Bayview Mackinac Race - Go East Young Man and Seek Your Fortune!

This race started with the wind wind out of the north at about 15 knots. It was a difficult start when we had Flyin' Irish come down and foul us. This caused us to get in their windage so we bailed on port crossing to the right of the fleet just behind Merlin's stern. It was forecast that the wind would moderate that evening with the wind eventually filling in from the southwest. We also knew because the air temperature was close to the water temperature that there would be no offshore effect at night. Since a high pressure was going to travel over Saginaw Bay we decided to stay east and try to get around it to the north before it got too far east. After dusk the north wind started to die. Although we did not get a lot of wind we managed to keep moving the entire time. At about 2 am on Sunday we were about a 1/4 mile behind and left of J120 Hot Ticket. The wind went to about 55 degrees apparent and we put up the code zero. This allowed us to pass Ticket and slowly horizon them. Fortunately for us Ticket did not see the sail change before it was too late. As we got further north we got the stronger wind before Ticket. When daylight broke we had the NA40, Velero, to our right, Hot Ticket a mile behind, and Natalie J to our left. At this point, we thought we had a good night but until we got closer to the mark the realization came about we were also with some Santa Cruz 70's, a very good sign. In fact after rounding the mark a couple of more 70's passed us and that was because they had a 30 foot waterline advantage.

At this point it was a straight shot down to the straits. We made an effort to not get within 5 miles of the Michigan shore because we felt the wind would get soft there after sunset. At this point we discovered that the alternator had failed and we had limited time on the batteries. We cut all power consumption down to only the instruments and gps. The boat kept moving all

the way to the point at Bois Blanc Island. It was necessary to make a couple tacks in 2 or 3 knots of air but crossed the finish line at 8:54 am, 20 minutes ahead of Power Tripp and 2 hours ahead of Hot Ticket. Fortunately for us the wind shut down behind us. Because our batteries were low we had to sail into the dock. This prompted a safety inspection from the race committee and they did check to see we had the mandatory fuel left. Obviously we passed it with flying colors. I think

we did well because we came up with a strategy and stuck to it. We wanted to stay on the eastern third of Lake Huron so we would have all the options needed when the wind changed and the belief that the wind would be a little stronger on the eastern half of the lake. The crew performed nearly flawlessly and getting others up when we needed to make major sail changes. When we docked in the harbor there were only two 50 footers, 46 foot Natalie J and the SC 70s, 2 of which had motored in earlier in the race. This is one race that I am still overwhelmed by, 1st in class and 1st overall - what a race, what a year.

One postscript story - on Sunday afternoon a bird landed on the good ship Hot Ticket. He promptly took a dump on Bobby Kirkman's head and then attacked elder Bob Kirkman's glasses. They therefore named him little Frank. A little later Mike Kirkman was releaving himself when little Frank then went after his plumbing and almost got it with his claw. Little Frank, the son I never had.

Results in J/120 Class:
Link: http://www.byc.com/mack07/results.cfm?Cl ass=J120&Class2=OD

Carinthia 43:14:28 1
Hot Ticket 45:16:13 2
Jayhawker 47:09:08 3
Ihnsanity 53:55:33 4
Capers 54:04:13 5
Flyin' Irish 54:27:42 6
Night Moves 55:30:30 7
Merlin 56:34:20 8
Irresistible too56:37:45 9
Jahazi 74:10:00 10

Results overall: (1st of 158 boats corrected time)
Link: http://www.byc.com/mack07/results-overal l.cfm?Div=Division I - IRC

USA 25497 Carinthia Frank Kern Monday - 08:54:28 43:14:28 47:26:07 J120 1
USA 28990 Power Tripp James Kraft Monday - 09:17:18 43:27:18 47:40:12 IRC B 2
USA 15044 Velero VII JOHN S. BARBOUR Monday - 12:22:51 47:22:51 48:19:42 NA40 3
CAN 4151 Mystery Stephen Jay Monday - 16:23:54 51:33:54 48:59:12 CC 35 4
USA 25328 Hot Ticket Robert Kirkman Monday - 10:56:13 45:16:13 49:45:07 J120 5
USA 50596 Natalie J Philip D. O'Niel III, D.D.S. Monday - 07:36:07 41:36:07 50:02:49 IRC A 6
USA 43737 Gaucho Sanford Burris Monday - 09:29:47 43:29:47 51:01:16 IRC A 7
USA 18970 Nitemare Thomas W. Neill Monday - 05:25:11 39:15:11 51:20:34 GL 70 8
USA 70 Evolution Kohler/Reichelsdorfer Monday - 05:26:06 39:16:06 51:54:45 GL 70 9

The crew included: Mike Badendeick, Colleen Flanagan, Fred Rozelle, Steve Rozelle, Bob Declercq, Nancy Caldwell, Nathan Caspers, Rod Weston