By Christian Davis
C & G Sports Writer

BIRMINGHAM — For two years, Patrick Drummond, 31, of Southfield asked, prodded and begged his father to join him in the Bayview Mackinac Race, which runs from Port Huron to Mackinac Island.

And for two years, the elder Patrick Drummond, 71, answered his son’s inquiries with a “no.”

It wasn’t that his father hadn’t completed the race in the past on his boat Enchant. In fact, the elder Drummond has raced four times in one of the world’s largest freshwater runs, the last time in 2005.

“It’s a long drive,” the elder Drummond said of the race, which begins July 12. “We’ve had a couple bad ones out of the four I’ve done, and that kind of took some wind out of my sail. The first one we did was in 1999, and that took us 89 hours. There was just no air. We missed the party Tuesday night; we missed everything. We just went home the same night.”

But when the younger Drummond asked his father one last time this past spring, he got a different answer.

“I could see he was sad and depressed that I wasn’t going, so I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it, one more time. We better win,’” he said.

“Geez, nice pressure,” his son replied as the two reminisced over lunch July 2 in Birmingham.

In reality, the elder Drummond is joining his son on the Enchant because of family.

“The reason I’m doing this is because I’ll be able to sail with both of my sons at the same time,” he said, as his other son, Tim, 39, is also part of the crew. “I’ve never been able to do that.”

Drummond’s wife, Sharon, supported her husband’s motives.

“I think he wanted to do it in the past, but it is a lot of work out there. He just decided this time that he could be with the family, and it’ll be a nice experience,” she said.

“I think it’s great. I wouldn’t do it. It’s too much work and can be dangerous,” she continued. “I’m going to drive up to the island and have fun.”

While the younger Drummond is happy his father is joining him, they both know the race won’t be easy.

The Enchant’s best finish was third in 2006 in the IRC J class. This time around, the yacht is competing in the IRC G class with 18 other registered racers.

Along with the Drummond boys, the crew includes the younger Drummond’s wife, Elizabeth, and friends David Doss of Algonac and Bobby Cox of Oxford.

The last time the Drummonds sailed together was in 2005, and the younger Drummond said the Enchant came across some bad luck.

Just miles from the finish, one of the straps holding the mast up broke, meaning the beam could fall back on the crew at anytime.

“We could smell the horse (manure) we were so close, but we had to drop out because we couldn’t get there safely,” the younger Drummond said.

The Drummonds don’t plan on having to bail out this time. And while the elder says this will probably be the last race for him, anything is possible.

“If we come in first place and get there in two days, I might do it again,” he said, smiling.

To see how the Drummonds and the rest of the sailors finish, please visit the Bayview Yacht Club’s Web site at www.byc.com.