It’s been a full day of boat preparations for the 230 sailboats competing in the 114th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Wintrust. Now, registration is complete, the skippers meeting attended, and for the Cruising Division – the race to Mackinac Island has already begun.
The race, known as America’s Offshore Challenge™, begins in front of Chicago’s magnificent skyline and finishes 289 nautical miles (333 statute miles) north on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, at Michigan’s iconic Mackinac Island.
A growing division in the Race, the Cruising boats set sail a day ahead of the faster race boats to allow more time to finish. The Cruising boats range from the magnificent 104-foot Whitehawk to family cruising boats trying their hand at the race known as America’s Offshore Challenge.
Forecasters predict this to be a light-air race and according to the live race tracker HERE, the Cruising fleet is slowly making its way up Lake Michigan. Light and variable winds are expected overnight.