A member of a yacht racing team suffered a fatal heart attack Friday afternoon while competing in a race on Lake Michigan.
Luke G. Condic, 56, was a crew member on a sailboat competing in the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta when he collapsed about 12:45 p.m., authorities said. The boat was about five miles off shore at the time.
Police said the sailboat’s crew members and a doctor from another boat attempted life-saving medical treatment, but were not successful. Another boat then took him to shore.
David Salk, another crew member, said Condic fell on the deck during the race, and the rest of the crew administered CPR until a boat from the regatta arrived and took Condic to shore.
Salk and police said preliminary reports that Condic struck his head and fell into the water were incorrect.
Condic, of the 3200 block of South Wells in the Armour Square neighborhood, was the taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
An autopsy Saturday found Condic died of heart disease, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. The death was ruled natural.