Going Forward With Spirit

This is getting serious

The crew of sailing vessel IMUA battled wind, waves and broken equipment to win first place in the Cruising Division of the Milwaukegan Regatta; a 50 mile race from Milwaukee, WI to Waukegan, IL.  It was a race that saw nearly 60% of the fleet drop out due to weather.

The weather forecast for race day was ominous.   Meteorologists were calling for rain, possible thunder storms with SSE wind gusting to the mid-20s causing 4-6 foot waves.  The forecast was the subject of much discussion among the race committee on Friday evening, as they contemplated postponing the start from Saturday to Sunday, but decided to proceed because of all the logistic complications a postponement would bring. 

Our start was set for 8 am on Saturday morning.  The four of us on the team arrived at 6:30 in order to stow away gear, do a final boat check, and get underway so we could motor the 1.5 miles to the start line.  We arrived at the start line by 7:30 as planned and checked in by radio with the race committee.  As our start time neared, we hoisted sails and shut off the motor so we could test the conditions and craft a starting strategy.

We were definitely in heavy air but not up to the mid-20s as predicted and the waves were a manageable 2-3 feet, so we decided to start with a full set of sails.   

As our five-minute start sequence began, we tacked and jibed in order to position ourselves for a start at full speed and in clean air.  We had a good start, first off the line, but further down than we hoped.  Our first dilemma came up fast, as one of the double-handed boats in the division that started in front of us was foundering and began drifting right into our path.  We hailed them, but as we got closer we realized they were in trouble and we ducked under them – losing valuable distance and time.

Shortly after the start, the wind began to build quickly and it felt like the gusts were certainly in the low to mid 20s.  As the wind increased, so did the waves.  We buried the rail of the boat several times as the edge skimmed under water and the helmsman used both hands on the tiller, like he was rowing with an oar, to keep the boat edge out of the water and moving forward.  The skipper asked for the mainsail traveler to be dropped so we could spill wind and stay more upright, as the swells  grew larger and came in batches of three to five consecutive waves, one right on top of another. 
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With the waves coming in batches the helmsman could surf some of them but not all, and eventually the boat would crash from the top to the bottom of a six foot wave.  The team thinks it was one of those crashes that bent the boom vang extension to a 90 degree angle.  There was nothing we could do about the Vang, but cross our fingers and hope that the bend wouldn’t inhibit the mainsail from tacking when needed.  It was at this point that the skipper said “this is getting serious” and called for the mainsail to be reefed, shortening the amount of sail exposed to the wind in order to reduce heel and make the boat a bit easier to steer.

For this race, the boat was equipped with safety lines and the crew all wore harnesses, so that anyone leaving the cockpit could attach a tether to their harness and the other end to the safety line which would prevent them from going overboard in the wind and the waves.  Kurt volunteered to clip in to the safety line and crawled to the mast so the crew could reduce sail.  Jake and Wayne stayed in the cockpit ready to lower the main halyard when Kurt was ready.  I struggled to surf up the crest and down the trough of each wave, trying to keep the boat from violently crashing down a wave while Kurt was at the mast.  The reef was done without a hitch and Kurt crawled back to the cockpit – wet from the waves - but safe.

The wind and waves weren’t subsiding and The strategy was to stay on this starboard tack long enough so that when we did tack over to port, we would be aligned with the finish and we wouldn’t need to tack again until the end.  It was early enough in the race that we could still see plenty of boats around us.  We were even able to pick out one of our competitors who was a bit ahead. 

After 2.5 hours of hard sailing at the tiller I was tired.  My shoulders hurt, my hands were stiff and my jaw ached from clenching my teeth.  Kurt, an experienced long distance racer, took his turn at the helm, trying to keep ahead of the waves and fighting the wind.  Shortly into Kurt’s watch, we saw one, then another of the fleet give up the race and turn around.  I’m sure we all thought about doing the same.  I know I did, but no one said a word and we sailed on.

We drew even with our competition, but they were more than a mile east of us.  They tacked onto port and headed west, eventually passing in front of us.  We discussed tacking to cover them, but decided that we liked where we were and stayed with our strategy, slogging through the waves on starboard tack.

This was a long race and we couldn’t avoid using the head down below.  As the boat sailed on a 30 degree angle and bounced around with the waves, it was a struggle to peel off your foul weather gear and get to the head.  Three of the four of us came back from our respective trips below, feeling nauseous.  I couldn’t eat for the rest of the day and only sipped on water in order to hold off another trip to the cabin.  All but Wayne – who seemed impervious to the sea state below – avoided the trip at all costs.  By avoiding drinking water, we risked becoming dehydrated, but the alternative was to risk sea sickness and all that entails.  Not a good trade in our book.

We were about 10 miles east of the shoreline when the wind began to slow and then shifted to our bow, forcing us to either tack or fall off.  This wasn’t the place we planned to make our tack for the finish but decided we should take advantage of the lift we would see on the other end of the tack.  We called for a tack and crossed our fingers that the bent Vang would accommodate.  It did, and after the tack we shook out the reef to increase our sail area.  This felt good.  We peered below us and to the west to see if we could spot our competition.  They were no where around.  Did they surge ahead?  Did they fall hopelessly behind?  Did they abandon the race? We didn’t know.  What we did know is that this was the best ride of the day so far.
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Jake and Wayne took their turns at the tiller as we either picked up speed or slowed down with the fickle wind.  It was surprising how quickly the waves changed with the wind speed; growing when the wind picked up and shrinking when the wind lessoned. And it was like that for the remainder of the trip.

Finally, we could see the finish line off on the horizon.  We had been trailing a boat that wasn’t in our division and found ourselves mirroring their path.  It was clear that we would need to do two more tacks in order to cross the finish line, which we did.

We finished the race in 10.5 hours.  We saw one boat finish about 15 minutes in front of us and another about 15 minutes behind us, but neither was in our division.  We had no idea where we finished in the standings.  We were just happy to have safely arrived.

Later that evening, after we settled the boat and ate supper, we walked to the Waukegan Yacht Club to take advantage of the free beer they provided to the racers.  It was in the bar that we ran into the crew of the competitor boat we had been watching all day.  We learned that they finished nearly two hours behind us.  We figured we had a good chance to trophy after hearing that, but we never really dreamed it would be first place. 

We were happy but tired and a bit beat up, so we decided to motor sail the 8 hours home the next day.  During that trip Wayne looked up the results on his phone and announced:  IMUA – first place in the Cruising Division. 
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We competed in challenging conditions.   We pushed ourselves beyond our comfort zone and we didn’t give up – even though each of us contemplated doing so. The win felt like an affirmation.  After all, the name of our boat is IMUA, which is Hawaiian for “go forward with spirit.”