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photography by Jason LittLe A s menacing storm clouds gathered over Lake Michigan on a recent Saturday morning, Jerry and Greg Miarecki sat in the Chicago Yacht Club reminiscing about t heir f irst R ace to Mack inac a s a team. "We were just happy to finish that year," muses Jerry of his son Greg's inau- gural contest aboard their Ericson 35 sailboat, Providence, in 1986. "I wasn't," interjects Greg, who was a highly competitive 13 -year-old at the time. Now 41, he says his earliest memory is of being a toddler aboard his family's previous boat, Calypso, in 1976. His father was "more concerned about getting the family there safely," explains Jerry, 68, given the rough weather and their "motley crew." This complementary dynamic has served the duo well in their three decades of racing together. For the past two years, they have won their divi- sion in the storied Race to Mackinac, a 333 -mile journey from Chicago to Mackinac Island, tak- ing the Chicago-Mackinac Trophy in 2012 and the Mackinac Cup in 2013 (the prizes alternate between the race's two major divisions). On July 19, the Miareckis hope to win another Chicago- Mackinac Trophy in this year's race, the 106th. Although their temperaments differ, the pair's division of labor is the same for every race. Jerry (a program manager for the telecom firm Alcatel- Lucent) oversees pre-race preparations, and Greg (an assistant dean and adjunct professor at the University of Illinois College of Law) takes the lead in the water. "I get the boat to the starting line," says Jerry. "Greg gets us to the finish—very quickly." Both men have earned the nickname "Island Goat" for participating in the race more than 25 times (31 for Jerry, 28 for Greg), but the Miareckis demur when asked about the odds of retaining their title. Greg insists that a successful race is one-third boat preparation, one-third skill, and one-third chance. "The last two years, we've had some really good luck, but you can't necessarily count on t hat k ind of luck cont inuing," Greg admits. "We'll see how the cards play." MA Full-sail Family FATHER-AND-SON TEAM JERRY AND GREG MIARECKI AIM FOR THEIR THIRD CONSECUTIVE VICTORY IN THE RACE TO MACKINAC. by kari lydersen The race to Mackinac traverses the length of lake Michigan, and last year the Miareckis finished in just under 74 hours. 62 michiganavemag.com partners in crime