Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sailing from Chicago to Mackinac Island July 18-20

My first long distance race was a buzz kill from a racing perspective but great from a cruising perspective. Seven of us sailed from downtown Navy Pier across the lake east toward Michigan. The wind died and the rain continued. We bobbed for 16 hours. Little did we know that we were in 1st place of 22 in our cruising division. Sunday after 27 hours we decided to abandon the race, voluntarily withdraw and motor the rest of the way to Mackinac. Whew. I was ready for a steady 12-15 knots, four hour shifts of sleep and rail hanging fun. Not this year. We motored in time to pull into port at 11pm on Monday just in time for all the festivities. The five newbies to the Mac on the 43' Irwin, The Betti, were spared being thrown off the stern into the cold waters after midnight as our rite of passage. Instead, one of them, endured the snores of her lazarete port side roommate snoring after at least two six packs in his part. Another whew.

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