2012 Mackinac Race update

After the Race; A very familiar sight to all Mackinac Racers

The final results are in, but the R/C here does not publish them online until the awards party is over, apparently.

We had a fantastic race. We got a little slow near Little Sable, and that is what killed us. The boats who took the outside route, or went north of rhumb, or split from the pack and convention wisdom and went outside the Manitous, did the best.

We finished 11th or 12th in our section, but with our handicap, we were 16th overall, I think.

I'll be posting pictures and a full recap in a day or two. We had a fantastic time; in 10 Mac races, I've never had a race where I wore nothing but shorts the entire race (with a light sweatshirt from 0200-0600 or so.) We had amazing winds for the run up from Gray's Reef to the Island (I think it is about 30 miles, we did it in under 3 hours. Amazing.) Clear skies and shooting stars at night, sunshine and great times on deck during the day... What a race!

Scott
Maskwa

2012 Race to Mackinac

Hi All!!

Well, getting close to Race Time!

This Saturday, July 21st, Maskwa will be starting at 1210 on another Race to Mackinac. Personally, this will be my 10th race; Manny, our own Old Goat, will be racing his 28th, Don is on about 14, and on down the line.

If you would like to follow us up the lake, you can click on this link. We are in Section 5. The Section menu is on the left hand side; just click the section, and follow us up the lake; simple no?

There have been lots of problems with race tracking in years past, however this company has an excellent reputation with race tracking equipment, so hopefully you will get close to real time updates.

4 days to go. Maskwa has a 1st in the Queen's Cup, a 2nd in the NOOD, a 2nd in the Chicago - Waukegan… we're race ready if we ever have been. Pray for strong (Maskwa favored!) winds, and a safe journey.

Your 2012 crew is----

Don Waller (The Bear)

Manny (Peruvian War God)

George "Splash" Chlipala (claim to fame-- only person thrown off the boat by the boat.)

Ute Tegtmeyer ("It depends")

Carly "Jaws" Power (When she leaves her mark on the boat, she really sinks her teeth into it!)

Ryan Sadowy (famous quote from last year "Everyone talks about the weather; this isn't so bad" right before the 100mph winds hit)

Nicole "Sophie" Stanton-Louviere (Leaving us for Florida… but still a Maskwa girl!)

Lynn Kozak (Jetting in from Montreal for the race, only took us 10 years to steal her from Salsa, and now they sold the boat.)

Me (nothing special here.. move along… more along…)

Strong winds, fair skies, and following seas.

Cheers!

Scott

Maskwa

2012 Queen's Cup

I think the picture says it all---

So how did we get there?

Friday we met at the dock in Milwaukee, Maskwa all ready to go. Don and Anthony had delivered her up overnight on Thursday, and then Ryan, Ute, George, Sonja and I took trains up later on Friday.

The weather forecasts had called for mostly calm. High winds were expected to be about 8-10 kts, max, midway across the lake. We were a little worried that this would become a drift-fest, and we know high winds favor us, especially with this strong a section (under PHRF, we were tied as slow boat in the section. Most of the faster rated boats have big jibs, and in light air that gives them quite the advantage. We are better looking, though...)

However, when we motored out for the start, raised the sails, and started working the start line, there was plenty of wind.

Starts were on 10 minute intervals, and we had a good 30 minute clock running.

We started towards the high end of the section; Section flags were actually start sequence flags, so we were mixed in with the section faster than us. Any way you look at it, we had a great start, close to the line but no real danger of going over; Ryan called his first big start, ("43 boat lengths from the line, Don!") and we were off and racing.

We maintained our position high of our section, and then of the fleet, throughout the evening. Slowly boats from a faster section would creep up on us, and we ended up high of just about everyone, except for Momentous (J109) and Nighthawk (C&C115, and our prime competitor.)

'High,' in this case, meant south of the fleet. Winds were out of the South at about 8 kts. Even though when we had looked at the weather, this felt like the right course, even though weather was moving in slowly from that direction (We watched the storms all night and morning... we never had a single raindrop.)


Night fell, and we settled in for some good sailing. Maskwa was humming right along, we were averaging about 5 knots, and we had all hands on deck for the night. Not necessarily awake, though. Clip on to the jack line, and nap on the rail.


Eventually, the winds started to clock around to be more southerly. We changed from our #1 to the JibTop, thinking we would get maybe 1/2 a kt out of the deal, but every time the wind clocked a little bit further south, it increased; we picked up 1.5 - 2 kts every time. We had the JT up for a good half hour or so, and then the wind came forward-- we went back to the #1.


We traded sails every now and then, eventually settling in with the JT and us hiking out on the high side; we had 8 kts of boatspeed consistently, and started to see a regular dose of 9.0 and 9.2. With only 4 of us out on the rail, some of the gusts were a little strong. We probably had that sail up for a good 5 hours. We were really delivering the mail now. 


We heard the sleds start to call in their finishes, and we knew that flying along as we were, we would not be that far behind them. We picked out a few of the lights, and started shooting bearings from other boats, and we were passing boats at quite a clip. The problem, is that at night, you don't know if you are passing that boat you owe 120 seconds/mile, or someone from your own section. You just have to sail fast, and stay that way.


Let's say the first 14/16ths of the race was excellent. We were about to have a 'moment.' We were 4 miles out or so, and the wind shut off. It was just like closing a curtain. We were zipping along, telling jokes about how slow 7.5 kts felt, when... suddenly we could only make 5. And then 4. And... it kept getting worse.


In short order, we were bobbing about, half a knot of speed, but in 3 foot seas. We were trying not to destroy the new main sail, but we were still racing. And then... the fleet started to catch us. We had watched Nighthawk fall further and further behind... we could see their red a-sail slowly getting larger. And if they were catching us.... who else was? This is where we were as dawn broke.


There was just no getting over it... we were going to have a repeat of the week prior, when we managed to catch everyone up front, and then boats were going to go flying past us, seeing the hole we were in.


And yet.... and yet... somehow... we managed to keep moving. A few nearby boats had some way, and we were managing a good 2 kts directly towards the finish thanks to the waves. We had room, and we needed a sail to catch the lightest winds. The wind had moved, also.... we were directly up from the finish, making it a dead down run.


We hoisted the big chute, dropped the JT, and slowly, painfully, worked our way across the remaining miles. It is very painful to hear the sails flogged like that. 3' seas and no winds... ouch. 


And then there was a puff of wind. We could gybe and get closer to the finish. We gybed. Slowly we overran what little wind we had. We gybed again. We could see 1 or 2 boats getting a little power, and George and I could feel the wind again...


Ever so slowly, we pulled away from the boats that were dogging us. Nighthawk had been a stone's throw behind us, and they slid up high and exited the area where the pressure was building.


We got back up to speed... then we were doing 4 kts, had plenty of way, and were making a bee line for the finish.


We got the finish signal, yelling a few congrats to each other, and then started dropping our gear to motor in. As we came into the harbor, the only boats we could see from our section that we knew about ... were almost none. Liberte was there... but we didn't know how long she had been there. Could we correct over her?


A few hours later (and a drink and a nap later,) they posted the uncorrected finish times. George and I grabbed our section list, and started ticking off boats. When we finished, we had accounted for all boats in our section, and only 1 finished ahead of us scratch, and Liberte owed us almost 7 minutes; she had beaten us across the line by 3:39.


1st Place in The Queen's Cup. 


It was a great crew we had that night. Everyone pulled their weight, and more! We all took turns at different positions on the boat, just to give each other a break. 


It was a great night, and a better morning.


On to the next race!!


Scott

Upcoming Sailing

Hi Everyone!!

Well, had a great beer can race tonight, nothing like a 1st Place finish to make the crew happy (and a little bottle of rum… no joke… tiny.)

Upcoming sailing:

This weekend is Father's Day weekend, and we are not doing the Hobleman regatta as we were originally listed for. No problems, a free weekend. 

Chicago - Waukegan - Chicago:

This race has a bit of an early start off Saturday morning. We get into Waukegan Saturday afternoon, spend the night, and then return Sunday to BPYC. This is a great "beginner's" long distance, or "port-to-port" race. If you can only race Saturday, there are trains leaving Saturday evening from Waukegan returning to Chicago. In fact, here are the Saturday night train runs: 

If you can only race Sunday, your options are a little more limited. As of yet, I don't know of anyone driving up. In fact, so far, for the race, I have listed (for both days):

Don

Carly

Ryan

Mary Ellen

If you are interested in doing the race, it is a fun time, not terribly long, and you can certainly knock out Saturday and make it back.

If you can only do Sunday, there is no train that leaves early enough from Chicago to get you up to Waukegan Sunday morning for race start. So you will either have to drive up early Sunday morning, or take the train up Saturday evening and sleep on the boat.

The Queen's Cup:

This is a great race from Milwaukee to South Haven, Michigan (this year… destinations vary by year.) This is a night start in Milwaukee, or an evening start, at any rate, on Friday, June 29th. 

Don will need help delivering Maskwa to Milwaukee Thursday. Plan on leaving BPYC roughly 2PM, which would mean an arrival in good weather in Milwaukee at 3 AM (at the earliest.) It is a time commitment.

We will be leaving Friday to cross the lake. The race is a good time, it is a great way to get checked out sailing at night. Because it is a long, port-to-port race, things happen a little slower, and we are all tuned up for safety. If you wish to come, you will need good foul weather gear (it gets cold out there,) but if you do not have your own, you can usually borrow some from a crew member who is not doing the race. If you are interested, please let me know.

We are starting to get people interested in the Mackinac delivery, the reposition/cruise sail to Beaver Island, and the Harbor Springs Regatta. If you are maybe on the fence, or any of that seems to feel like it fits the cut of your jib, let me know, so we can start putting together who is going where and with whom.

Cheers all!

Scott

Maskwa

NOOD ORR/PHRF fun and games

Hey all!

So I did a little parsin' and figurin', and this is what I get.

Given the section break we had, as far as being in a non-one-design section. Under PHRF, we would have been (boat/PRHF, 'fastest,' or most time given, to 'slowest,' or least time given:)

Jahazi (51)
Spitfire (63)
Maskwa (72)
Measure for Measure (93)
Whisper (96)

Our normal PHRF section break runs from 60 - 72. We are usually the lowest performance boat in the section. There are 2 ways to think how that handicap works.

Method 1

Consider the number as an offset/mile (given in time.) So, for every mile of race, no matter now long it takes, Jahazi has 51 seconds REMOVED from their time. Maskwa has 72 seconds REMOVED from our time. So, if it takes an hour exactly (1:00:00,) and we finish with the exact same time as Jahazi, they would have sailed a corrected finish time of (0:59:09,) while Maskwa would have a corrected finish time of (0:58:48,) which, of course, is less time giving us the win (in that situation.)

Method 2

The second way of figuring all this out is to look at relative times. Given the above example, we know that over a mile long course, Jahazi would owe us 21 seconds/mile, so for every mile of race, we pick up 21 seconds. Most races are roughly 5 miles long (up to 7, usually,) so we know that if we finish within 1:05 of Jahazi, we will correct over them.

Under ORR, things are run a bit differently. You are given a corrected time OVER TIME. The number you see as a handicap is multiplied by time racing, and then that is your corrected time. So, up to a point, the longer you are on the water, the more time you might be 'owed.' Of course, if other boats are zipping ahead, you still need to finish in a reasonable time.

So it roughly works like this-- Here are our handicaps under ORR (again, fastest to slowest:)

Jahazi (.943)
Spitfire (.938)
Maskwa (.918)
Measure for Measure (.858)
Whisper (.853)

So, for every hour on the racecourse, using the same example, Jahazi, corrected, only races ".934" of an hour, we race only ".918" of an hour. Using it as a time multiplier, then, we get Jahazi with a corrected finish of 56:35, and Maskwa finishing in a time of 55.05, or a 1:30 difference for every hour of racing. The time 'allowed' difference per hour between Jahazi and Whisper (or M4M,) is 5:24, or nearly 10% of the time spent racing. The true purpose of a handicap system is so that boats with similar performance but not wildly different performance can race against each other. 10% of the race time would count as wildly different, IMNSHO.

So, I re-ran the NOOD Regatta under PHRF.

The results were as expected, dramatic. Here is a screen shot of the google docs file.
I converted Elapsed time into seconds, then subtracted the seconds allowed per mile for PHRF. One of the problems with TOT racing types is they don't keep that accurate a distance of the distance, because only time matters to them. The distance lost for the gate was probably mostly made up for by the offset on our course.. they were RIGHT THERE.

Blue numbers are finish position for each race.
Red numbers are daily position totals at the end of racing.
Green numbers are cumulative position.

As you can see, the results are quite different, especially when you compare them to the actual results.

So, what does this all mean?

Well, we know it gives us a small advantage over a small number of boats, but over.. say... 55 hours of the Mac, with Whisper taking 64 hours, we would owe them another 49 minutes (or so...) meaning, that they would correct over and beat us. Finishing 9 hours later. Ouch. 

No matter how you slice it, it pays to be as fast as you can. 

2nd Place is still up on the podium, and we'll take that brag flag they gave us (oh, wait, they didn't do that!) and just enjoy our 2nd place finish, knowing we are sailing better and better than ever (we are also better looking than they are!)

Cheers, all!

Scott

p.s... this is one of the reasons why one design sailing is so popular. However, you need to have enough boats to race head to head (it's simple... first over the finish line wins.) I checked on LMPHRF, and there are 5 C&C 115s listed as having a handicap for 2012. Maskwa, Paradigm Shift, Nighthawk, Aquila II, and Bella. Only the first 2 race regularly. 

NOOD quick recap

Hi Gang!!

Well, that was quite a weekend!

Maskwa with a 2nd in ORR4, a very unfavorable rating for us. Don and I will be recrunching the numbers to see how we would have done under PHRF. Either way, we'll take the 2nd Place to the bank.

Longer post to follow, but great racing, Maskwa!!

Scott

Beercan Review

Hi Gang!

Well, we came out of our first beercan with a 2nd place (at BPYC.) We had perfect weather, great winds, all we needed was a little more experience on board, and we would have had the spin up and raced down that 2nd leg.

We had a good time, the new peeps are coming together well. David took some heroic waves working on the foredeck, and was ably assisted by Mary Ellen and Ryan. Made some sail changes look easy; the boat sailed well, even though we were rigged for light air as far as rig tension goes.

I'm of 2 minds about the new format for the beercan races. I like the trapezoidal course, except for one thing. I think it does give a slight advantage to the sprit boats. They sail off the wind a little more efficiently than we do, so we lose the advantage of a leg that goes close to straight downwind. On the other hand, we found how well we can sail upwind with our jib top reacher!

The season is coming along well... We are gelling nicely, now all we have to do is put it all together.

Looking forward to practice Sunday!!

Cheers!

Practice makes perfect

A note on the word 'perfect.'

Have you ever wondered about the use of the word 'perfect' in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution?
"We The People, of the United States, in order to form a more perfect [emphasis mine] Union, ..."

"More perfect?" How can you get 'more' from 'perfect?'

Actually, at the time, linguistically, perfect meant something along the lines of 'as good as it is going to get, for now, but it can, of course, be made better or get better.'

So you can improve upon perfection.

So our practice on Saturday was perfect. We did great getting sails up and down, got the 'chute flying nicely, jibed, doused, set the jibtop, all kinds of good stuff. Was like we had been sailing quite a bit of the season. Gives me the warm fuzzies. Let's see how we do on race day now. (first race is the NOODs, even though they lied and said they would have PHRF sections, which are now ORR, so that will be fun.)

We'll just have to go out and sail fast.

While we're having fun, a big huzzah! goes out to our friends on Turning Point and Skidmarks for their 1st place finishes in today's Olympic Cup Regattas. Unofficial finishes at this point, but Skidmarks with a 1st and a 3rd, and Turning Point with three 1st Place finishes...

More to come, and see you at the Wednesday night beercan!!

Scott

B/C Tune-Up Recap

Talk about a lovely day on the water!

Except for the wind shutting off. But at least we made up for that but finishing. I think that was the name of the game Wednesday night; being far enough ahead to finish the race. And we were not ahead by any stretch of the imagination.

We gave up quite a bit of lake to Paradigm Shift at the starting line, and we would not get that back until we were bobbing around at the mark, trying to make the turn for home. Of course, since they were slightly ahead, they were able to pick up that little wind shift and disappear on us. Awesome.

But it was a lovely sail, we had a great time, got some newer peeps out on the water, and started breaking off the rust.

Race Season up to the Queen's Cup

Hi Gang!!

Long email coming, so grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and take some notes.

Beercans Start Wednesday.

The Beercan Season kicks off with the Beercan TuneUp tomorrow, Wednesday, May 23rd. Maskwa is still down at 31st street. We know that is a bit of a pain in the ass to bike to, and we are only partially sure about how parking will work. 

So we will meet at the 31st Street Harbor for the Beercan tomorrow. For parking you need the code and a harbor pass. There are bike racks, although you can lock your bike inside the dock gates (like we do at BPYC) if you want, too. We'll be coming back to 31st street, since they are keeping the harbor closed (supposedly) till midnight Thursday morning.

Don would like to know if anyone is available to help move the boat from 31st Street to BPYC on Thursday. Not sure of the time, but if you are free part of the day, let us know and we'll schedule when we can.

Practice #1 (Saturday, May 26th):

This Saturday (May 26th,) We'll have our first practice. Originally we had a race scheduled that day, but a good practice session will do us wonders for the regattas to come. Boat call is 0900. We would like to be off the dock fairly soon after that, so that we are not spending the entire day on the water (even though that is a lovely thing.) If you are new to the crew, or new to sailing, the practice sessions will be a great chance to get out and get some real sail/race learning in. Wed night beercans are good for fun, but if you want to get some work in, this is the time to do it. If we can, we will do 2 sessions so that people who work Saturday can come early.

Beercan #1 is Wednesday the 30th; We'll be back full time at BPYC at that point. 5:30PM boat call, as always; continues until October. Check the blog for the off weeks.

R/C Volunteers

Don is most likely helping out with Race Committee for the Colors Regatta. He could use an extra hand on Saturday, June 2nd. If you are free and would like to smash around in the mark boat, moving racing marks, getting some sun, watching the boats go by, he could use an extra 2 sets of hands. Drop me a line….

Practice #2 (Sunday, Jun 3rd):

Boat Call will be 0900. We'll be fine tuning what will already be a well oiled sailing machine (Or a well sailed oiling machine.) Again, if you are new to the crew, or looking to get some good experience, this will be a great time to come. It will help tremendously if regular crew is here. 

National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta:

This is a Friday/Saturday/Sunday race. You can sign up for 1, 2 or all 3 days. We will give weight to the more experienced crew for these regattas. However, if you come out regularly (beercans, practice, etc…) or are interested in some intense hard sailing, this is the time to be out. This is a national series of regattas, runs about once a month in locations all over the country, and they have some great parties that all crew members can come to.

Waukegan:

We'll be doing the Chicago-Waukegan race Jun 23/24. This is a long distance race; we race Saturday the 23rd from Chicago -Waukegan, and Waukegan-Chicago Sunday the 24th. You can take the train up Saturday night if you can only do Sunday and sleep on the boat (There is no train early enough to leave Sunday morning.) Obviously, if you can only do Saturday, you can take the train back to Chicago that evening.

Queen's Cup:

This is a race we try to do every other year. It goes from Milwaukee to Grand Haven, Michigan (on the years that we race it.) The race starts on Friday night (Jun 29th,) and gets in whenever the wind takes us across the lake. The pre-race fun in Milwaukee is a good time, and the post race party in Grand Haven is great. This is an excellent night race (yes, we race across the lake at night.) You will need to have your own foul weather gear, or borrow some for the race (mid lake temps can be unseasonably cool.. no joke, into the 50s.) Race start is usually around 7pm, so people need to be at the harbor in Milwaukee at 5pm. The Amtrak Hiawatha Express runs from Chicago to Milwaukee ($23,) and from there we can catch a cab to the harbor. We can save on cab fare by all heading up together. There are numerous trains that make the run, it takes about 1:23, but the last train that makes it on time leaves at 3:15PM (from Chicago.)

We will also need a warm body or two to deliver the boat to Milwaukee for the race. We can do this the Wednesday night after the beer can the 27th, or all day Thursday the 28th. We would prefer to go up Wednesday night after the beer can if the weather is looking iffy for Thursday… just to be sure. Let me know if you are interested, and I'll keep you apprised as we get closer. 

Looking ahead:

Mac Delivery, Harbor Spring Regatta, etc…

We will need people to drive up to Mackinac to bring land gear, and to help deliver the boat to Harbor Springs for the Ugotta Regatta, which is the weekend right after Mackinac. Harbor Springs is a great regatta weekend; We usually do very very well, right up until we shoot ourselves in the foot spectacularly. Seriously. You have to be there to believe it. But the race venue is great, the winds are always blowing, and there is fun to be had.

CrewSignUp:

I am working on updating our schedule on the website, so give me a little time with that. Draper kind of screwed up on the Area III website (On the Tri-State, he has the return race starting Saturday, which would be difficult for boats that have not finished yet,) which effects what we have on CSU. I'm going to enter the races manually, so give me a day or two (or 3.. maybe 4.) As of right now, the blog is up to date.

All for now….Cheers!!

Scott

Out for a sail...

Hi gang!

Well, we got out and got a little sailing in yesterday (and boy, are my arms tired!)

I know I am not the only one with a good case of sunburn. Owie. Nothing like a little high overcast to let you burn. And no sunscreen. And sailing upwind so you don't feel the heat.

Got the rig stretchd out, put some sails up, tacked and did some pole-less kite flying to boot.

So there are a few errors in the schedule that I need to fix, I'll be emailing about that within a few days. As of right now the plan is to not race the Spring Opener and to practice that weekend, and get ready for the NOOD. Once we are past that, it looks like all distance races until Harbor Springs.

So, more to come....

Cheers!

Scott

Delivery Weekend Info!!

Hi Gang!!

Just a quick note for this weekend (Saturday, April 28.) (and more, as it turns out…)

Nearly all of the prep work is done, Don just needs 2 or maybe 3 people to come up for a few hours on Saturday to be paint mixers and maybe wash and wax (and if time permits) help rig the mast. We got a ton of work done this past weekend, so we're almost ready to go into the water! (Somehow Ryan managed to avoid his yearly task of sanding the boat bottom with Don… The Skipper may have something special planned for him now…)

Please let me know if you are interested in being his slave for a few hours that day… I mean helper… helper… please contact me and I will put you down. There is always more boat work to be done… ;)

Once that is done, here is what else is coming up:

Delivery Info:

Delivery Saturday, May 5th.

The plan is to take the train up to Waukegan as per usual. Here are the trains that get in on time to get us off the dock by 11am.

Train 803

Ogilvie Transportation Center - 08:35

Clybourn 08:43

Ravenswood 08:48

Rogers Park 08:52

Arrives-

Waukegan 09:50

One Way fare is $6.75. You can pre-buy (in the station) or pay on the train.

There is a train that leaves a bit after that, that gets into Waukegan at 11:50.. for OBVIOUS reasons, that will not work to get us off the dock by 11am, however, if we know you are coming…. and… you missed the train and are stuck, we will most likely wait. Please everyone try to make Train 803.

We take the train because then we don't have to go back up and retrieve cars. That is a pain in the ass.

Practice Starts!!

Saturday May 19th

Boat Call will be about 10:00(ish) am. We plan on sailing for about 3 hours, depending on how we are doing. If you are new to the boat or to sailing it would probably be a good idea to come out this day… lol. We do a lot with newer sailors when we get in our Wednesday night beercan races, but this would be a great time to get out on the water and start experiencing what we are actually DOING when we DO things on the boat. Good relaxed time to ask questions, and do other fun things, like start learning how to trim a sail, how to grind a winch, how to hike out you rummies… oh, wait. Anyways, it'll be a good time. Those of us Ye Olde Hands at this sailing thing could probably use a rust remover sail or three, also.

…and… what you are all waiting for….

Race Info!!

Well, Don has been up to his heinie in alligators with regards to the race season. Dates are changing, races are swapping out handicap systems, all kinds of political BS and shenanigans, so while we know there WILL be a season, as of yet, Don's major concern is just getting Maskwa safely dropped into the water and down to Chicago. Plan on the first race being the Spring Opener, and we'll take it from there. We will have a good practice or two down by then, and a pair of beercan races (one the tune-up, then Beercan #1.)

Cheers all!!

Scott

Updated Race Season!

Hi All!

Well, I have updated our race schedule with our most likely races for this season. It's all there on the right on the box (also boat work weekends, etc...)

A few changes and notes--

Mackinac Yacht Club has moved the Race 'Round The Island to follow the Port Huron - Mackinac Race. That sucks. We've done it every year they have had it, and now they are having the race before we get there. I've removed it from the schedule for now.

The Abe Jacobs, which has started off the season for us, and us working as R/C for the Regatta, has been moved to August. Thanks, NATO!

We have a BUNCH of long distance/port-to-port races leading up to The Mac. There is a Chicago to St Joe entire weekend race (Friday start, Sunday return) that is new. I do not know if it is a night start. A few weeks later we have the Waukegan weekend, the Queen's Cup, the Michigan City round trip, and then the Mac.

This should bode well for us; we have done quite well in long distance races, so let's welcome them with open arms, and go out there and slay some boats.

There will probably be a practice weekend or two in there before the Spring Opener, and we usually do not do the Olympic Cup, but we may do both. The Chicago Long Distance Classic is not in the Area III website, although it is still in Crewsignup for July 1st. That would probably mean we would not be doing the Queen's Cup.

So you can see things are still quite up in the air for a few races.

Any way you slice it, we have a great season coming up. Hope you are all ready!!

Scott

Boat Work Weekend!

Hi Everyone! (Even those who said they cannot make it this weekend….)

Our game plan is thus:

THIS weekend (21/22) is going to be our major push boatwork-wise. We will be working hard all weekend, but that is so that we're ready to go for the season. Thankfully, Don already has done quite a bit of work at home (sanding and staining the floors, etc…) so we only really have a few things to get done. Sand/paint the bottom, wash/wax the hull and mast/boom, rebuild the winches, and do some general cleaning.

We should be able to knock this out in 2 easy trips.

Saturday, for those of you who want to take the train, the best suggestion is Train 803 on the

Metra Union Pacific/North Line.

Here are the orders of the stops/departure times:

Train 803

Ogilvie Transportation Center - 08:35

Clybourn 08:43

Ravenswood 08:48

Rogers Park 08:52

Arrives-

Waukegan 09:50

Return trains are a piece of cake. There are trains every other (or so) hour from 12:10-19:10. The last 3 trains are out at, and arrive at

these stops at these times---

return departure times

1710

Rogers Park - skipped

Ravenswood - 17:55

Clybourn - skipped

Ogilvie - 18:11

1910

Rogers Park - 20:05

Ravenswood - 20:10

Clybourn - 20:17

Ogilvie - 20:28

The 22:40 train that is just silly late… I hope we are done long before that time!!

Fare one way for this trip is $6.75.

If you would rather drive, or organize a carpool for Saturday, You can look up Larson's Marine, Waukegan IL for directions from wherever you happen to be. Let me know if you want/need a carpool… we'll work out a convenient pick-up point.

Sunday!! (Sunday…Sunday… )

I will be driving up, and if anyone is interested in carpooling with me, please contact me. I plan on leaving about 09:45. If anyone else is interested in setting up a carpool, or can make it Sunday, let me know.

That is all for now, hope all is well, and start thinking of sailing (actually, as Don says, it should never be far from your mind anyways!)

Scott

Season Prep Info!

Hello again all!!

Getting ready for the 2012 season will be a *snap!*

Here is our rough timeline--

Boatwork Weekends:

April 21/22

April 28/28

Delivery to 31st Street Harbor (!!):

May 5 (rain/inclement weather May 6)

Backup weekend:

May 12/13

This will be totally different. We will not start out at our home at BPYC, because of the NATO Conference. The "Plan" according to the city (from what I have gleaned, and from dim memories of a condo with The Bear,) is to open the harbor the weekend of May 26th.

We have a regatta to run as R/C Sunday the 20th, (The Abe Jacobs,) But so far things are up in the air as to weather or not they are going to reschedule the regatta to run on another day, run it from 31st street, etc.

In addition to THAT, The Spring Opener and Olympic Cup are the following weekend, and these are great tune-up races if we can get out there to start polishing up our skills. However, we may be operating out of 31st Street.

And no news (as of yet,) on parking, CTA, etc. (I am sure it is online somewhere, just don't have it in front of me.)

The Area III Schedule is not finalized yet! Most of the races will be on the weekends that they indicate on Crewsignup or the Area III website (especially the major ones, the NOOD, the Verve, the Mac, Michigan City, Queen's Cup, etc…) but a few of them have possible date changes coming soon (actually the Area III scheduling meeting to take care of that is supposed to be tomorrow, Wednesday March 21st.) More news if there are any major changes.

So practice a bit for the season (Dr Judi recommends standing in full foulies in a cold running shower, legs over the side, with two friends alternately splashing you with a bucket of even colder water, whilst the other one bellows "Helm's A'lee!," "Jibe Ho!," "Shiver me Mizzen and Ready me Timbers!," "Make ready the Capstan!," "Pass the skipper some Rum!") (you get the picture.)

Check the blog; I'll be posting info on there once they get the schedule ready, and of course, all emails will be doubled-up there.

http://blog.maskwa.org

In the meantime, here is a little sailing eye candy:

http://youtu.be/Dl25m8TLNVc

And if you want to see the pros lay one on her side---

http://youtu.be/d89-0-lp7yI

Cheers!

Scott

Maskwa Lunch at Strictly Sail!

Hi Gang!

Well, it is that time of year again! The snow is falling, the air is cold, the lake is freezing over, so that means it's time to think about summer and sailing!

Strictly Sail is back at Navy Pier the last week of the month, and we'll have our annual get-together on Sunday, Jan 29th, at Bubba Gump Shrimp at Navy Pier.

We're making it a little bit earlier so that people can have a little lunch and then go in and enjoy the show. Both the show and B.G. open up at 1100, so we won't be in the crowd for lunch (in theory!) so hopefully that will work out for us.

Just a little time to get together.

Admission to Strictly Sail is $15, there are discounts if you buy multi-day passes, etc, all online.

There are some deals if you buy your ticket online (for St.Sail, not Bubba Gump,) such as a year's subscription to Sail Magazine, or Flying Magazine, or Ski Magazine (????) Here is the link:
http://www.strictlysailchicago.com/attendees/admission.aspx

So, again,

1100
Sunday, January 29th
Bubba Gump Shrimp at Navy Pier
Strictly Sail to follow… :)

Please let me know if you are coming, bringing friends to meet up with us, all of that whatnot.

Cheers!

Scott

p.s… only 98 days till Delivery!! (give or take a week.)