1999 Port Huron - Mackinac Race updates
We now have Cove Island Course results in. Over 70 Shore Course boats remain racing, look for results tommrow.
According to race officials all but 1 of the Cove Island boats have finished. Unofficial PHRF section winners are:
PHRF A & Overall Trader- Andrews 70
PHRF B Oracle Farr 44
PHRF C Big Kahuna J-120
PHRF D Eclipse C&C 41
PHRF E Vagary Peterson 43
PHRF F Major Detail J-35
PHRF G Pendragon Contessa 43
PHRF H Tigress Standfast 40
PHRF I Dandelion Heritage 1 Ton
PHRF J Phoenix Ranger 37
The majority of the boats racing the Shore Course have not finished,
therefore even unofficial results are not yet known. Bayview officials indicate they
still plan the awards ceromony for 1200 eastern today.
We now have the corrected time finishing order for IMS Class A:
1. Windancer VI
2. Pied Piper
3. Stripes
4. Colt 45
5. Thristy Tiger
6. Pied Piper (Blondie)
7. Deep Powder
8. Chance
9. Holua
10. Equation
11. RX Sight
Also it is expected that Trader will win her class.
Beyond these big boats a total 30 boats have finished.
Unoficially Torresen Sailing Site has learned that John Neadeau's Windancer VI won the race's sole IMS section. Reports are that after Cove Island Windancer was withing sight of all the boats that have finished. In a contrast to most races going north to the Duck Islands paid off. Both Sassy and Holua benefited from favoring the Ducks side of the course.
Currently on the Island the pubs are filled with the crews of 60 footers and up. Winds for those on the course remain lite.
Thanks to the shore crew of Windancer VI for their help in producing these reports.
Summary of finish times.
| Boat Name | Hours | Minutes | Seconds |
| Earth Voyager | 05 | 35 | |
| Trader | 08 | 16 | 19 |
| RX-Sight | 08 | 41 | 44 |
| Pied Piper North | 09 | 29 | 24 |
| Deep Powder | 09 | 52 | 02 |
| Equation | 10 | 01 | 34 |
| Colt 45 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Stripes | 10 | 14 | 18 |
| Holua | 10 | 21 | 13 |
| Thirsty Tiger | 10 | 22 | |
| Chance | 10 | 26 | 50 |
| Adagio | 10 | 25 | 25 |
| Windancer VI | 10 | 30 | 10 |
| Pied Piper South | 11 | 19 | 59 |
| Sassy | 11 | 36 | 54 |
Race officials are still waiting for the vast majority of boats to finish. Boats such as the T-35's are 40-45 miles out. With the generally calm conditions these last miles will be long.
Race officials on Mackinac Island expect another gaggle of boats to finish this afternoon. However, currently these boats are not visible. Winds at Mackinac Island continue to be light to non existent meaning the finishes will occur slowly.
According to Torresen Sailing Site sources the following boats have finished: RX Sight, Pied Piper, Deep Powder, Equation, Colt 45, Stripes, Holua, Thirsty Tiger, Chance and Windancer VI.
Report from this group indicated that up to Cove Island the wind was steady. After that it was patchy. The higher you finished the less patchy it was.
Preliminary dockside calculations indicate that Muskegon's Windancer VI maybe the winner of the Great Lakes 70's Class.
According to Bayview Yacht club officials on Mackinac Island the first boat to finish was the Open Division entrant Earth Voyager crossing the line at 0534. First monohull to cross was Trader at 0816. RX Sight is expected next. 10-12 boats are on the horizon. However, winds are very light making the races endgame a frustrating one. 0841 RX Sight has finished.
In the next pack of boats approaching the Island are many of the 70's such as: Equation, Chance, Windancer VI, Holua and Thirsty Tiger. Also expected soon are Sassy and Open division entry Adagio.
Cove Island Rounding times now posted
At Cove Island following boats rounded in this order (no times given): Trader, RX Sight, Pied Piper and Stripes
As of 0500 eastern no boats had crossed the Mackinac Island finish line. Currently the airport at Mackinac Island shows very light westerly winds. So, it appears the finishes may come slowly as light air continues to make progress slow.
Reports have started to leak in from te race course. Stars and Stripes rounded Cove Island bouy at 0457 EDT, about 1000 they lost their rig forcing them out of the race. They headed under power to Alpena Michigan. The next boat to round Cove Island was Earth Voyager (with their new rudder) at 0742 and third around was RX-Sight at 0929. The boats are expected to reach the island 0200 Monday. Only time will tell how true this holds.
With details from the racing fleet still sketchy weather observations point to a light air day. The northern Lake Huron weather buoy saw a peak wind of 11.7 knots, but as a rule had winds under 10 knots. The wind has veered from WNW to North, but at last report was only 1.9 knots. Even for the shore course boats winds likely have been light as the station at Alpena airport has reported under 5 knots all day.
Mackinac Island airport reports considerable periods of calms today indicating the slow going continues right until the finish.
With such little information it's hard to speculate about the races progress or the success of particular boats. Generally, light air tends to favor bigger boats with taller masts and the ability to generate apparent wind from their own boatspeed.
However, with the absence of consistent winds a boat finding even the smallest advantage can gain large margins. Who is the possessor of these margins remains to be seen.
Expect our next report before 0800 on Monday morning.
The 292 boat fleet got away from Port Huron and is now heading up Lake Huron along one of two courses. The bigger boats are heading to Cove Island in Lake Huron's east half, while the shore course boats run up the Michigan shore.
From reports it seems as though a front passed through as the fleet ran through the starting sequence. The first few starts occurred in south west winds. After these starts, came a calm period. Then as the last starts occurred the front ripped through bringing northerly winds. This 180 degree wind shift is very typical of the passage of a weather front.
For the Great Lakes 70's class this activity occurred straight away after their start. 30 knots on the snotta winds were this storms product. During this storm the Santa Cruz 70 Cynosure was dismasted. Cynosure's mast snapped at deck level. Fortunately this is all the damage 'Cyno' incurred and she was under her own power back to port.
After this fire drill the boats set spinnakers and headed up the rhumb line to Cove Island. After some spinnaker time the wind headed and headsails were set.
Currently the South Lake Huron weather buoy reports NW winds at 10 knots. Overnight the peak reported wind from this station was NNW @ 13 knots. Regardless of reported velocity overnight reports showed winds from the N or NNW meaning the breeze has settled in.
The North Lake Huron buoy shows WNW winds @ 10 knots. Overnight the winds were stronger at this buoy going as high as 15 knots, with the predominant direction being WNW.
These northerly quadrant winds should put the fleet on the wind.
As to how long the race will take race chairman Race Chairman Ted Everyingham believes first light Monday morning is a good ETA.
However, these west winds blow in contradiction to forecasts which call for easterly winds by this afternoon.
More information as it becomes available.
Still no reports from the course. However, wind observations show nothing but very light conditions. The southern Lake Huron buoy is SSE @ 4 knots. Alpena shows SSW @ 5 knots, and the northern Lake Huron buoy is showing SSW @ 4 knots.
Barometric pressure is above 30.00 inches, but is falling slightly.
Forecasts have now switched to match the observed conditions. The forecast for both halves of Lake Huron for tomorrow reads variable 5 to 15 knots. These light conditions will favor bigger boats and taller rigs, and the intuition to find wind while others bob and swat flies.
No reports from the race course yet. Likely the weather for the fleet is quite moderate. The best report is from the Port Huron Coast Guard base with 11 knots from the Southwest. The South Lake Huron buoy has only 4 knots. The North Lake Huron buoy also has 4 knots, from the SSW. Barometric pressure at these locations is above 30.0 inches.
Per forecasters winds are expected to swing north. So far this has not shown in any of the observations.
For a preview of the race click here.
As the fleet prepares to start, light air is the norm all over Lake Huron. The most recent wind observation at the Port Huron Coast Guard Station shows South winds of 5 knots. The southern Lake Huron weather buoy shows NNW winds at 1.9 knots, with barometric pressure rising. The North Lake Huron buoy reports WSW winds at 5.8 knots with rising pressure.
Although forecasts predict winds of 10-20 knots from the south and south west, observations and the rising barometric pressure seem to contradict this.