Two experienced sailors died after sudden strong winds flipped their sailboat in northern Lake Michigan during the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac -- the first deaths by accident in the race's 103-year history.



Six of the crew were rescued, including two teenage boys, 15 and 16.



Mark Morley, 51, the skipper of the WingNuts, and Suzanne Bickel, 41, both of Saginaw, Mich. died of head trauma suffered when the boat turned over, according to Sheriff Don Schneider. "It's was utter chaos for a period of time. We believe they weren't able to help themselves."



The 35-foot boat was sailing near Fox Island, about 13 miles northwest of Charlevoix, Mich., shortly before midnight when a storm raced up, officials and witnesses said.



"They were ready for the storm, they had their sails down," said Gifford Cummings, whose 16-year-old son Christopher, known as "C.J.," was rescued. "But the wind suddenly whipped up. . .The wind caught one of the hulls and flipped it right over." He estimated the gusts at 65 knots.



Cummings said the crew were all wearing safety harnesses that secured them to the boat. "They're good when you're sailing, but not when the boat capsizes."



C.J.'s friend, Stuart Morley, 15, was able to get out of his harness and free Cummings' son.



"Stuart untethered and then untethered C.J. They scrambled to the hull, they were clinging to the hull. They activated their emergency equipment," which included lights and whistles and beacons.



Other crew members were able to cut or unclip their safety lines and also make it to the overturned hull, Cummings said. But Morley and Bickel "were unable to free themselves."



The crew of another boat in the race, the Sociable, were able to home in on him and others, Cummings said. "They were in the water maybe 10 to 15 minutes."



C.J. first talked to his mom, then to Cummings. "His first words were, 'Hey, dad.' All I get is a hey, dad," he joked. "I don't think it's all sunk in yet for him -- probably because he was exhausted. It's been a hell of a night, I tell you."



"He's been sailing since grade school," Cummings added about his son. "This was his first Mackinac race. Several of those on board are his cousins."



Cummings said the crew was very experienced. "I know them, it's hard," Cummings said.



Morley "was a seasoned sailor and a veteran of over 20 Chicago-Mackinac races," Cummings said later in a statement. "Mark is a descendent of the Morley family of Saginaw and worked for Morley Companies. He was the president of the Morley Foundation and very active in the community. He has many lifelong friends, and leaves behind a daughter."



Bickel, he said, "was also a seasoned sailor and scuba diver who recently sailed across the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean. She certainly enjoyed adventure and is also a veteran of many Chicago¿Mackinac races.



"Both will be sorely missed."



The sole Chicagoan on board, Lee Purcell, was safe, said his wife Aimee, who had awakened early this morning to go meet her husband and his sailing crew in Mackinac when her husband called with the devastating news.



"My heart sank," said Purcell, who was driving to meet her husband. "I'm worried about the other families."



This was Lee Purcell's third Mackinac race with the owners of WingNuts," a group of childhood friends from Michigan, Aimee Purcell said.



"The four owners of the boat have been friends since birth," Purcell said. "They all grew up together and have sailed together since they were tots."



Purcell, who is an architect, met them years ago while doing business in Detroit, Purcell said.



Purcell said the owners named the boat after its build and themselves.



"Their boat is a Kiwi 35, which has fold-out wings on it," Purcell said. "And they're all a little nuts."



The Coast Guard was notified at 11:40 p.m. Sunday by crew members of the Sociable that the WingNuts had capsized, sending eight people into the water.



The Sociable rescued six of the crew while its skipper called radioed for assistance, the yacht club said. "Ten boats in the vicinity immediately abandoned the race to join in search efforts for two missing sailors," it said.



Joining the search was a 41-foot utility boat from the Coast Guard station in Chalevoix, an MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter from the Traverse City, Mich., air station and the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw.



Crew members knocked on the hull of the WingNuts to "to discern whether or not people were trapped inside," the Coast Guard said in a statement. "Receiving no response from inside the vessel, the rescue crew began their initial search pattern."



At 7:44 a.m., a dive team located the two boaters "in the vicinity" of the capsized boat, the Coast Guard said. They were pronounced dead at 12:30 p.m.



Adam Hollerbach, who sailed aboard the 70-foot vessel Details, said his boat reached Mackinac Island's harbor just as the storm unleashed its fury, with wildly shifting gusts, lightning bolts and stinging hail.



"It was among the nastiest, if not the nastiest, that I've seen," said Hollerbach, 33, of Detroit.



Racers were in a somber mood as they arrived at the island and learned of the WingNuts' fate, he said.



"You know that it could have been you," Hollerbach said.



WingNuts sailed out of Saginaw, Mich. The crew, with the exception of Purcell, all hailed from Michigan.



The water temperature at the time of the accident was in the low 70s, and Degener had expressed hope the missing crew members could safely stay in the water for hours due to the warm temperatures.



The Chicago-Mackinac race covers 333 miles from just off Navy Pier to Mackinac Island in Michigan. It is the oldest annual freshwater race in the world, first held in 1898.



This year, 355 boats with approximately 3,500 crew members were participating.



Contributing: Associated Press



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