Watch sailboats from the Chicago to Mackinac race today!

The annual Chicago to Mackinac race started Friday but as longtime racer & Leelanau resident Linda Linquist-Bishop shares, you have a chance to see the boats today! She writes:

It’s a slower Chicago Mac Race this year. 😳 Everyone in Leland will be able to watch boats sail through the Manitou Passage all day today! 13 GL52s in the race – Heartbreaker from Leland – first of the 52’s to get to the Island! Way to go Bob & Laura Hughes with Windquest right on their tail. Happy boat viewing today!

As you can see from the plot of boat positions as of 8am, the smart move is to take the Manitou Passage to cut inside the Manitou Islands. Here’s a link to the live tracker. Some good locations to watch from include Whaleback Natural Area (Leland), Peterson Park (Northport), and Empire Bluff, Pyramid Point, or the dunes on Sleeping Bear Point in the Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore.