By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — The sailboat team aboard the Evvai of Marquette finished in third place in its division of the Race to Mackinac 2024 on Monday morning.

Competing in Section 5, owner and skipper Matthew Songer, M.D., reported that the 10 men aboard got the Evvai over the finish line at 5:13 a.m. Monday with an elapsed time of 40 hours, 13 minutes and 33 seconds and “corrected” time of 46:00:23. The corrected time was used to determine standings in this division that saw nine boats finish.

Elbow Room won in a corrected time of 43:24:52 and elapsed time of 37:46:41 with skipper-owner Douglas Evans. Chico 2 was second in a corrected 44:01:25 and elapsed 37:12:10 with skipper-owner Jim Weyand.

The two boats after Evvai had corrected times less than 10 minutes after the Marquette vessel — fourth-place Lucky Dubie was in a corrected 46:05:04, while fifth-place Blitzkrieg came in at a corrected 46:08:41.

Songer reported that he and fellow Evvai sailor Ron Midle are in their 25th year of participating in the race and were happy to take on the “old goat” designation because of it.

This year’s event was more than just a matter of steering a sailboat up Lake Michigan, as Songer and the Race to Mackinac website reported that multiple boats had to demast — either being forced to remove a mast or having a mast break — during the first night’s storms on the Great Lake.

The website listed three of the larger boats in the race demasting, the Sagamore, Usual Suspects and Arcona 435. While it was indicated all had to quit the race, no injuries were reported aboard these vessels.

In addition, the Callisto had a crew member go overboard, but the sailor was rescued by another entrant, Madcap, as both vessels continued on in the race.

A number of other boats also retired from the race, Songer said.

The southerly winds, reported on the website at 15 to 20 knots following the storm, did make for faster times, however, for the 247 race entrants.

In fact, the Maverick skippered by Sanford Burris set the all-time speed record in the race, completing the course in 22:24:23, just over an hour faster than the previous record held by Roy P. Disney — the grand-nephew of Disney founder Walt Disney — aboard the Pyewacket in 2002.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.