Phoebe Wall Howard
Detroit Free Press

Published 12:22pm ET July 25, 2023 | Updated 2:31 pm ET July 25, 2023

Tim Prophit, of St. Clair Shores, didn’t crash the boat at the starting line as he feared he would.

So, that was good.

“We brought the mayhem,” he told the Detroit Free Press late Monday. “We dodged a couple bullets.”

The skipper of Fast Tango — and past commodore of Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit — did more than simply dodge bullets. He won his class and placed second overall in his division in the Chicago to Mackinac race. When he talked to the Detroit Free Press, many of the boats in his class were still stranded on the water more than eight hours later because the wind died.

Winning an 11th first-in-class title in the epic sailboat race is astonishing by every objective measure, especially just one week after winning a first-in-class and first overall in the 99th annual Bayview Mackinac race from Port Huron to the island in high winds.

This week, not only did Fast Tango nearly crash into the race committee boat at the start, as well as a competitor’s boat, but it headed into the final leg at the back of the pack, said Prophit. The sailor is known for his sleeve tattoos, use of profanity and finding sustenance in cigarettes and coffee.

But it’s his racing skill and ability to navigate the wind that stun the sailing community.

“We had to get north as fast as possible and work our way east to get the breeze off the Michigan shore. We won that way in 1992,” Prophit said. “The guys who went more west, which was our original plan, absolutely destroyed us. They had more breeze. They were all ahead of us except two boats. But we predicted the air on the lake would die and air close to the Michigan shore would not die. That’s when we started striking back. We were in 10th or 11th place and we just went to work.”

Racing on Lake Huron and Lake Michigan

This is his 11th first-in-class victory from Chicago to Mackinac in 28 attempts.

Last week, his 11th first-in-class win in the Bayview Mackinac race was accomplished after 41 tries.

The crew of Fast Tango met for a team dinner after the race at the Pink Pony on Mackinac and Prophit couldn’t finish his hamburger.

“I was so excited I couldn’t eat,” Prophit said. “This is pretty huge.”

Fast Tango, owned by Tim Prophit of St. Clair Shores, at the start of the Chicago to Mackinac race on Lake Michigan Saturday, July 22, 2023. Provided by Stephen R. Cloutier For Chicago. Yacht Club Race to Mackinac

Fast Tango, a North American 40, raced 51:24:56 hours to win its class. It defeated Das Boot 3.0, an Italia 9.98 sailboat owned by Jay Muller, of Ludington, by only 18:17 minutes.

Fast Tango “gave their all,” Prophit said. “I’m (profanity) exhausted.”

Liquid Lounge II was the one to beat

Molly Radtke, of Grosse Pointe Farms, who also raced and won on Fast Tango a week earlier, credited Prophit’s “intensity and leadership” and boat and crew preparation. She said Prophit takes apart the boat by hand, cleaning and fixing and examining pieces, prior to the races.

Jim Caesar, of Chicago and on the J/109 sailboat Liquid Lounge II, won the overall category (and the Chicago to Mackinac trophy) racing against some 100 other boats by finishing in 49:59:14 hours. On corrected time, which rates boats based on design as well as sails, Fast Tango trailed Liquid Lounge II in the bigger division by only 13:36 minutes, according to the race website.

The margin is palatable, Prophit said. One year he lost by four seconds and considered therapy.

This year was rough, but better.

“I had an insane start,” he said. In addition to thinking he was going to hit those boats, “I thought we were over (the starting line) early. But someone on race committee gave us thumbs up,” Prophit said. “We pulled it off. The tactician on the boat says, ‘Tim, start here.’ I put the boat where I’m told. We don’t win every start but we win a lot. Good starts are a great contributor to good finishes. If we had gotten buried at the start, we may have had a different outcome.”

Peter Wenzler, of Grosse Pointe, said after the team dinner: “We never stopped. We never quit. We had a game plan, and even after it looked like it wasn’t such a great plan, we kept working it. The guys say, ‘Never quit. We can win this.’ Everyone thinks we have a chance to win it all. … The big thing for us was our strategy Saturday night. It just appeared we were not doing well. By Sunday morning, we were in 11th of, I think, 12 boats in our class. We were kind of beating ourselves up.”

Trailing under shooting stars

The weather and the forecasts were out of synch, especially involving wind.

“While the conditions were physically mild, the varying wind patterns required a lot of teamwork in order to keep the boat moving effectively,” said Dave Simon, of Grosse Pointe Woods. “The race was visually gorgeous, beginning with the Chicago skyline, moving to the stunning sand dunes of the Michigan west coast and a good number of shooting stars each night.”

Fast Tango crew celebration at the Pink Pony on Mackinac Island on Monday, July 24, 2023 after winning in the Chicago to Mackinac Race. From left: Leigh Savage of Cherterfield, Tim Prophit of St. Clair Shores, Molly Radtke of Grosse Pointe Farms, Peter Wenzler of Grosse Pointe, Bob Duker of Grosse Pointe Park, Art Levasseur of Grosse Pointe, Minh Ha of Detroit, Dave Simon of Grosse Pointe Woods, Brad Everingham of Canton and Joe Kurta of Grosse Poitne Park. Provided by Tim Prophit

With these victories, sailors are watching for Prophit to win the highly prestigious Barthel Trophy. The award goes to the boat with the best overall scores in the Port Huron to Mackinac race, the Chicago to Mackinac race and the Trans Superior race that begins near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and ends in Duluth, Minnesota, on Aug. 5. It is one of the greatest honors for sailors who race the Great Lakes.

Bayview Yacht Club Commodore Paul Hulsey, who placed third in class on the J/130 Pendragon in the Chicago to Mackinac race, told the Free Press during and interview as he drove home to Grosse Pointe late Monday: “I don’t think there’s any way Tim won’t win it. There aren’t enough entries in the Trans Superior to overtake him.”

Reading the clouds

The Chicago to Mackinac race had 240 entrants in all divisions, according to the Chicago Yacht Club.

Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit saw its first female commodore in 100 years make the podium, too.

Lynn Kotwicki, of Royal Oak, raced on the J/120 Hot Ticket, owned by Michael Kirkman, of Novi, and won first in class after 49:04:23 hours on the water. They finished fewer than 50 minutes in front of Proof, a J/120 owned by Michael Fozo, of Grosse Pointe Farms.

“When the wind shut(s) off, we engage even more, you focus more,” Kotwicki said. “For a lot of people, light air is boring. That’s when we work harder. It’s about looking outside the boat, and anything you see — what’s the competition doing, what’s the weather doing, looking at the cloud patterns and understanding what could be next and be ready for it. Then adjusting the sails, choosing the right sails, positioning the boat for when you think where the wind is going to come from.”

She added, “You can tell that by watching the cloud patterns. There’s different looking clouds and understanding what those clouds mean and having the boat set up to be ready to react to what’s coming.”

U.S. Naval Academy team improves

Avenger, the J/105 boat raced by U.S. Naval Academy sailors, placed fifth in class in the Chicago to Mackinac race after 52:43:17 hours on the water. They placed eighth in the Port Huron to Mackinac race this year after driving up from Annapolis.

The crew of Hot Ticket races toward the finish line of the Chicago to Mackinac race on Monday, July 24, 2023. This image is taken by crew member Tom Schulte of Casco. Lynn Kotwicki of Royal Oak, standing far left, is trimming the sail with the Mackinac Bridge in the background. The J/120 sailboat owned by Michael Kirkman of Novi won its class. Provided by Tom Schulte of Casco

Skipper Pat Fisher, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, told the Free Press on Tuesday: “The conditions were, in a lot of ways, similar to the Bayview Mack(inac), with a wide variety of wind speeds and conditions on the lake. When we crossed (Lake Michigan), it was blowing probably 18 knots. Then, a few hours later, the wind started to die a little bit. And it was kind of a drift fest. I really hope that Navy decides to come back in the near future. It was a really good experience.”

The U.S. Navy said it viewed the competition as a nice opportunity to connect with sailors and potential recruits.

Editor’s note: Phoebe Wall Howard, an autos reporter, also writes about sailing and Mackinac Island. She is a member of the Port Huron Yacht Club and part of a longtime sailing family that has visited Mackinac since her childhood.