News: Toronto Boat Red Herring Sinks During Delivery
July 24, 2025
RCYC, Toronto – based Red Herring, a 55-foot ketch sank during the delivery from Mackinac Island to Chicago, where it was due to compete in the Chicago to Mackinac Race. The boat and crew had just completed the Bayview to Mackinac Race, finishing second in their division and sixth overall.
Phoebe Wall Howard, who reports on sailing and racing around the Great Lakes, interviewed crew member Magnus Clarke about what happened, including the crews’ 90 minutes in the water awaiting USCG rescue. Her article in excerpted below. Click the link at the bottom to read the entire story.
By Phoebe Wall Howard, Shifting Gears
Sailing across Lake Michigan at night, they all heard the big bang. And they knew it was bad. ‘“The boat spun out. We knew we lost steering immediately,” said Magnus Clarke, 56, an architect from Toronto, Canada. “When a big piece of carbon breaks in half under a heavy (wind) load, it resonates through the entire boat. You can feel it shake under your feet.” Skipper Fred Eaton, 63, a private investor from Toronto, said, “Magnus, the rudder’s gone. It’s sticking out the side of the boat.”
Five sailors on Red Herring, a 55-foot Custom Canting Keel Ketch vessel, were headed to the Windy City to deliver the boat for a race on Saturday, July 19 from Chicago to Mackinac Island. But the rudder snapped, and water poured into the vessel. Within 20 minutes or so, they decided to abandon ship to survive. They worried about getting tangled in wires and rigging, Clarke said. “The breeze was approximately 35 knots with 8 foot waves. We had to jump into the water in our life jackets.”
The crew watched Red Herring sink while they waited and hoped for rescue. Clarke and his wife Heather Kosa, 44, an office manager and competitive sailor, held onto each other while the waves pushed the others in a different direction. Eaton stayed close to his son William, 17, and Rob Battye, 52, a hotelier from Ellicotville, New York. No other boats were in sight. The sailors floated in the cold water for some 90 minutes in pitch black darkness.
“We were running downwind with just a jib and a reefed mizzen” he said. “We were surfing the waves when, just before 9 p.m. or so Michigan time, when the rudder broke. We believe it was the rudder post … It created a pretty good-sized hole in bottom of the boat, which immediately started to leak. We realized pretty quickly this was probably a terminal condition for us, for the boat.”
Red Herring issued a mayday call.
Preparation saved lives
Fred Eaton, a 2010 Rolex Canadian Sailor of the Year, was just one of the skilled sailors on board, Clarke said. The team has taken offshore safety courses and focused on efficient communication.
“Having communication coordinated by a shore crew was absolutely critical,” Clarke said. “We’re eternally grateful to the Coast Guard. It did an absolutely fantastic job, really professional. We’re very thankful.”
