTHBOUND
2. Brad & Ian Faber’s J/111 UTAH
3. Scott & Merritt Sellers’s J/111 NO SURPRISE

Division I- 15 boats
There were two J/teams in this fleet, both finished!

1. Ethan & Will Taylor’s J/105 WHISTLER- missed winning by just 7 min. corrected handicap time.
2. Michael Gualdoni’s J/29 CENTURION

For more Bayview Mackinac Race sailing information
https://bycmack.com