Solo Sailors to Arrive on Island This Week as Part of Mac Solo Challenge

The Mac Solo Challenges, a set of six different solo sailing boat challenges by the Great Lakes Singlehanded Society either ending or passing by Mackinac Island, began at 9 a.m. central (10 a.m eastern for the Port Huron boats) Saturday, June 24, with three challenges starting in Port Huron and three in Chicago. An awards luncheon will take place at the Mackinac Island Yacht Club Wednesday, June 28, where the race committee has been stationed since Sunday, June 25, with two people manning the station 24/7. As of Monday, June 26 around 11 a.m., one boat from Chicago had passed the Island finish line. John Hoskins’ Madcap Spot was the first boat to finish, but because of the handicap system the sail races use, the actual winner won’t be determined until later in the week.

Tim McCleery, the general manager and executive chef of the Mackinac Island Yacht Club, said the club hosts the Mac Solo Challenges on behalf of member Richard Lappin, who sponsors the race and has been a club member for 23 years.

A singlehanded or solo challenge means that each sailor is the only person on board their boat. The annual challenges started in 1979 and are held concurrently, though not every race is held each year. This year is the 45th year of the Port Huron to Mackinac Island, and 27th year of the Chicago to Mackinac Island. The Super Mac and the Super Mac and Back courses are triannual. Only one boat this year will race a Supermac, from Port Huron to Chicago, and six boats — three boats on each lake — are slated for the Super Mac and Back, as of the afternoon on Friday, June 25, said Elisabeth Reichling, the race chair of the challenges. Although, according to Ms. Reichling, getting to the starting line is often the biggest challenge of all. This is the 8th time the society has run the Super Mac challenges, and 6th time offering the Super Mac and Back. There are two boats, one on each lake, who are racing the Mac Solo Challenge for their first time, Ms. Reichling said. Ms. Reichling herself said she raced in eight challenges and finished five.

Tom Olman (from left), Deb Wyckoff and Steve Wyckoff, members of the race committee, along with race committee leader Joan Jacobs and race chair Elisabeth Reichling (not pictured) watching the radios, spotting scope and boat trackers at the Mackinac Island Yacht Club on Monday, June 26, waiting for boats from the Mac Solo Challenges to pass the finish line. (McKenna Johnson/Town Crier)

The six challenges consist of the Port Huron to Mackinac Island, the Port Huron Super Mac Challenge, and the Port Huron Super Mac and Back Challenge, and the Chicago to Mackinac Island, the Chicago Super Mac Challenge, and the Chicago Super Mac and Back Challenge. The shortest of the six challenges begin at either Chicago or Port Huron and end at the Island’s finish line, between 237 and 280 nautical miles, depending on the starting point. The next two Super Mac challenges see skippers passing the Island’s finish line and continuing down to the opposite starting point, at 517 nautical miles. The Super Mac and Back challenges see skippers going from one port past the Island to the opposite port, then following the route back to their original starting point, at 1034 nautical miles. These last challenges can take up to two weeks or longer, depending on wind conditions. For the Super Mac and Back courses, it’s like the boats are in all three challenges, two for the Super Mac, and they all receive a time for each ‘finish line’ even if they keep going, Ms. Reichling said. Mackinac Island is the finish line for the regular courses, while the other boats will continue on.

The traffic on the great lakes can get heavy, especially during the summer. The Islands’ finish line is a green buoy across from the yacht club and marina.

“It’s always fun to dodge the freighters,” Ms. Reichling said.

This year, the society is using a single rating system across each of the Great Lakes. Sailboat racing uses a handicap system, similar to golf handicaps, Ms. Reichling explained. Instead of each boat rating differently on each lake, this year the challenges will be rated on the same system. The rating systems rate each boat by seconds per mile, she further explained, and, with non-solo challenges, how many people and/or pounds of people a boat crew can have.

Entrance to the Great Lakes Singlehanded Society cannot be bought, and instead members join by successfully completing the Port Huron to Mackinac Island or Chicago to Mackinac Island challenges, or one of three other singlehanded challenges held on the Great Lakes. Once a challenge has been completed, lifetime membership is ensured.

“Go out, start sailing, and come play with us,” Ms. Reichling said. “Nobody is born knowing how to sail.”

One of Ms. Reichling’s favorite part about the annual races is that sailors are still interested in the longer races, even though they may be brutal, she said. Depending on wind conditions, racers in the two shorter Mac Solo Challenges will continue to arrive on the Island this week.