​To Jon Somes, the most spectacular thing about the Bayview Mackinac Race is the scene that morning.“When the boats get to the starting line, the wind will be behind them and they’ll put up their spinnakers, which are multicolored sails that are in front, and they all pop at once,” he said. “The boats generally accelerate quite a bit if there’s any wind at all, and they’re all on a line and they’re all right there.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt’s a scene Somes knows from the many Bayview Mackinac Races he’s competed in – 38 in all − but also from his perch in recent years as someone who helps make the famed sailboat race possible, volunteering his boat and his time.Somes’ boat isn’t powered by the wind, however.Jon Somes, 73, of Florida, will volunteer in the 102nd Bayview Mackinac race as the starter boat at the beginning of the sailboat race with his Offshore Yachts 54’ Pilothouse this Saturday in Port Huron. Somes recounts his 38 Mackinac races and says, “It’s a spectacular event and I think it’s just really great to help keep it going.” Here, he’s at the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.Instead, the 73-year-old’s vessel, which he named Otseketa, he said, because it’s the original name of Lake St. Clair, is a 54-foot powerboat. It’ll serve as the signal boat for the race and will host race officials, a couple of members of the media and Somes along with a few of his helpers at the starting line.A second boat, which he called the pin end, will mark the other end of that imaginary line for the boaters expected when the 102nd Bayview Mackinac Race begins the morning of Saturday, July 18. A website dedicated to the race listed 201 boats registered in the various classes as of Wednesday.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe morning of the race, Somes will motor out to a mooring so the race officials can be in position.“After that my job’s pretty easy because they run the race. They run the signals and the communications on the radio with all the boats. They announce if it was a clear start and if nobody was over early, and so they make sure it’s a good fair start,” he said.Afterward, Somes will drop the officials and media members off and head with some friends in his boat up to Mackinac Island.The race, which is billed as “the world’s longest continuously run long distance freshwater yacht race,” is organized by Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, and runs from near Port Huron to Mackinac Island, a trip of more than 200 miles. The first race was in 1925.Jon Somes, 73, of Florida, will volunteer in the 102nd Bayview Mackinac race as the starter boat at the beginning of the sailboat race with his Offshore Yachts 54’ Pilothouse this Saturday, July 18, in Port Huron.Somes said the fastest boats will likely arrive at Mackinac Island on Sunday afternoon, but others will take longer. Somes said he’s even seen boats not make it for the awards party on the island on t