Skipper of all-female Madcap crew in today's Chicago to Mackinac race rescued man overboard during storm last year
Marian Hoskins, a U.S. Coast Guard captain, built a 12-woman team
Skipper Marian Hoskins is not fearless.
She understands the power of Lake Michigan, the potential for violent storm winds and the devastating impact they can have on sailboats competing in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac.
But Hoskins is brave, and it’s one reason why she put together an all-female team of 11 other sailors from around the country to race on Madcap, her Santa Cruz 52 yacht, on what can be a grueling course of 333 statute miles (or 289 nautical miles).
“This is absolutely daunting with a new crew and being skipper but it’s super fun and it has to be done,” Hoskins told Shifting Gears before the race. “My crew is driven, focused and talented.”
Race start times on Saturday run from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. (Central Time). Madcap is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
A year ago, sailors battled rain, lightning and brutal winds.
During that race, Hoskins and her husband dropped out to respond to a distress call involving a sailor tossed by storm winds off of his race boat Callisto, a J/125 sailboat, and into Lake Michigan at night.
“It was so lucky that it was such a perfect recovery. But we were prepared. We had done the man-overboard drills. We worked the safety gear. We made our own luck,” said Hoskins, who pulled the sailor out of the water with the help of a college football player-turned sailor.
Madcap re-joined that race and went on to place second. The following week, they won their class in the 100th Bayview Mackinac race, keeping a perfect record of making the podium all four times it has entered. Hoskins bypassed on the Port Huron to Mackinac race last week to put all her energy into preparing for the Chicago competition.
She began racing the series at age 18.
By day, she is a U.S. Coast Guard captain and marine surveyor on a 100-ton vessel.
Her husband, John Hoskins, co-owns Madcap and believes in his wife’s vision for expanding and strengthening the sport to include more female sailors. John Hoskins will race on Accord, a Kiwi Peterson 37, owned by Michael Smith of Lake Forest, Ill.
“The future is female and the future is here,” Marian Hoskins, 56, of Lake Bluff, Ill., said laughing. “We’re ready to sail.”
The all-American team just practiced together at the end of May and raced the Queen’s Cup from Milwaukee, Wis., to Muskegon, Mich., in June, placing second in class.
For the Chicago race, Madcap navigator Taylor Joosten said she has been running routes, studying charts and developing a race strategy.
“This is a bigger challenge than other races,” Joosten told Shifting Gears. “The picture is changing all the time and then curveballs are thrown in with thunderstorms and safety hazards. In addition to being the fastest boat on the race course, you have to take into account other scary things.”
Joosten, 36, a software engineer in the process of moving from Seattle to Point Richmond, Calif., has been racing freshwater and saltwater competitions for years, including Mackinac races.
In 2024, Joosten and her fiancé David Rogers raced double handed in the Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii — and won.
“That’s why she’s on board,” Hoskins said, laughing.
She interviewed sailors, reviewed resumes, reached out to women employed by the U.S. Navy, asked — and was turned down — by so many female competitors who couldn't make the schedule work. Others didn’t feel they had the big boat experience needed.
“A majority of our sailors are Lake Michigan sailors and half have big boat experience,” Hoskins said. “There’s huge interest but many (women) are looking for opportunities.”
Hoskins gave a shoutout to skipper Laura McCranner, who in 2024 put together the first all-female crew in 25 years to race from Chicago.
Hoskins and her sailor friends thought it was “ridiculous” that women make up half the population and half the sailboat crew population but they’re still not well represented in the big Mackinac races.
“I thought it was so cool what Laura did. I hope some other women take the helm and make this a common thing and not a newsworthy thing,” Hoskins said. “It’s sad, but I never considered putting a team together until I saw Laura do it.”
McCranner, 59, an interior design consultant from Holland, Mich., is racing her Islander 40 sailboat this year, just not with an all-female crew.
“I chose to bring together a team of women with different levels of experience — all eager to learn and grow. Sailing has given me so much, and it’s become about more than just winning — it’s about leading, mentoring and creating space for others to rise with me,” McCranner told Shifting Gears. “This year, we invited the guys — our regular crew — who often stepped aside last summer so the women could have time and experience racing together. That kind of support matters. Growth is a team effort and I’m proud of the community we’re building on and off the water.”
Moxie placed 9th in class in 2024, its first Chicago Mackinac Race.
World-class champion sailor Katie Pettibone said growing the sport is critical.
“Having all-women boats is still not a usual thing. We don’t think twice about an all-male boat,” she told Shifting Gears. “I definitely think having all-women boats encourage more women to try it. Women are very collaborative.”
Pettibone, 50, a regulatory legislative attorney based in Sacramento, Calif., has raced twice around the world and three times in the America’s Cup.
In 2018, Pettibone raced an all-female boat — Wild Oats, an R/P 68 yacht — in the 628-nautical mile Sydney Hobart Yacht Race from Sydney, Australia, to Hobart, Tasmania. They placed second in class.
Earlier this month, Pettibone raced on Ragtime, a Spencer 65 sailboat, in the 2,225 nautical mile Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The vessel had to pull out due to a medical situation on board.
Sailing in saltwater is nothing like racing the Great Lakes, she said.
“In the open ocean, you know about storm systems coming, based on high and low pressure. You don't have very chaotic systems that come up really quickly,” said Pettibone, who grew up sailing at the Port Huron Yacht Club in Michigan. “Great Lakes sailors have to deal with storms that are more chaotic and sudden. And you need to create teamwork and systems to get sails down quickly because of the storms on those lakes.”
Talent is talent, said Tim Prophit of St. Clair Shores, Mich., race chairman for the 2025 Bayview Mackinac Race.
Fast Tango, his North American 40 sailboat, won its class in the Chicago to Mackinac last year with a 20% female crew. And it’s the same lineup again this year.
“Molly (Radtke) is as good or better a sailor than 80% of the guys at Bayview,” Prophit said. “And Kellen (McGee) is outstanding on bow.”
Being on a boat with other women matters, said Riley DenUyl, 20, of Marysville, Mich., while preparing to race from Chicago to Mackinac. “It just affects your confidence a lot and my ability to learn, seeing women in leadership positions.”
DenUyl won first in class in the Port Huron to Mackinac Race on Monday aboard a J/105 named Good Lookin.’
Getting new sailors into races is a top priority for race officials everywhere.
Winn Soldani, chair of the 116th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Wintrust, created a First Timers program in 2024 with the goal of increasing participation in the race. This year, 20% of the fleet are first-time skippers and 500 sailors are competing in their first Mac Race.
A total 285 boats were registered to sail, according to the event track. Some competitors pulled out after storms damaged their boats moving from Mackinac Island to Chicago, and one yacht sank.
Skipper Marian Hoskins doesn't know Alli Bell, the first female skipper to win the Transpac overall title on July 13 aboard Restless, a Cal 40.
But they both want female sailors to just be a thing. Not unique
After making history, Alli Bell was asked what it felt like to be a role model, the Transpac race site reported. “I don’t think I’m a role model,’ she said, the emotion thick in her voice. ‘I’m just someone who wanted to do something and did it.’”
Now, so is Marian Hoskins.
Phoebe Wall Howard covered sailing for The Detroit Free Press for seven years, until 2024. Find her recent sailing stories here.
More: As Tomahawk sank, T.K. Lowry said he couldn't fit into the life raft
Great story again!! You are knocking it out with these great sailing stories. Thank you! 🙏
Ms Howard
I understand how those brave sailors aren’t interested in being the first or whatever female crew to run the race(s). They are well trained, chock full of guts who love sailing, who are female. It ain’t about gender, it’s about the sail, the adventure, and the mission.
Go get ‘em sailors!
Your story is exciting, and a piece of work many people can only hope to identify with. Your story makes it perfect.
Thanks
PEACE
Gregg