Mackinac Island, MI
Morning came early on Tuesday. It's hard to sleep with people walking overhead all morning, the sun pouring through every opening on board, and a restless crew member rustling through a bag for their toothbrush or some other relief from last nights rampage. A few of us walked up to "SeaBiscuit" (or something like that) for breakfast. It was good to get some food in my belly. What to do with a full day on the island?? It started with a swim back at the boat. We were pretty sure that the no swim rule had been dropped on account of enforcement issues. It was so hot, every boat had people in the water, and as long as everyone was staying safe and responsible (which sailors always are) I don't think anyone was going to be able to do anything about the situation. The water felt great and it was just what I needed. The rest of the morning was a bit of a blur, spent wasting it away in the cockpit telling jokes with good company of the crew.
About one o'clock we all walked up to the tea gardens of the Grand Hotel for the trophy ceremony. We were more interested in the free drink tickets being that we weren't going to get a flag this year. If you've ever been to the tea garden of the Grand Hotel you know that it is kind of down in a ditch; the shadows of the hotel so to speak...minus the shadow part. There was absolutely no wind, hardly any shade, and a whole lot of sun and heat. It must have been 110 degrees on the lawn. The party slowly moved into the woods around the lawn as people sought out any relief they could find. I got to see my uncles again, which was great and even had a chance to meet some of the crew of Il Mastro (PUMA!!). No Ken Read, but hey it was still great just to talk to the guys and meet them. Somehow I ended up with more drinks than I had tickets for (always an unfortunate situation!) and the day was turning out to be a good one.
We all met up for dinner at Horn's Bar and the crew was ....well....obnoxious hahaha. We were that group that you just wish would get kicked out. haha. We had a good time and I guess you can be the annoying ones every now and then. The events of weeks past were really starting to wear on me. Bill and I brought the old sails to the boat from the ferry dock for the delivery back to Chicago. After that....well I ran out of wind....and it was time to hit the rack. Packed up and ready to head home for Chicago the following morning I set my alarm and just like that was out cold.
The alarm came early as I had to catch the first ferry to Mackinaw City, then get on a shuttle to Pelston to catch the Lakeshore Express flight back to Midway airport. I hardly remember getting on the airplane I was asleep so fast and before I knew it the wheels touched down in daChi. A shuttle to the train terminal, onto the orange line to downtown, transfer to the red line north, to Belmont stop, a 30 minute walk and back in bed for the rest of the afternoon. And just like that......the 104th Chicago Race to Mackinac was over. My first Mac race officially, and finally, under my belt.
It was a "calm" race, with no crazy weather or circumstances. Even tactically it was basically a drag race. We all knew where we could have made up time, but that's talk for Monday morning quarterbacks... we made the decisions we made and stuck by them. They could have just as easily paid off with how weird the weather forecasting was. We had a cold front push from north to south past us, the wind stalled, then the front stalled, turned stationary and lifted back north to fill the breeze back in from behind and compress the entire fleet. It was an interesting situation and that's the fun part about a race like this. In the Great Lakes you just never know....
We are currently editing all of our GoPro video footage and will be posting it as soon as the entire crew sees it first...so keep checking back!!
I just can't wait for the 105th Mac Race!!
Runaway OUT
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)