More details have emerged about the deaths of two sailors participating in the Chicago-to-Mackinac race. A teenager was one of the six crew members who survived when the boat capsized during a storm.
From the Detroit Free Press:
C.J. Cummings was one of eight sailors tossed into the waves of a storm at 12:20 a.m. Monday. About 5:30 a.m., the phone rang with word that C.J. was OK and on shore at Charlevoix, along with his teenage friend sailing with the group. "Hey, Dad," were the first words Chip Cummings heard from his son. "Typical teenager," the relieved father said Monday, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, it was quite a rough ride." The captain, Mark Morley, 51, and his girlfriend, Suzanne Bickel, 41, both of Saginaw, drowned.
Organizers of the Chicago-to-Mackinac race say they've never experienced a fatality in the race's 103 year history until Monday.
The Free Press reports the survivors were C.J. Cummings, 16; John Dent, 50; Stan Dent, 51; Peter Morley, 47; Stewart Morley, 15, and Lee Purcell, 46.
Morley and Bickel were found under the capsized boat strapped in. Tethers are often used in storms so crew don't get tossed from the boat. If the boat capsizes, crew members can cut the lines. Bickel and Morley's tethers were tangled, according to one rescue diver.
ABC News 7 in Chicago has this raw video of the capsized boat:
