Thursday, July 17, 2008

In case I don't have your email

The following email went out to everyone in my email address book. In case I don't have your email address, I'm posting a copy of the email message here:

As many of you know I am racing in the 2008 Chicago to Mackinac sailboat race. This year's race is the 100th running and a record 440 boats from around the world will be participating. The race starts this Saturday July 19th, A boat parade will be going past the east end of Navy Pier starting at 10AM. Best place to watch is from the east end of the second tier of the pier. There will be TV crews and an announcer talking about the boats. Look for "Cyclone" # 51804. We will be starting the race at 12:10PM about 1 mile east of the Chicago lighthouse. This year all of the boats will be equipped with satellite tracking transponders. You can watch my teams progress at:
http://charthorizon.com/races/2008_chicago_mackinac/htdocs/

Pictures, race reports and video can be found at:
http://www.chicagomackinac.com/2008/

For additional information check out the various links at the Chicago Yacht Club's official Race to Mackinac website:
http://chicagoyachtclub.org/racetomackinac/

If it is an average race we should finish sometime Monday afternoon/ early evening. At 30 ft we are one of the smallest boats in the race (smallest is 28 ft) and we are the smallest boat in our section which is "Section 7". We will be in direct competition with boats up to 50 ft and with only six people on board we have one of the smallest crews. Feel free cheer us on by keeping your browser on us.

Again the boat name is "Cyclone" and the sail number is 51804.

- Danny

FAQ:

Q. If you guys are one of the smallest boats how can you guys win?
A. Boats are handicapped by a mathematical rating systems which predict how fast they should be capable of sailing under a variety of conditions. Applying these ratings to each boat's elapsed time on the race course determines which boat sailed the best relative to their rating, and therefore determines the winner. This allows the entire fleet to compete against each other. We have just as much chance of winning as the 96 ft "Genuine Risk". They might finish before us but after the handicap is applied we can correct on the bigger boats. Although we are one of the smallest we are somewhere in the middle for speed. Cyclone is a bit of a hot rod for its size.

Q. Do you race at night?
A. Yes the crew is divided into shifts, half of the crew is down below sleeping while the other half is sailing. If the on deck crew needs help they call "all hands on deck" for help.

Q. What about food and water?
A. We bring enough to last till Tuesday.

Q. What if someone has to go to the bathroom?
A. Cyclone has a head, know as a toilet to landlubbers.

Q. What if there is bad weather?
A. We race right through it and we have lots of required safety equipment in case something bad happens. The worst part is if there is no wind, the flies can get very bad.

Q. Is there a shower?
A. No, if you finish 25 Mac races you are called an "Old Goat" you can guess why they have that name.

Q. How do you know how to get there?
A. We have a GPS (Global Positioning System) that tells us where we are, and we carry printed charts as a backup.

Q. Does the Coast Guard know about this?
A. Yes and they send the 245 ft ice breaker "USCG Mackinaw" and the 140 ft "USCG Mobile Bay" to shadow the fleet.

Q. What do the winners receive?
A. The Chicago to Mackinac race is an amateur event, so no prize money is awarded. The Section winners will receive a plaque, a flag, and bragging rights for the next year. The overall winners have their names engraved on the permanent trophies that are displayed at Chicago Yacht Club.

No comments: