GREYS REEF -> MACKINAC ISLAND
The wind had been building throughout the night. I came up on deck, feeling refreshed from my watch break. The sun was already above the horizon and temporarily hiding behind a batch of cumulus clouds. There was still a bite in the air from the cool evening before as the sun's heat had not yet kicked in. Maybe it was my morning shivers I get while my body works to wake up and jump right into sailing. The seas were building but still tolerable. The wind appeared that it shifted a little but was still dominant out of the south/southwest. I looked around, easily spotting other section five boats as the bottle neck of Grey's Reef was only a few miles ahead. Paradigm Shift gybed back to the west astern to us. What I thought was Maskwa also astern turned out to be Quicksilver; their spinnaker's were very similar. Maskwa must be up on the horizon in front of us. Bravo still appeared to be astern to us as well. Roxy was right where they always seemed to be, just in our back pocket threatening to pass on any small mistake we made. Conversation was being held in the cockpit about when to gybe and how we wanted to approach the reef. The wind seemed to favor a gut shot and we decided to stay on starboard tack until we had the angle to fly right through. It happened fast and just like that we flipped over and found that Karma, a 36.7 section boat, and Paradigm Shift were within ear shot of us. Karma's skipper said good morning to Tom, our skipper, as we blasted north for Grey's Reef. We wanted to stay out of Karma's way and they the same considering we were not in each others section. Karma is a well raced boat and we kept the thought on the back burner to shadow any tactics they carry out for the remainder of the race.
Grey's Reef was uneventful but buoy number 3 on the north side of Grey's, our only turning mark on the course, was setting up to be more like a buoy race mark with three boats all in the same area. Then there were four. Another boat (name slipping my mind) came out of no where and suddenly we were making the decision on who to stay up on.
"I don't want to pass Karma, we are going to get pinched"
"Stay right here."
"We can't, we're faster, we're going to get pinched, I'm coming down"
"I think we can stay."
"We can't stay let's get between the two of them, coming down"
We made sure we were clear to Karma and the bow came down and then back on course in one swift movement. In throwing a wall of bad air down and coming back up hard we we passed the other boat in no time and also passed Karma. Paradigm Shift went wide up ahead and was already flipped over and heading for the mark, on starboard none the less (rights). Karma called for room, Paradigm shift came down, and everyone played fair. The gybe could have been cleaner, but we were around it and the next stop was Mackinac Island.
Now more on the beam, the wind was up to 23 knots and the seas had more effect on our course. Paradigm Shift struggled hard with their overpowered A-kite and eventually changed sail. We were in Karma's back pocket, and passing would be hard. We knew we would end up there after the rounding mark, but we really had no choice. Suddenly 9 knots was our average boat speed. We started seeing 10, then 10.5 then 11. Waves curled in on the stern, lifted us up and shot us forward, like a wild river crashing over a falls the waves grabbed a hold of Runaway and took her for a ride.
Mackinac bridge came out of the haze, the sun lifted higher in to a clearing sky and suddenly we realized that it wouldn't be long before we would be throwing dock lines on Mackinac Island. Focus was key here. All hands were on deck as the excitement was too much to sleep. Exhaustion started to kick in, a gybe here and a gybe there became a bit more sloppy every time. On the last gybe before the finish we lost the kite around the forestay and I was thrown across the cockpit by a mainsheet that I couldn't get away from fast enough. No injuries, just a little upset as we were starting to take pride in how clean of a race we had been sailing. Only a mile to go now. The Grand Hotel dominated the hillside of Mackinac Island as another huge freighter came barreling for the bridge from the east. Boats scattered one last time in their last ditch effort to gain a tactical advantage, but for the most part the drag race for the finish line started well back in the Manitou's, some may argue Chicago. We heard our section boats calling in at the finish and at the bridge. We knew exactly where everyone was around us. Just a little further now. Then the cannon came into range. Boom.............Boom, Boom.....Boom.............Boom, as boats in front of us finished. Two more blasts and that should be us. Boom...........................................................................where is it????..................Is that our cannon??? .................................We're still racing!!!.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................BOOM!
And just like that, it was over. 45 hours 21 minutes and 2 seconds.
I've sailed many miles before, and many places, but before we could even get the sails down I found myself choking up a bit. I've always wanted to do a Chicago to Mackinac race. I grew up watching my uncles race, like they were hero's, and despite going offshore and straight into the Bermuda triangle it still didn't satisfy the goal of one day sailing in The Mac. Everyone was shaking hands while I just stared out back towards the bridge in silence. What was there to say, what could I say? It was such a team effort, but right now, it was my moment. Of all the times I've gone under that bridge, up that lake, and to this island, this time was different. It was another accomplishment that I will never forget. Truly a team effort, you can't explain it unless you do it. You get caught in the moment out there. 20 miles to the Manitou's. Only 10 more til Grey's Reef. We should gybe in an hour. Let's get around this mark. Mackinac Bridge Dead ahead.....then it's over. Why were we in such a hurry?? Oh yeah we were racing! We immediately knew we were probably going to miss a flag and get 7th place but right then, I didn't care. I didn't care if we got last at that moment, what I just did, with this team, was enough for me. (That later changed as all we talked about was getting a flag and what we needed to do next year!! haha)
The 2012 Chicago Race to Mackinac was coming to a close, but the fun was just beginning..............
Runaway...OUT
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