A Chicago man who drowned in Lake Michigan during a weekend sailboat race wore an inflatable lifejacket that was never activated, a spokesman for the Chicago Yacht Club said Monday.
It is unclear if Michael Eggly, 31–a novice sailor who fell off the 40-foot vessel Virago in Sunday’s regatta–failed to pull the device’s activation cord or if the device was faulty, spokesman Bob Christie said.
As 18- to 25-knot winds kicked up 3-foot waves, Christie said, Virago’s captain asked crew members to put on lifesaving devices, which were worn around the waist.
The yacht club sponsors the race and requires racers to wear flotation devices, “except when the captain of the boat directs that the rule may be set aside,” Christie said.
Eggly was trimming a sail when the boat turned into gusty winds, knocking the vessel on its side and throwing him into the lake.
The Virago quickly righted and at least three other boats began throwing flotation devices to Eggly, who waved and made several attempts to grab the lines, Christie said.
After three to five minutes, “his head went back, and his eyes became starry,” Christie said. “At some point he may have swallowed water reaching for the life slings.”
Crew members from two vessels jumped in to assist Eggly, who was unconscious by the time he was brought aboard another boat, Christie said.
A Cook County Hospital emergency room physician crewing aboard the boat performed CPR as the boat raced to Navy Pier. An ambulance took Eggly to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at about 7:30 p.m., a hospital spokeswoman said.
On Monday, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said Eggly drowned.
Eggly, of the Old Town neighborhood, moved here from New Jersey in 1999. He worked as a mutual fund manager with the Northern Trust Co. in Chicago until July and was taking the summer off to learn more about sailboat racing, said his father, Bert Eggly of Marlton, N.J.
“I think sailing gave him a peaceful place to go,” his father said. His son, an only child, had joined the Chicago Yacht Club in May and bought a 29-foot sailboat.
“He just took to sailing with unbelievable enthusiasm,” said Bill Zeiler, who met Eggly a year ago through their shared interest in the sport. “He was not an experienced racer, but anytime a boat went out he was ready to go. He was eager to learn.”
On Sunday, at least three other racers in the 78-boat Frank Heyes Regatta fell overboard but were unharmed.
“I would consider it heavy-weather conditions,” said Dale Smirl, a skipper on another vessel in the race. “Boats were rolling.”
Eight people have died during sailing regattas off Chicago since 1960, said Glenn McCarthy, spokesman for the Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation.
“If you go by the average, we have one death every four years. Unfortunately, with the death over this weekend, we’re maintaining that average,” McCarthy said.
In 1997, Bruce Chapman, 61, drowned after falling from a sailboat during the Olympic Cup Sailboat Race near Chicago.
Sailing conditions on Lake Michigan tend to become more extreme in the fall, said racer Tracy Hixon.
“You tend to see stronger, more abrupt wind and wave conditions,” Hixon said. “There is often shorter time for reacting.”
