2 Found Dead After Sailboat Capsizes During Mackinac Race (Chicago, IL to Mackinac Island, MI)

Chicago Tribune ^ | July 18, 2011 | Staff

[PDMiller]

The bodies of two people have been pulled from the water in northern Lake Michigan after a sailboat participating in the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac capsized in a storm near Fox Island early Monday morning. Six were rescued.

The names of the two were not released by the Coast Guard. Officials could not recall any previous drowning deaths during past races.

The Coast Guard was notified at 11:40 p.m. CDT Sunday by radio by crew members from the sailing vessel Sociable, that the 35-foot sailing vessel WingNuts had capsized, sending eight people into the water.

Crew aboard the Sociable rescued six, the Coast Guard said. The bodies of the two missing boaters were recovered around 8:45 a.m. today.

[PDMiller]

Prayers for the lost Sailors and their families. Very tragic.

[Travis McGee]

Pretty radical hull/deck layout with the integral hiking wings. Those boys carry an insane amount of sail. Four to six foot waves according to the story. I'll bet that boat was a screamer, with a very hard corps crew who would always push her. Bold sailors, but a radical design. 35 footers are not Aussie 18s. Not when they are knocked down.

My random thoughts based on the scanty information in the article, and the photo.

[battlecry]

Paul Elvstrom designed a half-tonner with wings in the early seventies. Those IOR boats with their pinched ends were a handful to sail offwind in heavy weather.

[ImProudToBeAnAmerican]

BIG storm rolled through the fleet - both drowned sailors tethered to the boat.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.