Sailors dealt with tough conditions

The 109th Mac will go down as a split between storm and calm.

Largely because of the stormy Saturday night, about 30 percent of the fleet ( unofficially 89 entries) in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac was listed as retired by 6 p. m. Monday; yet the end of the race will likely stretch to Wednesday.

In the near calm that followed the storms, the remaining fleet slowed dramatically in the annual handicapped 333- mile race from Chicago to Mackinac Island, Michigan. The race ends 24 hours after the first boat in the last section finishes. As of 6 p. m. Monday, 11 sections had no finishers in.

Midafternoon Monday, the CYC posted on Facebook, ‘‘ Boats are trickling in. I’m seeing boat speeds in the 5 knot range in the straits but less farther back. Speeds are in the 3 knot- ish range back toward South Fox Island. Still, that’s progress. The lake breeze should die but the good news is that later tonight we should see a decent southerly wind filling in.’’

Early winds and storms allowed some boats to come in very fast, including Arete’ being the secondfastest multihull in Mac history. The cruiser Infinite Diversion arrived the earliest of any boat in Mac history at 7: 28: 51 Sunday morning. The cruisers leave on Friday; the racing sections on Saturday.

Stormy weather sounds romantic in a classic song, it’s another matter in distance sailing on Lake Michigan. On Sunday, the Twitter account of Princess M posted this graphic description, ‘‘ Never slept on a Mac? Take your bed, tie it to an off road 4WD truck, set it at 30 degrees, then try to sleep as it goes muddin.’’