2010 Race to Mackinac

The 2010 Race to Mackinac is a wrap!  Vytis placed 3rd in section behind Certare (1st) and Sealark (2nd) slightly ahead of Lane 4 to take 17th in Fleet.

The Mighty Crew before the start.

Getting to the start line on Saturday was a bit difficult.  The storms and subsequent flooding affected more than our drive times,  Gyt had a lake in his back yard and Andy had 2" of water in his basement.  The City was forced to open the locks due to flooding and we had to weave our way through all the debris washed out from the floods.  Rail road ties, trees and various other trash dotted the lake front making progress difficult.

We started downwind in a stiff breeze which shifted to the north coming directly from our first mark Point Betse.  When the wind blows out of the north the waves tend to get bigger.  This time was no different.  We beat into 5-8 foot waves all night and morning.  One positive is that Vytis got a good bath each time we would plow into a wave and water would cover the entire deck rushing back like a river.

MRC at the helm - Dawn Sunday

Sunday into Monday were challenging as well.  The wind continued to shift from all directions.  We kept to our mantra of "get North when you can."  When dawn broke on Monday we were startled to find three of our sister ships within a quarter mile of us.  It is amazing how dark it is at night even with a full moon.  But....there they were lit up by dawn's first light.

We had a race on our hands.

The following 12 hours were spent trying to shake off the boats challenging from behind all the while trying to catch the two boats ahead.  We basically finished in the same order we woke up in on Monday.  A third for Vytis and a great race without our Supreme Leader, Tomas Petkus, who needed to back out of the race last second.

Our Island time was fun, we had a nice dinner after the awards at the Island House.  Gyt continues to bring Vytis home to her slip and should be back in Chicago sometime Sunday.

Cocktails on the Porch before dinner - Tuesday

Next up....the Verve Cup in August.....and a bunch of Beer Can Regattas!