Eagles Wings Soars at Race to Mackinac

The Chicago Yacht Club’s Race to Mackinac is the oldest freshwater distance race in the world, first raced in 1898. Starting off the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse just off Navy Pier, it heads northeast to cross Lake Michigan, enters Lake Huron at the Straits of Mackinac, and finishes off Mackinac Island, MI. This 333-mile (289 nm/526 km) race regularly draws several hundred boats crewed by thousands of sailors. A fleet of 250 boats sailed this 114th edition of the Race to Mackinac, which started on July 10 (cruising boats) and July 11 (race boats).

There were many divisions and sections segmenting competitors, and UK Sailmakers Chicago had particular attention on Section 5. Longtime UK Chicago customer John Gottwald took his new XR 41 out for its first real distance race. Eagles Wings had only been in the water for a short time, with the Sailing World Helly Hansen Regatta in June as her first real race. Stymied a bit by new boat handling, the results didn’t reflect Eagles Wings’ speed through the water. Equipped with a full suit of UK Sailmakers upwind and downwind sails, she is the first XR 41 to arrive in North America, and in the Mac she lived up to her billing.

XR41 Eagles Wings at the 2026 Chicago Mac. Photos © Chicago Yacht Club | Hannah Gromen.

Representing the Chicago Yacht Club, John and his crew captured 1st Place in Class 5 and an impressive 7th Overall in the Mackinac Trophy Division after racing the legendary 333-mile course across Lake Michigan. Their result is a testament to exceptional teamwork and preparation. Having a hot new boat and Titanium and Matrix sails didn’t hurt either.

UK Sailmakers Chicago’s Pat Considine, a key crewmember aboard Eagles Wings, had the following to share:

“John has been a UK customer for a long time, having had a Grand Soleil 44 with the same name before. Over the past two years he’s been talking about getting a new boat, and last fall he and I traveled to Denmark to visit the X-Yachts factory. We specifically wanted to see the new XR 41 that had everyone talking. The X-Yachts folks took us through the boat in detail and, when we got home, John decided to purchase an XR 41 for the 2026 season.”

“The new Eagles Wings is pretty much a stock boat, including her carbon rig. We knew it would be a fast platform, so we worked with Jim to create an optimal sail package. We started with all Titanium upwind sails (main, J1, J2, J3) and a triradial J4, genoa and spinnaker staysails, a Code Zero, and three Matrix spinnakers (A1, A2, A4). I was asked why not one of the new A3s we’ve designed in place of the Code Zero. It turns out the polars have a crossover point at about 18 knots where the boat wants to turn her bow up and start planing rather than soak down for traditional VMG. The A4 does that, and the Code Zero fills the gap when close reaching.”

“This edition of the Mac had all manner of weather patterns to sail through. Saturday, day 1, was on the wind most of the day, although we were footing the whole time. When we got to the Michigan side of the lake, we were first in our section. Sunday started light and flukey and we played the shore. The first of two storms hit at about 1800. We were first in our section to exit the storm, but that storm was followed by a second one with steady winds of over 35 knots for over an hour. Because the wind was slightly off the beam, we sailed with our J3 and full main, with a tailer and grinder on each sail, trimming them like a spinnaker in and out the whole time. In the end, we finished first in Section 5 and actually beat all the bigger, faster boats in Section 4 boat for boat.”

It was great to see many UK Sailmakers customers on the water at the 2026 Chicago Mac. Photos © Chicago Yacht Club | Hannah Gromen.

About his new boat and the Mac, John Gottwald added, “We only received the boat in the spring, meaning we had a lot of work to do to put it together in time for this year’s racing season. Thankfully, I have two great partners helping me: Manitowoc Marina, the X-Boats dealer, and Pat Considine and his team at UK Sailmakers Chicago. With these two partners we got the boat put together. Pat was instrumental in sorting out various rig options and he designed all the sails. I couldn’t have done it without Pat and Manitowoc.”

“As for the XR 41 itself, the boat is awesome. Going from my Farr 40 back to my older Grand Soleil 44 and now to the XR 41 was quite an adjustment. It’s a perfect blend of the racer/cruiser comfort of the Grand Soleil and the performance of the Farr 40. Pat designed a pinhead main with slides for me so I could doublehand the boat back from Mac with my wife. I’m finding it the perfect boat for our sailing scenario: mostly racing but great for enjoying time on it with friends and family. A great hybrid boat.”

A second UK Sailmakers customer was on the podium in Mackinac, too. Elliott James, a UK Sailmakers San Francisco customer, raced his Mancebo 31 Bloom County to 2nd in Section 8 and 6th overall in the Mackinac Cup Division.