Port Huron-to-Mackinac race goes back to one course in 2027: the whole fleet sails a new Duck Islands route starting July 10

PORT HURON — Every boat in next summer’s Bayview Mackinac Race will sail the same course from Port Huron to Mackinac Island, the first time the whole fleet has raced one route since the 100th race in 2024, organizers announced.

The 103rd race starts Saturday, July 10, 2027, in southern Lake Huron, the Bayview Yacht Club Board of Governors and Mackinac Race Authority said in a Nov. 2 release. The new “Duck Islands Course” sends boats to a virtual gate just south of Great Duck Island, then to a finish at Mackinac Island.

The course’s direct distance is 225 nautical miles. That is 21 nautical miles longer than the original 204-nautical-mile course from the first race in 1925, by our count from the club’s figures.

In recent decades the fleet has been split between two courses. For the 100th running in 2024, everyone raced the original route, and a record 332 boats entered, the club said.

“After the 100th race, we heard from skipper after skipper that having the whole fleet out there together was the highlight,” said Robert Eger, chair of the 2027 race. He said the new course “keeps that spirit alive while giving our sailors a fresh set of nautical decisions,” and pointed to the 108-foot lighthouse on the south end of Great Duck Island, “visible for miles.” With a north wind, he said, sailors may even smell the evergreens on Manitoulin Island.

The finish moves back near where the earliest races ended, in front of Mission Point Resort on the east end of Mackinac Island. The resort also hosts the Island Awards Party, which draws thousands of sailors, families and friends. “Mission Point’s Adirondack chairs will be ready for the families and friends of the racers to watch the boats come in,” said Liz Ware, the resort’s vice president of sales and marketing and a co-owner.

Boats compete for the race’s top overall prizes, the J.L. Hudson Trophy and the Canadian Club Trophy. Bayview Yacht Club, on the Detroit River near Lake St. Clair, has run the race since 1925 and calls it the oldest continuously run freshwater race in the world.

Mission Point is the 2027 race’s official hotel and Shepler’s Ferry its official ferry. Details are posted at byc.com/mackinacrace.

Sources:
Bayview Yacht Club, “Bringing the Fleet Together: 103rd Annual Bayview Mackinac Race Introduces New Course for 2027” (Nov. 2, 2026; start date, course, distances, 2024 entries, Eger and Ware quotes, trophies, sponsors), https://bycmack.com/race_news/bringing-the-fleet-together-103rd-annual-bayview-mackinac-race-introduces-new-course-for-2027/
Photo: Jerry Ritcey, “Mackinacislandsailboatsafterporthuronrace2006.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), resized, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mackinacislandsailboatsafterporthuronrace2006.jpg

Port Huron

Tags: Port Huron · Bayview Mackinac Race · Sailing · Mackinac Island · Bayview Yacht Club · Lake Huron