It has been a busy week for us, so I will write a few separate blogs in order to keep them shorter and more interesting. Following is the first of those.
On July 17-22, the 101st Chicago to Mackinac sailboat race was staged by the Chicago Yacht Club. 337 sailboats of all sizes competed in a number of classes. All but 33 boats finished, and the finishing crews partied hardy at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. The race is 333 statute miles long; the biggest, fastest boat finished in 56 hours, and the average boat took 80 hours. This was the slowest race ever as the winds were very light for the entire race.
We ran into the sailboats twice. On Monday, July 20th, Emery, Mark and Kate and three of their friends from Traverse City moved The Emery’s from T.C. to Frankfort (I drove the car over later after spending time with Lily and Caroline at the beach in T.C.). Their trip took five or six hours, including a fun stop for lunch in Leland. After lunch, they ran through a large number of the boats in the race. Those pictures are on Kate’s camera, and Mark will add a blog with those in a few days. But that encounter added a lot to the fun trip for everyone.
Then,Thursday evening in Frankfort, a number of the sailboats stayed over in our marina on their way home. John the harbor master rafted about twenty of them up off his shore. The first picture attached is of the boat raft when about 15 of the boats were in. The boats are “bare bones” racers, so the crews are always hungry and dirty. John has a cook/dockhand named Roary who worked, literally, all night cooking to feed the boats who came in through the night. Lobster, crab, shrimp, ribs all went early and then the hot dogs and hamburgers flew off the grill. The second picture is of John manning the grill after dark; enlarge it for a better view.
This morning, all the boats were gone by 8 A.M. and life at the marina is settling down again. It was a real hoot last night, and the sailboat crews are fun to talk with. Lots of nationalities are represented, and this is a big prestigious race that all sailors want to experience once in their lives.
More stories to follow.
On July 17-22, the 101st Chicago to Mackinac sailboat race was staged by the Chicago Yacht Club. 337 sailboats of all sizes competed in a number of classes. All but 33 boats finished, and the finishing crews partied hardy at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. The race is 333 statute miles long; the biggest, fastest boat finished in 56 hours, and the average boat took 80 hours. This was the slowest race ever as the winds were very light for the entire race.
We ran into the sailboats twice. On Monday, July 20th, Emery, Mark and Kate and three of their friends from Traverse City moved The Emery’s from T.C. to Frankfort (I drove the car over later after spending time with Lily and Caroline at the beach in T.C.). Their trip took five or six hours, including a fun stop for lunch in Leland. After lunch, they ran through a large number of the boats in the race. Those pictures are on Kate’s camera, and Mark will add a blog with those in a few days. But that encounter added a lot to the fun trip for everyone.
Then,Thursday evening in Frankfort, a number of the sailboats stayed over in our marina on their way home. John the harbor master rafted about twenty of them up off his shore. The first picture attached is of the boat raft when about 15 of the boats were in. The boats are “bare bones” racers, so the crews are always hungry and dirty. John has a cook/dockhand named Roary who worked, literally, all night cooking to feed the boats who came in through the night. Lobster, crab, shrimp, ribs all went early and then the hot dogs and hamburgers flew off the grill. The second picture is of John manning the grill after dark; enlarge it for a better view.
This morning, all the boats were gone by 8 A.M. and life at the marina is settling down again. It was a real hoot last night, and the sailboat crews are fun to talk with. Lots of nationalities are represented, and this is a big prestigious race that all sailors want to experience once in their lives.
More stories to follow.
1 comment:
Glad you are having fun. My nephew has one of those sail boats in the race. He was hoping for a good wind. However, he has fun wherever he is. Take care and continue to travel safe.
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