A man was lost overboard shortly after the start of the Race to Mackinac from the TP52 Imedi. I’m trying to get more details. While almost all of the fleet had started earlier and was ahead of the Turbo Class, about 20 boats helped authorities in the grid search, but to no avail.
Press release from the Chicago Yacht club follows. Here’s a link to a Chicago TV report.
JULY 21, 2018 09:48 PM
After nearly seven hours of active search efforts, the US Coast Guard has suspended the search to locating the missing sailor aboard Imedi, a Transpac 52 competing in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac. The sailor has been identified as Jon Santarelli, a 52-year-old from Lincoln Park (Chicago).
The search efforts included approximately 20 boats and three helicopters from US Coast Guard, Chicago Fire, Chicago Police and Chicago Yacht Club covering nearly 47 square miles. All competitors in the vicinity immediately suspended their own racing efforts to assist in the search. The man overboard occurred approximately five miles east of Navy Pier, 40 minutes after Imedi began the Race to Mackinac.
Santarelli had more than a decade of offshore racing experience, and was a core member of the Imedi Racing team as well as the greater Chicago sailing community. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and teammates.
As I said, I’ll be working on getting more accurate details on the story. -KH
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.