CHICAGO _ The search for a missing boater competing in the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac resumed Sunday morning, a day after he fell overboard into turbulent water, officials said.
The search for Jon Santarelli, 53, of Chicago, was suspended around dusk Saturday after an hours-long, multiagency effort that included Coast Guard and Chicago police and fire crews.
His mother, Dorene Santarelli, said Sunday afternoon she felt "like we're in limbo."
"We want to thank everyone who's helped with the search and the rescue," she said. "And for all the prayers. We've had so many people call with their prayers."
She said her son has completed triathlons. "He was very strong," she said. "He was a very good swimmer."
Among the searchers were private boaters like Graham Sauser, a race announcer for the shoreside event who said he heard what had happened, grabbed his father and another person, and took out a 53-foot sailboat to help.
"If it was me in the water, I would hope someone out there was looking for me," Sauser said.
"From everything I know, he was very well-liked, well-respected sailor," Sauser said. "The whole sailing community is pretty torn up by this."
Chicago's sailing community is tightly knit, and many recreational sailors joined the search, Sauser said.
"If we hear of any one of our fellow sailors in trouble, I think most people would leap into action," he said. "I think most people would feel that way."
Sauser said he has sailed the Mackinac race before, and that the conditions this weekend were not out of the ordinary.
The Chicago Yacht Club said Saturday that the Coast Guard informed it that a man had fallen from a boat competing in the race around 3 p.m. Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Ron Dorneker said a water rescue was begun after getting the call of a person overboard. "We had a helicopter in the air ... we had our fast boat and our big boat,'' he said.
But the conditions Saturday were "tough,'' Dorneker said, adding that winds were gusting north about 15 mph and waves were cresting about 6 feet.
The Race to Mackinac is the oldest freshwater distance race in the world and this year attracted sailors from 39 states and 16 countries, according to race officials.
