Mills Trophy Race begins tonight

6/11/2010

About 140 boaters will compete in the 87th annual Mills Trophy Race, which begins Friday night at Toledo Harbor Light and ends early Saturday at Put-in-Bay.

The first of an expected 16 races will begin at 5 p.m. with a 10-minute interval between starts. Boats are expected to arrive in Put-in-Bay no earlier than 1 a.m. Saturday.

The Toledo Yacht Club and the Storm Trysail Club are hosting the event.

"The exciting thing this year is how many bigger boats we have coming," general chairman Ron Soka said. "I think the largest is 61 foot. There are some 50-foot boats, which we haven't seen here for quite some time."

The Mills Trophy Race is open to all sailboats sailed by members of clubs and associations affiliated with U.S. Sailing.

Participants will travel from ports along Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Huron. The races will be sailed on the Mills course, the Governor's course, the President's course, or the One-Design course, depending on an entrant's class.