FIRST TIME MAC AND FIRST PLACE FINISH
By Luis Gianotti, UK-Halsey Southern California
I�ve wanted to do this race since 1996 and it looked like in 2005 I would keep the idea on my wish list for yet another year. But three days before the race I was talking with Pat Considine of UK-Halsey Chicago and I asked him if he needed an extra crewmember. He said that the Santa Cruz 70, NITEMARE, which he was sailing on was all set, but the boat his father and sister were sailing on needed someone. Ten minutes later Jim (Mister C) called me to let me know that they had a spot for me!
Great, I got a plane ticket and two days later I was having dinner with Jim and Cate in Chicago learning as much as possible about the race. These guys have done it many times; so I was in very good hands (2005 was Jim's 35th Chicago Mac race). The three of us joined six others to form the crew of WOOTON 2, a tall-rigged Sabre 402.
The race started on a Satuday around noon in very light breeze that was on the nose. It was spectacular to watch 290 boats sailing away from Chicago. For the first third of the race the breeze stayed light and slowly shifted 180-degrees to end up in the southwest, right on the stern.
The race got exciting just after Pt. Betsey when the wind started to build and blow strongly out of the southwest. On our way to Grey�s reef we were flying --making 10-12 knots. We changed to the heavy chute as we passed the Manitou Islands.
Later in the night we saw the lightning of the storm that was rolling through the Mackinac Strait. It was long gone when we got to Greys Reef, but we went through with 22-25 knots of wind. Early Monday morning the breeze was up to 28 knots. Jim was driving and on one wave the bow went submarine, which led to a major wipe out that blew up the chute!!! We had another chute ready and hoisted in two minutes. The adrenaline was running again. The chute we re-hoisted was the.6 oz, which was made for medium air. Luckily that light chute survived the punishment.
Turning the corner into the Strait of Mackinac, we changed from the chute to the jib top. On this leg we saw gusts to 32 knots. As soon as we passed the bridge the spinnaker was reset and we finished quickly. We crossed the line at 11:23 a.m. Monday and only one boat from our division crossed before us, but we corrected over him.
I was very lucky in my first Chicago-Mac to have the opportunity to sail with a competitive crew and to have weather that was so warm. My foul weather gear stayed in my bag for the whole race!!!
MACKINAC STORM STORY: RESCUE AT SEA
by Jerry Mayfield, UK-Halsey Holland Mich.
The night before the 300-mile Chicago-Mackinac Race, four crew members of the J/125 ERLEICHDA were watching the Weather Channel after a crew dinner. �Of course we tuned in just in time for Storm Stories,� said Jerry Mayfield of UK-Halsey Sailmakers in Holland, Mich. �The story they showed was the replay of the trimaran CALIENTE capsizing a few years earlier in the Chicago-Mac. A heroic story of a rescue at sea if there ever was one; yet a story that still sends a chill up the spine of sailors when they recall their own countless close calls on the water. Who would have thought that less than 48 hour later some of the fleet would be close to reliving the story.�
ERLEICHDA
The following is Jerry�s account of going to the aid of a capsized trimaran in this year�s Chicago-Mac. His story is a textbook example of how racing sailors need respond to a boat or competitor in danger.
Sunday morning July 17, 2025 6:00 AM. We were about a mile west of Greys Reef lighthouse when it happened again. I had just taken the helm and one of the crew spotted a fast moving squall line headed in from the northwest. We immediately dropped our spinnaker as JUILIANA, a 78ft racer about a half-mile behind us, got hit first. While seeing their sails flogging in the wind our main trimmer shouted, �heads down, I have no idea what this boom is going to do!� We all held on as the boat jibed from starboard to port in a 49-knot gust. It took several moments to gain control of the boat and get a No. 3 up. As we got up to speed and were rapidly gaining on two competitors, we saw JUILIANA dropped her sails and was motoring west.
Confused for a moment we noticed their crew on the foredeck pointing at the water. Believing they had lost a crewmember overboard we immediately dropped our sails, started the engine and turned to follow them.
Scouring the waves, we saw nothing but continued to motor after them. Suddenly we spotted the capsized multihull farther back than the area we were focused on. We immediately contacted the Coast Guard and the race committee to apprise them of the situation. Before we could get there two other racers, EAGLES WINGS and FINE LINE, were already on the scene along with a powerboat. The powerboat, manned by a news crew doing a story on the race, managed to get the three sailors out of the water.
Recently there has been discussions about helping sailors in distress (Fundamental rule 1.1). I am glad to see there are no issues for the sailors on the Great Lakes. When it was all over, we played a minor role, if any, in the rescue of the crew of the yacht EMMA. Other boats that were trailing us got there much faster. When we started back to help we were not even sure what happened or who we were helping, but we stayed until we had confirmation that all of the crew were safe. I am proud of the crew I sailed with and the crews on the other boats and would do the same thing again except next year I�m watching cartoons before the race!
I dedicate this story to a former crewmate, Jim Matson, lost at sea on the Around the Islands Race on Lake Superior in July 1987.
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