Two die in Lake Michigan sailboat race

Two people died when a sailboat capsized in a storm in northern Lake Michigan during the Chicago-Mackinac race, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday. Two bodies were recovered around 8:45 a.m. CDT after six people aboard the 35-foot sailing vessel WingNuts were rescued, the Chicago Tribune reported. They were not identified. The boat, competing in the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac, was from Saginaw, Mich., with seven of its crew from Michigan and one from Chicago, the race's Web site states. The crew of the sailboat Sociable radioed the Coast Guard at 11:40 p.m. Sunday that the WingNuts had capsized, sending eight people into the water. The Sociable's crew rescued six of them. The Coast Guard sent the cutter Mackinaw, a utility boat from the Charlevoix, Mich., station and a helicopter from the Traverse City, Mich., air station to search for the missin Stormy weather around the Fox Islands produced 4- to 6-foot waves that may have capsized the boat, Petty Officer 3rd Class George Degener said. The 333-mile race from Chicago's Navy Pier to Mackinac Island, Mich., is the oldest annual freshwater race in the world and has been held since 1898. This year, 355 boats with some 3,500 crew members are taking part.