A young life in sailing: Memories of the Mac and thoughts on this one

Lindsey Duda Coe started at 15 sailing the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac and is sailing her 15th or 16th this weekend.

Lindsey Duda Coe holds fond memories of her first Mac.

``The first one I was learning to do a watch system and getting off shore for the first time,’’ she said Thursday on her Sin Duda!, a 52-foot Santa Cruz, at Belmont Harbor.

She is grateful to ``the kind souls who took’’ her that first time at 15. She is sailing her 15th or 16th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac.

Earlier in the week, Jay Kehoe, CYC On the Water Director, said, ``It is in the DNA of these sailors. Their fathers and grandfathers have done it. There are Christmas stories and tales around the Thanksgiving dinner. It is something everybody in this area has done.’’

Duda Coe moved to Chicago in the summers when she was 13. She was in the youth sailing program and traveled with it. She attended Northwestern (Communications/English major) and earned her masters.

Beside her first Mac, the 2011 one sticks out. In 2011, they were caught in the freak storm near the finish, which led to the first sailing-related deaths in Mac history.

``I will always remember it,’’ Duda Coe said. ``It was very challenging, a goose-bumpy race.’’

This year should be different with a weather forecast up and down Lake Michigan benign. Earlier in the week, the forecast looked very challenging with ``light-air conditions.’’ More recent forecasts are slightly better for sailing.

Even with an anticipated slow race, first to finish the 289 nautical miles of the 111th Mac should reach Mackinac Island, Mich. today. The bulk of the fleet is expected to arrive Monday.

The cruisers sailed Friday afternoon from east of Navy Pier. The majority of the fleet, the racing divisions, sailed Saturday.

The near-record high water on Lake Michigan could work to the advantage of Sin Duda!.

``Higher water will allow us to get farther in shore,’’ Duda Coe said. ``It will be different than in years past.’’

They draft 8 1/2 feet.

Sin Duda! is a play on Duda Coe’s family name and means without a doubt in Spanish. That is funny since the Dudas came from Czechoslovakia descent.

Sin Duda! sails all over the world and returned two months ago to the Great Lakes after being in the Caribbean and sailing such events as the Pineapple Cup.

Last year, Sin Duda! finished second in Section 2, their best Mac finish. But the Mac means more than racing for Duda Coe, it is also a getaway from social media and electronics.

``I find in these days, it is hard to disconnect,’’ she said.

To track the race, go to https://cf.yb.tl/chicagomac2019.