2006 Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race
Come Race With Us ... 82nd Historic Sailboat Voyage Starts July 15th With a 'Sea of Sails' Racing to Mackinac
On Saturday, July 15, 2006, nearly 300 sailing yachts and 3,000 sailors will race from Port Huron to Mackinac Island in one of Michigan's and the sailing community's most important, most colorful and most historic competitive sporting events of the year.
Celebrating the 2006 Bacardi Bayview Mackinac Race, this event is the 82nd consecutive sailing sponsored and organized by the members of Bayview Yacht Club (BYC). Attracting skippers, crews and spectators from coast to coast in the United States and Canada, the Mackinac Race is an important tradition for the thousands of sailors who have sailed into its history. The host, Bayview Yacht Club, is one of the premier yacht racing clubs in the world. BYC recently celebrated its 91st birthday and is home to numerous America's Cup and Whitbread Around the World Race sailors.
Preceding the start are intense preparations. Also scheduled are boat arrivals and festivities along the Black River in Port Huron the days leading up to the event. It is an amazing sight, a feast for the eyes and an important opportunity to document the popular sport of sailing, its history, the safety training preparation, the "weather watch" and the sailors who are incredible sportsmen AND sportswomen. Year after year, spectators watch for the names, the boats, the people who make the race so extraordinary.
Bayview Yacht Club can offer sailing "lessons," proper sailing fashion etiquette, sailors young and old (in fact, three generations of families sail together), "Old Goats" and "Older Goats," skippers, crew members, galley chefs, highly technical weather forecasters, information specialists, organizers, volunteers, Coast Guard officers, Port Huron and Mackinac officials, sponsors, and others. All are willing to provide information color commentary on a plethora of subjects relating to the race, its preparation, its history, its participants.
To everyone who has experienced the sights of Friday Boat Night in Port Huron, the blessing of the fleet as the vessels exit the Black River on Saturday morning, Top Hat announcements and so much more, it is an unforgettable experience.
Come race with us. We will share our knowledge, our stories, our people, our boats.
