Middle of Lake Michigan
DAY TWO: Sunday
I woke up this morning (Sunday), checked the charts and found that we were working our way north of Milwaukee. We couldn't be more in the middle of the Lake. Well actually we were 3 nautical miles closer to the Michigan side, but you get the idea. The weather was good, we had been watching a few storms out to the west, but were not too concerned about them. If anything we were hoping they would bring some wind. We passed six boats overnight, not knowing if they were in our section or not, it was still a good morale booster for the crew to feel as if we sailed a fast night. It was time to re-evaluate who was around us, check the charts and get ready to set up for the Manitou Islands. The wind came and left all morning, but we still managed to keep the boat moving. Boats weaved in and out of our path as they made decisions to head out into the lake further, head for shore or continue along their chosen path from the night before. It was a bit of a leap frog morning. Bravo, a section 5 boat (our section) came screaming down and passed us with no problems. Two hours later we were abeam to them off of our port. Two more hours passed and we could barely see them behind us they were heading hard for shore. Despite what other boats were doing around us we stuck to our thoughts that inshore would not pay off come evening and The Manitou's. We gybed on the wind looking for pressure everywhere we went. Boats would bunch up together and just like that be spread across the horizon again as we played a game of cat and mouse all trying to catch the best angle for the run through the Manitou Islands. Still with no land in site we decided to gybe out into the lake one more time until we had, what we thought, the perfect, hottest angle right to north manitou light. Once we had our setup point we turned and pointed for north manitou light. There was some talk about staying outside of the islands, but usually this never pays off and was dismissed quickly. We were finally able to take bearings on some of our inshore friends and watched them closely. The inshore game seemed to be paying off as our bearings decreased on the boats inshore as they started to win the race to sleeping bear point. Our hopes were that with the wind we had, it would be the same, or similar inshore, which would force boats to gybe their way out away from the point. Well, apparently they got a wind shift or different wind and were able to sail directly out and around the point.
As we worked our way into the Manitou islands the radio traffic picked up as a boat called in, reporting that a fire in the galley had broken out. We listened, learning that the boat was only a few miles behind us. Other boats gave their advice to fight the fire, water, wet blankets, etc... while we sat there and thought to ourselves "Why don't they just use the fire extinguisher? We all have one." Anyways apparently they got the situation under control and the race went on.
Night fell as we sailed deeper into the Manitou's, and to our surprise, the breeze picked up more and more as the sun dropped off of the horizon. We were sailing a bit more to the northeast, hoping to pick up a hotter angle and maintain more boat speed as the setup for Grey's reef was already on. It was pitch black as the only sliver of a moon was not too far behind the sun and soon disappeared. We did our best to take bearings on boats around us, but it was like trying to make out the different street lights when coming into Chicago at night. Boats were everywhere. We noticed that we were coming up on a boat to our windward and decided to hold course and use our rights to our advantage. 200 feet away and we could make out the hull, 150 feet away and closing, 100 feet away and we thought just maybe they didn't see us yet. Our skipper called out "stay up", as 100 closed to 75. "Stay up!" 50 feet. "STAY UP!!" 25 feet.... Suddenly the boat came up hard and their spinnaker completely collapsed. All at the same time we blew right by them and just like that were out of their air and sailing fast. It was a bit nerve racking but helped us pass them quickly being that they did not see us and ended up collapsing their spinnaker to stay out of our way.
The navigation meeting began as we decided whether to continue to sail this angle, gybe the rhumb, sail to the corner, etc... We decided to sail this angle for awhile as it was a fast angle for us and gybe in about an hour, which would put us just off of Grand Traverse Bay. It was time for me to get some rest. I put in my earplugs and before I knew it was out cold. But just like that I wake up to someone grabbing my leg. "All hands, we are at 18 going to the three quarter." Let's just say it is a bit difficult to process information coming out of a deep sleep and as I threw on my jacket and harness I still had no idea what the statement meant. I got up on deck and realized we had sailed out of the range of our half ounce A-symmetrical spinnaker and with the wind continuing to build we had to do a sail change. The skipper was eager to get his light air sail down as we started seeing 22+ knots, but being that it was pitch black we had to make sure we had everything right before hoisting our 3/4 A-kite. The kite went up great and it was a successful change. I was wide awake at this point. We checked the charts a few times with the new wind we were seeing, talked about what might work best, and I went back to bed. Over the next hour of sleep I felt the boat gybe twice and by the time I got back on deck at 5:30 A.M. we were just south of the shoals and setting up for Grey's Reef....the drag race was on.
Runaway ...OUT
No comments:
Post a Comment