They call the Great Lakes “inland seas” for a reason, one not readily apparent to those who only know their shores. When storms boil up and across their waters, the Great Lakes can be as dangerous to sail as any salt ocean.
Last month, more than 300 boats sailed in the Chicago Yacht Club’s 2016 Race to Mackinac – the world’s longest annual freshwater sailing race – and many of the crews who assayed the 289.4 nautical mile run from Chicago to northern Michigan’s Mackinac Island July 22-25 sailed into the teeth of thunderstorms with relentless high wind and rain. One boat sank, although its crew was rescued. Others ended their races early.
But brutal weather didn’t eliminate the joy of Mackinac for three North Shore sailors, all of who have multiple Mackinac runs under their belts.
Wilmette resident David Gustman’s 35-foot boat Northstar had what he said was the fastest Mackinac race of his career, the 34th, but he and his eight-person crew paid for that.
“It was a tough Saturday night – one squall after another,” he said. “It just kept coming, it was relentless and it was as if the foul weather gear simply didn’t work.”
Gustman, who began sailing as a boy, was sailing with his two sons, Hunter, 27, and David, 26. Hunter, who was born on the day of Gustman’s first Mackinac race in 1980 – another “horrible” race marked by rain and wind, he said – celebrated his birthday during this race. It was the first time the two men crewed for their father during the same race. Other crew members ranged in age from 23 to 67.
Gustman, 62, also can boast of being a “Goat,” belonging to a relatively exclusive club – the Island Goat Sailing Society – of boaters who have participated in 25 or more Mackinacs. The society raises money for charity, and gets together for social events, Gustman said. Its members reflect the passion they have not only for the race, but for Mackinac Island as well, he added.
Getting to the island was particularly difficult this year because of the storm, which meant Gustman and his crew slept very little. Gustman estimated they made more sail changes in this race – a necessity in stormy weather, where changing winds require different sails – than in his last five races.
Sailing through the night, always part of the Mackinac race and always a challenge out on the lightless lake, became even more difficult in the stormy conditions, he said.
“But we had no damage, thank our lucky stars and the preparations we made,” he said.
Kenilworth resident David Neenan, 50, also described the storm “as probably the worst weather I’ve experienced in the 18 years I’ve taken part. But it was probably the fastest Mac I’ve done, too.”
Neenan, who crewed on the 37-foot boat Rocking Horse this year as part of a six-person crew, said he had sailed once or twice before moving to Chicago in 1993 to attend the University of Chicago, but didn’t become a dedicated sailor until he saw all the boats on Chicago’s coastline and decided to get into the sport more seriously.
“I met a great bunch of guys who taught me how to sail, and we did our first Mac in 1994,” he said. The experience was so positive that Neenan continued taking part in the race, returning to Chicago from wherever he was living at the time. When he moved back to Illinois, the race became a regular event for him, he said.
This year, he said he probably slept only two of the roughly 42 hours he and other crew members were on the water, and spent all that time wet.
“The wind and waves were tremendous, rain pretty much constant and gusts up to 60 knots,” he said. “And since it’s dark, you can get very confused. Steering the boat, wrestling with it, is not easy.”
Nonetheless, he said, he enjoyed himself: “It’s an exciting race. It gets the juices flowing, and the camaraderie in your crew and with other guys is definitely there.”
More Top Picks Best Diamond Lapidary Wheels
Not everyone had to battle the storm. Joseph Haas said that his 63-foot cruising division boat, Infinite Diversion, started with an early shift of boats on Friday instead of with faster boats on Saturday. As a result, he said, “We missed all the weather. It never even rained on us … on the radar, we saw the storms, but the (storm) cells just broke up and went on either side of us.
“We got to the island and people were coming up to me, saying ‘This is the most rain I ever had,’ and I told them, ‘It didn’t rain on my race!'”
Haas, 64, of Winnetka, is a former commodore of the Chicago Yacht Club, and has more than 40,000 documented cruising miles to his name. But he joked that although he has been in 10 races, he was his 11-person crew’s “newbie” since five of them are Island Goats. Haas, a lifelong sailor, helps contribute to the community of Mackinac sailors, since he makes a point of bringing one crewman annually who hasn’t experienced the race.
Like Gustman and Neenan, he plans to sail in next year’s Mackinac.
The race offers something a little different to each man. Gustman enjoys the discipline that sailing shares with his daytime job as a trial lawyer.
“The only thing you don’t have in the courtroom is rain,” he said.
Haas says sailing is both an intellectual challenge and the way he can find peace and quiet. Preparing for and racing in the Mackinac, however, is “adrenaline, adrenaline, adrenaline for two weeks as you get ready, and then all of a sudden it’s over,” he said.
And at least one thing that draws Keenan back, this year’s night time squalls notwithstanding: “When you’re at a certain point in the race, you’re not going to see land. And at night, when the weather’s clear, the sky is amazing. You see the Milky Way and the satellites that look like shooting stars. Like I said, amazing.”
For information on the Chicago Yacht Club’s Race to Mackinac Island, visit http://www.cycracetomackinac.com/.
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy