Day 32: Saturday, October 6, 2012
Underway: Marina Motor Off: Marina Miles Traveled: 00 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First time participating in a sailboat race; first real (non-motor assisted) sail of the trip.
Mile 32 to Mile 32: After a night of cold rain, we are glad the day dawned sunny with a light breeze. A perfect day for a fall sailboat race. Its race day so, after getting up at sunrise, we dressed in multiple layers, packed our gear (more layers) and walked three boats down to It’ll Be Alright where Theresa and Richard were getting the boat ready for the race. Bob from Grand Cru arrived and we headed out to the race course on Kentucky Lake.
Bob is the only one on the boat with significant race experience. He, with family members as crew, raced the Chicago to Mackinac Race on Grand Cru and took third in the cruiser category. This is a prestigious and challenging race so it is nice to have his expertise on board.
We practiced a few tacks along the start line and tried to get our timing down just right so we would cross the line just as the start flag was dropped. Keep in mind that we weren’t the only ones trying to do this – a bunch of other boats of all sizes were in the same small area sailing in all directions, trying to do the same thing. What a rush. We were perfectly positioned for a great start but at the last minute there was a race delay and restart so we had to tack around to try to get back into position for the 5-minute gun. The second time was the charm and we hit the start line almost like we knew what we were doing (and better yet, didn’t hit anything else in the process). The race was underway on a beautiful sunny fall day. What a great place to be at this moment in time.
Racing is a few moments of bedlam followed by long periods of relative calm (at least the way we were racing). The course looped upwind around a buoy and then headed downwind for a long ways before coming back upwind to the finish line. With the different classes of boats and staggered start times, the boats quickly spread out over the course. It’s a special sight to see 8-10 sailboats spread out in front and behind you with their bright white sails and a few colorful spinnakers flying in the following breeze. We were racing for the fun of it – its tough to win a race with a boat provisioned with everything needed for a three year cruise – and we were making the most of it.
We rounded the downwind mark and started tacking upwind and our nice relaxing sail soon turned a lot more exciting. We were taking turns driving, and, as luck would have it, I was at the wheel as we were making a tack across the channel towards our final buoy mark before heading for the finish line. Without warning I noticed that I had no steering. The wheel was free spinning and no longer controlling the rudder. This is not good. Especially since we were on an upwind tack, under full sail and only about 500’ from a shallow shoal area along the channel with depths marked as low as 5’ – It’ll Be Alright draws 5’ at the bottom of her keel. Oh-oh! After some quick checking to see if something had been bumped or knocked out of position, we soon realized that the wheel was useless. The boat was sideways to the wind and quickly drifting towards the shoal when Theresa decided we should drop the anchor to slow our drift. This helped to slow the boat and brought the sails into the wind making is easier to drop them. Richard found the cause of the problem was a missing master link in the chain drive that runs over a gear connected to the wheel down through some other mechanisms to the rudder. He didn’t have a replacement link. So Theresa quickly found the emergency tiller in the rear stateroom under the bed that was also where the connection was to the rudder. The tiller was easily attached so we now had steerage but this created another interesting problem. The person on the tiller was way under the deck in an enclosed stateroom and could only see sky looking up through a large hatch over his head. We had to pass information from the person in the cockpit to a person at the hatch down to the person on the tiller. Not an easy way to steer a boat.
We started the motor and pulled up the anchor and made way for the marina about 10 miles away. After a short time someone got the idea to give Richard the Ipad with the navigation software on it so he could steer a course down the sailing line and we just needed to tell him if there was traffic in the way. This worked well but then Theresa had the idea to try to control the boat using the hydraulic self-steering system. This system is connected to the tiller independently from the wheel so it should work. By pressing the plus or minus 10˚ and 1˚ buttons she were able to easily control the boat. Using the bow thruster also helped with small adjustments.
We made it back to the channel between Barkley Lake and Kentucky Lake and, after looping around 10˚ at a time to wait for a tow to clear out of our way, we headed up the channel. All was going perfect until we passed under a bridge when suddenly the autopilot stopped responding. The boat immediately headed to the starboard (right) directly towards the rocks and the concrete bridge pillar. Double yikes! Theresa immediately put the boat in reverse to stop our forward speed and Richard dove in to take the emergency tiller again. We stopped seconds from the rocks and backed to the middle of the narrow channel to try to figure out what to do. The autopilot was reset and started responding again and Theresa was able to pilot the boat back to the marina and directly into their slip (where 6 people were waiting to help) all under automatic pilot controls. Wow! A perfect lesson in seamanship (with a little bit of luck mixed in).
And our day wasn’t over yet. After organizing the boat (and kissing the dock), Bob (from Grand Cru) invited Cindy and I over to his boat for a tour. He was moored in a little cove about 1 mile from GTB so we hopped in his dinghy and motored over there. Wow. What a beautiful boat. Grand Cru is a five year old Island Packet 440 that has obviously been well cared for. We warmed up with hot rum toddies and wine and enjoyed our tour and great conversation. We returned to GTB with Bob to attend the post race party (I’m kind of enjoying this sailboat racing lifestyle) on the beach under a tent where they served bratwurst, hamburgers, wine and desert. We were cold from a long day on the lake but had a blast talking about our days adventures and meeting some of the other racers and crew. We are just transients passing through but everyone has been so incredibly nice and welcoming. It makes us feel a little less homesick. And we weren’t done with our day yet.
Debbie from Water Music had invited us over for desert in the evening so we waited to see if we won anything in the drawing (I’m not sure what I would do with a 32” TV but a new GPS would be handy) and we walked back to the marina and straight over to Water Music for apple pie, more fun stories and good company with our friends on Water Music and Rumpshaker. We’re really tired but having a blast at GTB. Today will be one of those days that you never forget.
Lessons Learned: Be ready for anything at anytime. It’ll be alright.
