Storms Scared Bob Seger in Boat Race

CHICAGO, Ill. (Chicago Yacht Club Website) - Rock star Bob Seger said this year's Race to Mackinac was scary because of severe storms that forced at least 16 boats to drop out of the 333-mile contest from Chicago to Mackinac Island.

Seger and the crew of his 52-foot sailboat, Lightning, finished the race, but winds up to 70 mph and torrential rain split one of the boat's sails and tipped it hard to one side.
"It was like a blow dryer blowing Lake Michigan," Seger told The Oakland Press for a story Tuesday. "The cold water was hitting the lake and steam was rising, and the water was moving almost laterally in the wind," Seger said from his cabin in Goodhart. "We were OK, but it was scary. I was saying, 'Do I want to do this anymore?"'

Lightning also lost steering at one point, but finished in 33 hours, 39 minutes and 34 seconds.

Last week, Seger skippered the boat to a victory in its division in the 78th annual Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Sailboat Race.

In the Race to Mackinac, Roy Disney's 75-foot Pyewacket earned first-to-finish honors with a time of 23 hours, 30 minutes and 24 seconds. More than 200 boats had finished by Monday afternoon.