Cub scouts to do Mackinac race with dads
y Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki
June 25, 2014 at 12:53 pm
Cub Scouts after a practice sail on Lake Saint Clair.
They’re calling themselves the Green Horn Kids, a play on the Old Goat designation earned by those who’ve done 25 Mackinac races and Old Ram title for the few who have done 50 Macks.
They’re six boys eight to 10 years old, all part of Cub Scout Pack 86 out of Trombley Elementary in Grosse Pointe Park. These kids can barely comprehend offshore racing but they really are doing the 2014 Bells Beer Bayview Mackinac Race.
Tom Caulfield, one of the cub scout troop’s leaders, has done a decade and a half of Mackinac races, and his son Tommy kept asking when he, too, could to the Mack. One day Caulfield said he looked around the troup’s dads.
“It hit me like a ton of bricks; he races the Mack, he races the Mack,” Caulfield said. In fact there were several cub scout dads who raced Mackinac. All of their sons except Tommy Caulfield, who’s the youngest of the group, are also junior sailors. Ari Buchanan, whose son Leo is part of the group, provided the boat, Christina With A Sea II, a Beneteau 49.5.
The group was in business, with an entry in the Shore Course Cruising B section.
Becky Caulfield, admits she thought her husband was “crazy” at first. But she’s comfortable after seeing all the training the boys did over the past winter.
“I’m really very excited for him” she said.
The group spent the winter working on the boat and studying safety regulations. They’ve been out practicing and Caulfield said the kids will actually be sailing the boat, doing the helm, tacking, trimming, flying the spinnaker, taking down sails, even the navigation – with the dads’ supervision, of course.
“These kids are coming along with their dads, but at the end of this race, they’ll be able to call it theirs,” Caulfield said. “They’ll do it all.”
Tommy Caulfield said his favorite parts are helm and sail changes, but doing the race with his friends will be the best part of the cruise.
“It’s going out on the lake, the water, and having a fun time sailing,” Tommy said.
All of the boys are little league baseball players, and they’re getting an extra bonus with the race.
Each of Detroit’s four professional sports teams sponsors a boat in the Mackinac race each year, with the team boats randomly selected by a drawing. Luck must be with the cub scouts, because the Detroit Tigers drew their boat.
Hint to the Tigers….last year the Tiger-sponsored boat’s crew was invited to a game and introduced on the ball field. These little ball players would really, really like it if the Tigers would do that again this year.
Christina With A Sea II’s crew:
- Ari Buchanan
- Leo Buchanan
- Tom Caulfield
- Tommy Caulfield
- Simon Fletcher
- Stuart Fletcher
- Greg Gerhardstein
- Daniel Gerhardstein
- Craig Hexter
- Colin Hexter
- Ryan Hexter
- Nick Meyer
