Steamboat Guide Finishes 87th in Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac

Steamboat Springs —“‘It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,’” said Cole Tlamka, reflecting on the two days of gales and twenty-foot waves that carried him across one of the world’s largest bodies of water. “Everyone around me was telling me to do it, and I banked my paid time off to do it.”

Tlamka, a local snowmobile guide and director of operations at Steamboat Mountain School, didn’t just watch the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac from the shore. He stepped onto the deck of Fjord, a 52-foot grand prix racing yacht, and became part of its crew. The invitation came through a simple trade of stories with sailor Chadwick Hough, who sails the annual race to Mackinac Island every year. What began as conversation between a mountain guide and a lake sailor turned into an 87th-place finish for Fjord out of 220 boats, a result Tlamka called “quite an achievement” given the professional sailors who typically dominate these waters.

The race, held since 1898, is the world’s oldest annual freshwater distance-sailing event. It stretches 333 miles from Navy Pier in Chicago up Lake Michigan to Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. Tlamka also participated in the leg from Port Huron to Mackinac, spending a total of four-and-a-half weeks on the water. The conditions were unforgiving. Crew members, packed in like sardines with a bucket serving as their bathroom, fought through storms that brought waves crashing over the deck. “You definitely get very close to the people you sail with,” Tlamka noted, observing that there is “nothing quite like the experience of storms and rough weather that brings people together.”

On board Fjord, captained by Hough and owned by John Brynjolfsson, Tlamka’s role was physically demanding. He served as one of only two grinders on a crew that usually employs four, operating the hoist at the middle of the boat to lift the halyards that raise the sails. “We were in gear and working our tails off the entire race,” he said, emphasizing that they had to keep their wits about them constantly. But his duties didn’t stop at turning the winches. Leveraging his background as a snowmobile guide, Tlamka also served as the lead medic, relying on his wilderness first-responder certifications to handle head injuries and loss of fingers — common ailments in the sailing community.

“I had a lot of experience that I gained from being a snowmobile guide,” he explained, noting that he was essentially doing double duty. As the race progressed and the reality of his situation set in, he found himself asking, “What have I gotten myself into?” He was in the middle of one of the largest lakes in the world, riding a 52-foot missile through rough seas. It certainly makes for a great story, one that connects the rugged outdoors of Steamboat to the historic waters of the Great Lakes.

The Fjord crossed the finish line on July 10, 2026, with Tlamka soaking in every detail of the journey. He had gone into the races with little to no sailing experience, yet he emerged with a deep appreciation for the sport and the community that sustains it. The bond formed among the fifteen men and women on board helped propel them to their final standing, proving that preparation and partnership matter as much as speed.

As the sun set over Lake Michigan, casting long shadows across the deck of Fjord, Tlamka looked back at the wake churning behind them. The salt spray still clung to his jacket, and the hum of the rigging echoed in his ears, a steady reminder that sometimes, all it takes is a conversation to change your trajectory.