Safety

A critically important part of the Race to Mackinac is doing it safely.  We provide these safety resources for skippers, watch captains and crew to enable them to be better prepared for an on-the-water emergency.  This is not a complete guide and competitors are reminded that safety is an ever-present and on-going aspect of sailing.  Continued education, training, practice and planning are critical aspects of safely racing sailboats.  The safety of a yacht and crew is the sole and inescapable responsiblity of the Person-in-Charge/captain/invited competitor.

2022 Safety Information

    The Chicago Mackinac Safety Requirements (CMSR) establish the MINIMUM safety requirements and are posted on the Official Notice Board.

    The Invited Competitor, Person-in-Charge and the Watch Captains should thoroughly read these CMSR and collaborate on developing responses to various emergencies (fire, water intrusion, medical emergency, first aid, CPR, sunstroke, hypothermia, gear failure, and MOB response and recovery and the like). 

    Safety at Sea educational training is required for at least 50% of a boat’s crew (including the Invited Competitor, Person-in-Charge, all Watch Captains, and all minor crew).  A crew member must hold one (or more) valid Safety at Sea Training Certificates at the start of The Race.  See the Notice of Race (page 6) for additional details.  These educational training courses can be found on the US Sailing web site and are also offered by various local yacht clubs from time-to-time. 

    There is also a requirement to practice On-the-Water Safety Drills for at least two-thirds of a boat's crew, including the Invited Competitor, Person-in-Charge and Watch Captains.  Two sessions are recommended (one day, the other night).  The requirements of the Drills are found at CMSR 5.13 and the specific Safety Drills and details are posted on the Official Notice Board under Crew Safety Drill Certification.

    Additionally, all competitors should consider taking First Aid / CPR Courses, available through your local Red Cross.

    Please check back here as we add more safety resources.

    SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT AIS and personal MOB AIS recovery devices:

    On-the-Water training exercises will be conducted on June 15 off Belmont at 1800 and June 22nd off Monroe at 1800 hours to simulate a MOB emergency.  Details can be found under the Competitors Communications listing on the Official Notice Board.

    For those interested in participating, please send an email to safety@cycracetomackinac.com (with MOB/Belmont or MOB/Monroe in the subject line) to obtain additional details and updates.

2021 Safety Information

2020 Safety Information

    Join moderator Jonathan Kabak in this virtual panel from November 21, 2020 presented by the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac Committee on surviving a man-overboard experience (MOB). Featuring real-life overboard experiences from the Hook Race and the Race to Mackinac.

  • The First MInute

2019 Safety Information

2018 and Prior Years’ Safety Information

From 2012 through 2015, the CYC Mac Committee sent out a series of email newsletters callled "Safety Thursday" to competitors covering various safety topics.  Unless otherwise indicated they were written by past Mac chair Matt Gallagher. These are informational only - all sailors should comply with all applicable governmental and race regulations and receive appropriate safety training.

2015

2014

2013

2012

All materials on our Safety page including all PDFs linked from this page, unless otherwise indicated, are (c) The Chicago Yacht Club and its Race to Mackinac Committee. These materials may be shared under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license. They may not be modifed and must be shared in their entirety.

We encourage you to share this with others in the offshore racing and sailing communities, subject to this copyright.

The materials on this page are offered without any warranty of any kind and all sailors should ensure that their own vessal fully complies with all applicable governmental and Race-related safety requirements. All sailors should be properly trained and experienced to handle the conditions faced. All sailor should take appropriate safety training and education.

Per RRS 1.4, the decision of a competitor to participate in a race or continue racing is his or hers alone.

Creative Commons License

Safety Materials by Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at https://www.cycracetomackinac.com/the-race/safety/.