Light winds may have slowed boats in this week's Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, but it didn't slow interest from observers at Leland Harbor.

“Three-quarters of the 289 boats went through the Manitou Passage between noon and 6 p.m. Monday,” Leland Harbormaster Russell Dzuba said. “The sailors had light air pretty much the whole race, and some of the ‘quitters’ came in (to the harbor) because of that.”

Windquest, an 86-foot-long boat owned by Alticorp. Inc. President Doug DeVos, crossed the line at 8 p.m. Sunday and finished first for the second straight year. Its elapsed time of 28 hours, 44 minutes was 16 hours ahead of the second-place boat.

Dzuba said that following Tuesday night’s celebration party on Mackinac Island, sailors would begin their return trip to Chicago, with many pulling into Leland Harbor this weekend for fuel and supplies and to eat at Leland restaurants. Other sailors were expected to head down Lake Huron for the start of the upcoming Port Huron to Mackinac race.

“It’s generally our biggest weekend of the year; we expect to be entertaining 100-plus boats,” Dzuba said. “It adds to the local flavor and it’s one of those events that puts us on the map in the Midwest.”

The 333-mile race began Saturday morning in Chicago and concluded on Round Island, off Mackinac Island. The “Mac” is the world’s largest annual freshwater race.

Dzuba said he was unaware of any local sailors who competed, though many have in previous years.