Chichester

"Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk." - Sir Francis Chichester when asked why he carried so much alcohol on his solo sail around the world.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Chicago to St Joseph, MI Race - Tri State Regatta


Storm front moving over Chicago and onto the course. More bark than bite, but it put on quite the light show with all of the lightning. It was reported that a boat, Fantome, south of us was hit by lightning. All crew are OK. (photo courtesy of WGN)


Leaving Chicago for the start. 


 Lazy sailing before the start.


Making our way to the starting area in the distance. 105 boats registered.


 David S. started the race. He and Tricia R. drove the entire race and did a fantastic job.

The 2018 Tri-State Regatta turned out to be a 59 mile (51 NM) drag race. It was dry, it rained, we had light air, we had 32 kts, lots of lightning, clearing sky's, flat seas, and chop....we had a little of everything. We ended up finishing fourth, and the best way to have improved our results would have been to have had a #1 genoa. Which we didn't. So as a buddy of mine, Joe, has said, “you make the best of what you have,” and we did.

We finished at 2:24 in the morning which I believe is the fastest Tri-State (Chicago to St Joseph, MI) that I've ever done.

The crew consist of myself, David S. Nathan J, Tricia R, Mike and Charlie L