Whether he’s skimming across a crystal clear lake under sunny blue skies or fighting eight-foot waves in a terrifying storm, Steve Coates is never happier than when he’s on the water. Every summer he’s out on Lake Michigan three days a week preparing for the Chicago to Mackinac Yacht Race, which this year begins July 13.
“It’s just fun and not something everybody else does; it’s unique,” says Coates, who lives in Naperville. “My family just loved sailing and I first went on a boat when I was five years old.”
Coates was born near Detroit, and growing up he would go out on a friend’s 27-foot boat on Lake St Clair. Sometimes known as the sixth great lake, it lies between the Great Lakes of Huron and Erie.
These days he mostly sails on the Out of the Blue, the 33-foot boat owned by his friend George Jackowiec. It’s has a 12-horsepower engine but the sails add another 400-mph horsepower in a good breeze, he said.
Coates has been taking part in the Mackinac race since 1992. People come from all over the world to compete, departing two to three miles out from Chicago’s Navy Pier. The finish line is between the lighthouse on Round Island and the race committee trailer on Mackinac Island, both in Michigan.
Racers travel 289.4 nautical miles, which equates to 333 statute miles to us land lubbers.
Boats are grouped into sections. Cruisers are given a head start the day before, and on Saturday the slowest boats will start first. It can take between 36 and 72 hours to complete the race.
Coates’ fastest time was in 1998 when he finished in under 40 hours, taking third place in his boat’s section.
Although there’s a lot more technology available to sailors than when Coates first took to the water, competitors are only allowed to use sail power. He mans the helm, which in layman’s terms means he uses a tiller to drive the boat.
“You have to change the sails depending on the wind, and where you place weight makes a big difference,” he said. “That means you might sit on the rail if you’re not manning a post. We have a crew of six in distance racing, with four hours on and four hours off.”
Conditions on board are not as glamorous as depicted on TV shows like “Below Deck.”
Crew members, for example, take whatever bunk is available, Coates said.
“On Blue you have to wedge an old sail or duffle bag in your bunk so you are not tossed out of it while you sleep as the boat rocks,” he said. There’s little privacy, and Coates says he has learned it’s better to bring sandwiches than to try to cook fancy meals.
“Most of the time I am the cook,” he said. “Some years I’ve roasted a turkey, but it makes the whole galley and the basement of the boat hot and takes you away from racing. If you bring a lot of ice, it makes the boat too heavy.”
As well as racing from Chicago to Mackinac, Coates also has raced from Chicago to Lake Huron seven times. On July 20, he’ll be participating again in the 100th Bayview to Mackinac Race.
“For that race I’m part of the crew of Fast Forward 41, named that because it’s a 41 foot long (boat),” he said. “The owner Gary Gmeiner’s grandfather raced in the first race on a 53-foot boat called Calypso. We’re carrying a piece of that original boat with us and are hoping to finish in less than 48 hours.”
Much as Coates loves the water, he admits there have been times he he was afraid. The worst was during the 2017 Bayview to Mackinac Race.
“We were on seas so bad the Coast Guard wouldn’t send out their 41-foot patrol boat because it was too hazardous,” he said. “I was at the wheel and three of us took turns of half an hour each. It went on from midnight to 6 a.m. It was (so) bad I thought if it’s it, it’s it. The eight-foot waves were blowing so hard that the anchor holder diverted the water from the cockpit over the boat. It was awful.”
The 2022 Chicago to Mackinac Race also has caused challenges, even for experienced sailors.
“(In one race) the clouds looked like Soldier Field falling on us,” Coates said. “There was thunder and lightning for seven hours with six-foot waves. Out of six of us, four hallucinated because there was a death grip on everything.”
Despite such situations, Coates said he and his fellow sailors never lose their fervor for the sport.
“It is just something that speaks to us about sailing,” he said. “Some are just as passionate about it as golfers are about golf. All the people who take part are fun because in a long race you can’t get more than 33 feet away from each other for three days.”
Seeing the natural beauty of Lake Michigan is important too.
“We do it for the sunsets,” he said. “We’ve seen double rainbows from end to end, sundogs and fog so thick you couldn’t see from one end of the boat to the other. We’ve been up close to freighters. We are all sailors out there together.”
Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007. She can be reached at hilarydecent@gmail.com.
