The poor Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac fleet is just getting hosed by no wind. This is Wizard finishing second, which is way more than most of the fleet is going to do…
The “slowest race in decades” implies and defines the light winds plaguing the Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac Race, which began on Saturday, July 14, albeit with four postponements that pushed back many of the 16 afternoon start times, some by almost two hours.As of 5:30 this afternoon, only 13 of the bigger boats from the 259-nm Cove Island Course had finished. Thirty four boats had dropped out, and no team from the 204 nm Shore Course was in sight.
“The Cove Island Course finishers are all Class A and B…the closest Class C is still 60 miles out, and D, E, F, G and H are behind that,” said Bell’s Beer Bayview Mackinac Race Chair Gary Shoemaker. “As the classes go up, speed goes down because the boats are smaller.”
Though there is no time limit, organizers traditionally stop recording finishes at noon on Tuesday, but for this 2018 edition they will stay at their posts until 6 p.m.
“We have our big awards party at noon on Tuesday, so we hope the winners are in,” said Shoemaker. “We only have the harbor until Wednesday at noon because of the Chicago Mac, so we couldn’t postpone until the next day.”
