Challenge Met: Experiencing The Race To Mackinac For The First Time
Published: Wednesday, September 25, 2019
By: Melissa Walsh
Runners train for marathons; hikers cultivate strength to traverse mountain ranges; and sailors learn to race.
Freshwater sailors hone these skills to capture flags in the most challenging endurance races of the Great Lakes region – Lake Superior’s Trans Superior International Yacht Race, Lake Michigan’s Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, and Lake Huron’s Bayview Yacht Club Port Huron to Mackinac Race.
Since 1925, sailors have competed in Bayview Yacht Club’s race up the unsalted sea of Lake Huron to Mackinac Island and, at age 51, I joined that ilk. From Saturday, July 20, to early Monday, July 22, I completed the 2019 race as part of the crew of “Bad Habits,” a Beneteau 40.7 owned by Mark Hanke.
The first several hours of the race were dreamy – moving at 9 to10 knots downwind under sunny sky, trimming spinnaker and laughing with my crew mates.
That evening, while inhaling our pasta dinner, we observed clouds sparked with lightning rolling closer. We reefed the main and I prepared, fitting myself up in foul weather gear, but as soon as the storm hit, my glasses fogged from rain drops hitting my face like pinpricks. I made a mental note to pack goggles next time.
Our tactician, whom I tease for having no use for sailing gloves, worked quickly in settling the boat, nimbly bolting from stern to pit to bow to pit, setting lines, halyards and sheets in wind reaching 50 knots - still without gloves.
I had previously experienced many storms during long-distance travel by power boat. However, surfing in a storm on a vessel that heels hard with crash-jibe potential is another experience.
I’m fortunate that I don’t get seasick, which benefitted me during the rough beat upwind the remainder of the race and through several watches, themselves broken up by my attempt to rest in the slamming, leaning birth below.
The “Sunday night fights” set us on our last leg, when we could see competitors’ navigation lights, forcing us to sail tighter, harder. At sunrise, we felt both weary and exhilarated. I balanced my aching body in the healing pit to break and tail jib sheets, then ride the rail being sprayed with the power of Lake Huron.
Finally, we could see the island! We even caught a whiff of its hybrid scent of manure and sugar.
A few hours later, before noon, I found myself on the sunny patio of the Pink Pony sipping a rum slushie.
“Will you do it again?” friends asked.
“Heck, yeah.”
The race to Mackinac is grueling, like childbirth or running a marathon, but the euphoria gained is magical.
On the island, I chatted with three other first-timers.
I met Bradley Adam, 25, who joined the crew of “Patriot,” the Beneteau 36.7 owned by Ken Sharpe, for his first Great Lakes race. The East Coast native and Head Coach of Sailing at Washington College says he’ll return for more.
“It’s pretty cool. It’s definitely a little strange getting splashed in the face and not getting all salty,” he says.
Adam finds similarities with Great Lakes racing, while noting Great Lakes weather systems are less predictable than along the East Coast.
“The lakes are so big,” he says. “It’s like being on the ocean.”
As for the endurance required, Adam, who usually races short-course regattas, says, “It’s a different type of fatigue. The lack of sleep is a factor in distance racing versus short spurts of physical push in short races.”
The crew of Patriot, from left:
Front - Bradley Adam, Ed Chrzanowski, Brian Isaacs
Back - Adam Gilbertson, Kevin McNeill, Christina Noland, William Farquharson, Dan DaMaren, Ken Sharpe
Robbyn Martin, 52, of St. Clair Shores, Mich., boasts two Great Lakes firsts in 2019. She crewed for the first time in the CYC race aboard “Titan,” a C&C 41 owned by Dan Aitken and Michael Schultes, a week before competing in her first BYC race to Mackinac aboard “Jam Jam,” the Morgan 27 owned by James Morphew.
Growing up on the shores of Lake St. Clair, Martin sailed a bit as a kid. In spring 2018, she threw herself into racing.
“Bad weather didn’t bother me. Working hard didn’t bother me. The physical aspect didn’t bother me…,” says the mother of five of her first two seasons of racing on the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. “It (the race to Mackinac) is just something I knew that I wanted to do from the very beginning.
“I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to contribute at the levels of other crew members. And I was afraid that I would be a hindrance 
and not a help in the crew.”
So to prepare, Martin took the U.S. Sailing Safety at Sea course and sailed as much as she could.
“I made it a priority to get as many touches on the boat as I possibly could,” Martin says.
This year’s CYC to Mackinac was in light air.
“I find it’s more difficult in light wind than high wind,” says Martin, who raced a high-wind Lake Huron race a week later, crewing on the smallest boat in the BYC fleet in rougher, colder, and wetter conditions than she experienced on Lake Michigan.
Four sail changes at the end of the CYC race made for some excitement at the end, she says, and a messy cabin at the finish, where Titan was selected for a safety inspection, at about 10 p.m. Monday.
“Your relief from finishing then transfers to getting ready for an inspection,” Martin says. “We were fine, but it didn’t help any that as soon as we started going to the (inspection) well, it started to pour.”
But the inspection went smoothly and the crew made last call at the Pink Pony.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Martin says, later adding, “I had my earplugs and my face mask (for sleeping). Many people told me, ‘You’re going to be so tired after Chicago,’ but I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t tired at all.”
On Jam Jam, Martin trimmed sail as part of a crew with which she was more familiar.
Of the storm, Martin was well-prepared with a reefed main and the crew in their foulies.
“We got through that storm well,” she says.
To first-time racers, Martin recommends, “Be positive, be willing to work hard, and be willing to listen to what is needed of you.”
Justine Buda, 25, of Dearborn, Mich., began sail racing after taking an adult learn-to-sail class in 2017. Early on, she knew she wanted to race to Mackinac.
In March, Buda was delighted to be invited to join the all-female crew of “Phantom,” the J-105 owned by Cynthia Best, for the BYC race.
“I volunteer with the Girl Scouts, so girl power is what I’m all about promoting,” she says, while admitting experiencing a touch of anxiety days before the race.
“Once I got to Port Huron, I felt awesome,” Buda says. “During the race I felt good, especially the first day. During the storm, I wasn’t scared of the wind and the rain but the lightning was freaking me out.”
After the storm, the remainder of the race was rough.
Buda explains, “My bunk was wet. My clothes were wet. My rain gear was pretty saturated by the end of the second day. If anyone says it wasn’t hard, then they’re lying.”
She says she didn’t complain and “made the best of it, because it really wasn’t different than what I expected it to be.”
Buda credits her “supportive and happy” crew mates for making the race a great experience for her.
“I was on cloud nine, when we got to the island,” she says.
Then Buda adds this important truth: “No Mackinac race is ever going to be perfect. You’re going to have no wind or too much wind, or it’s going to be raining or it’s going to be too hot. There are no ideal conditions. It’s all about the people around you.”
Race-to-Mack first-timers learn that a Mack crew is family. Just like adjusting sails for shifting wind to make the boat go fast, you adjust for crew needs and enjoy the adventure of the great ride.
About the Author
Melissa Walsh was raised on the shores of the heart-shaped lake nestled between the St. Clair and Detroit rivers that pumps the lifeblood of water recreation and the “blue economy” in Southeast Michigan. She’s enjoyed learning to navigate the shallow depths and sail the shifty winds of Lake St. Clair. So naturally, as a freelance journalist, Walsh delights in writing about power boating and sailing.
This article first appeared in the Fall Issue (Sep/Oct) 2019 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Feel Good Story, Lake Huron, Sailing
