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We raced in the 6th Louie’s Last Regatta – a benefit for Children’s Hospital
of Wisconsin. As memory serves we were really bad. At least we finished, and
didn’t finish last!
We raced in the 7th Louie’s Last Regatta. We did better than last year, but
were still way down in the pack.
The summer of 2006 was our first real racing season. We entered the
Milwaukee Wisconsin Friday night MAST race series with a “pick up” crew. Their
web site is at
http://www.mastracing.org. Over the course of the season we started to
establish our “regulars” and to learn more about making Reboot go faster. We
also attempted “committee boat” duties but our night to officiate thunderstorms
rolled through the area and we cancelled the race.
We tied for 7th of 14 boats in the Grand Prix division. We took 16th of 33
boats in the MAST Cup (all boats that raced.) Our best finishes were 3rd place
(twice) and 4th place once.
The regulars were: Ed King (Helm);
Dave Lubar (Aux Winch); Dane Kasper
(Primary Winch); Jason Anderson (Primary Winch); Eric Schulz (Aux Winch); and
Roger Jones (Tactician.)
We won Rookie Boat of the Year!
We also raced in Reboot’s third “Louie’s Last Regatta” We took 53 out of a
field of 103 boats that finished. Our corrected time was 01:06:03 and the
winning boat corrected time was 00:51:40. So we have a ways to go.
We entered the 99th Chicago – Mackinac race that started on July 14th
(Bastille Day!) The crew consisted of Jason Anderson, Brad Boman,
Ed King,
Dave Lubar , Glyn Livermore, and Roger Jones. We also added a pick up member, George
Dunlop from Chicago. Ed, George and Roger transited the boat to the Chicago
Yacht Club the Wednesday before the race. This was a good move, as we ended up
on the face dock right in front of the Yacht Club with shore power, water, and
easy access to all the Chicago Yacht
Club facilities.
Race day dawned clear and cool with very strong winds. Our departure from
the dock was eventful, but not for us. The skipper of the boat in front of us,
Wejamin (incidentally a Catalina 42 Mark I) got a little flustered during his
departure and inflated his life jacket by mistake! Then, before we quite got
over our laughter one of the crew from the next outer boat in our raft was
dragged into the lake trying to close the raft after our departure!
Motoring out to check in by Navy Pier we started to appreciate just how
strong the winds would be for the start. We got out to the start in good order,
and with the very able tactical assistance of Glyn made a great downwind start
in 30+ knot winds. With the exception of one boat ahead of us we were well up
in the pack with only three other boats near us. As the day wore on the winds
began to moderate, first a little and then quite significantly. When the wind
would die we would start to fall behind our closest neighbors, as it would pick
back up again we would pull ahead.
As the day wore on the wind died. We were struggling all night to keep
Reboot moving. The only consolation was that we could see the lights of many
(30 – 40) other racers. The sun rose Sunday morning and we found ourselves
surrounded by other boats. We had made it abreast of Milwaukee at about 6:30 AM
Sunday morning. Sunday and Sunday night continued with very light air, and at
5:30 AM Monday morning we were abreast of Green Bay, WI. We still had not made
the first turning point on our route – Point Betsie, MI. Radio reports
indicated we were still very much in the race, and subsequent review of the
transponder data indicated that we were in second or third place for our
division!
However, we had another problem. The batteries would not maintain a charge
for more than a couple of hours and we were burning too much fuel to keep them
charged and still provide a reserve to get into port in the event of trouble.
At about 10:30 AM we made the safety call and abandoned the race.
We returned to Milwaukee where we replaced all three 4D batteries!
We entered the Bayview – Mackinac race with the intention of sailing down
from Mackinac after the Chicago – Mac to Port Huron. With the boat in Milwaukee
it was impossible to get to the starting line for the Bayview so we were forced
to withdraw before the start of the race. Brad Boman, Bob Goyke, Spencer Jones
and Roger Jones did however take Reboot up to Mackinac Island for the post race
festivities. We had a good time with two minor exceptions: Our fuel filters
clogged resulting in a tow into Frankfort, MI and new fuel filters. And during
our return trip from Mackinac we spent 12 hours in 35+ knot winds and 6 foot
waves on the beam. We were rolling 35 to 40 degrees side to side. Not the most
pleasant ride. We brought the boat into Manitowoc and ultimately Misty and
Roger brought the boat back down to Milwaukee.
I was very ambivalent about entering Louie's 9th. The field is getting
very big - over 120 boats - most of whom do not race. As it turns out I
didn't have a choice. I was asked, and accepted, the task of Chief Registration
and Scoring Official. I didn't even get to be out on the race course!
We had a record number of boats and a raised a record amount of money! The
Louie's web site is
here. Summer 2008
This was a very strange summer. We had very bad weather in the spring.
We spent the month of July racing in the Bayview - Mackinac and the Chicago -
Mackinac races. Then I moved in August and the weather turned bad on my
days off in September
Chicago - Mackinac
We raced and did finish this year. The results are
here.
Bayview - Mackinac
We raced and did finish (badly) this year. The results are
here.
MAST
We entered the MAST Friday night series again this year.
Unfortunately combinations of events made it impossible to show up for
almost all of the races. When we did show up we showed our
expertise in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory! |