OUR FIRST RACE

By Deb:

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been a part of it.  We were in a race with Island Time!

The race was sponsored by the Lake Michigan Singlehanded Society.  But it was a Doublehanded race.  I know, that last sentence sounds confusing.  But it just means that there are two people on the boat, a captain and a crew.  And I bet you know who was who....  Even if Andy does call me the Admiral, he's still the captain.  :)

Do we know how to race?  No.  We had to study up on the rules.  Andy went to the Skipper's meeting the night before.  We talked to various people who race.  But until you get out there, and the start boat is there, and all the other boats are milling around waiting to start, and they're telling everyone over the radio when you're going to start, and giving you a warning before the start gun sounds, and you have no idea what you're doing, do you realize how crazy it is!!

So, I was following the captain's orders.  He was getting the spinnaker ready to fly.  We heard it was time for us to start.  Were we in the right spot, ready to go?  HA!  So, we were actually the LAST boat over the start line.  The starter boat was leaving just as we crossed the line!  It was hilarious!

There were about 28 boats leaving from Muskegon, and another 37 boats starting from Winthrop Harbor, IL.  We crossed the start line at 8:35 AM.  The winds were light, just right for the spinnaker.  And very light all day, until about 7 PM, about 30 miles from Port Washington, and it picked up considerably.  Despite being the last boat across the start, we were not the last boat at the finish.  We crossed the finish line at 11: 53 pm, CT.  We sailed the entire way.

When we arrived in Port Washington, the staff directed us to a place on the wall in the marina to tie up, just in front of our friend's boat (Free Spirit; Joe and David, Bob's sons, raced her over).  We buttoned up the boat and fell into the berth exhausted.  We didn't wake up until 10:00 AM this morning.  There was a terrible storm during the night, but we barely heard it.

Today we went to the LMSS sponsored lunch, and heard who were the winners in the various classes.  No, we didn't win a flag, but we did finish!  Yeah for us.

I kind of like this racing stuff.  Andy thought it was just okay.  Being in the Chicago to Mac race is on my bucket list.  Do you think....??