Bringing a victory back to the family

The 114th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac gets underway July 21 for the Cruising Division with the bulk of the 241 entrants starting a day later for the 289nm course course to Mackinac Island. Sisters Christina and Meghan O’Rourke will be on separate boats in pursuit of the overall trophy with a family history.

A century ago, their great-grandfather John P. O’Rourke and his brother James sailed the 1923 Race to Mackinac in their small Q boat to an improbable victory on behalf of the Jackson Park Yacht Club. But their glory was short-lived. Months later, the O’Rourkes were disqualified on a technicality.

What really led to the disqualification 100 years ago will probably never be definitively known, but according to Chicago Yacht Club documentation from the time, John O’Rourke failed to submit a proper certificate of measurement. That paperwork helps determine each boat’s handicap. Following the race, the host club said O’Rourke didn’t comply with orders to remeasure his boat.

O’Rourke’s descendants have heard a lot of speculation about what happened in 1923, from cheating to gambling on the race. Another well-known claim is the race organizers didn’t like South Side Irishmen defeating the host club. However, Robert J. Wiesen, manager of Chicago Yacht Club’s Race to Mackinac history project, called all these theories “scuttlebutt” and said it was merely a matter of enforcing the rules. – Full story