84 boats, all working on last minute details for the big show. All have been preparing for over a year, and in just 6 days we will leave it all on the coarse. Man are we excited to be a part of it!
We arrived, as planned; in Chicago at 3:30 a.m. last Thursday morning. The last thing I wanted was to fight city traffic the last 30 miles of our 1150-mile journey pulling VooDoo Too from Falmouth Maine to the Windy City. Just my luck some Chicago commuter would T-bone us and ruin our dream. Thank God for Ohio, gas there was ONLY (?) $3.91 a gallon.
Our immediate impression was what a beautiful city and great place to race. We found the Chicago Yacht Club and Fleet 11 extremely well organized. Parking was secure and reserved, lots of grass for folding sails, assigned slips once we got in the water, a two week membership at the Yacht Club, so we can eat and drink there. You name it, and they’ve got it covered. The Chicago lakefront is all open parkland, and I took my bike to ride through the park, back and forth from our hotel, 3 miles from the Yacht Club. That should help me maintain my required weight.
This last weekend, we sailed in the Chicago NOOD regatta with 54 other Etchells to tune up for the Worlds and get used to lake sailing. They canceled the first day due to Thunderstorms and high winds. The big boats sailed and we saw some severe carnage, broken masts, booms, etc. Kind of glad we didn’t go out and tear our boat up in what was a tune up regatta for us. We are sailing with a new mast, and have new sails we didn’t want to blow out. We finished 37th out of 54, but were less concerned about where we finished and more in understanding the new rig, getting it tuned in to it to maximize our boat speed, and getting used to the crazy chop and shifty winds of Lake Michigan. We made some progress, but would sure love about another week to prepare. Instead we have just 1-1/2 days. That’s where the pro teams really have an advantage. One pro team competing has been virtually sailing their Etchells 8 hours a day, 4 to 6 days a week for the past 2 months! They are going to be hard to beat. One of our goals is to be in the top half of the all-amateur teams. All amateur teams make us less than half the boats entered. Many of them have years of Etchells sailing under their belt. With the high level of experience and skill many of these teams have it will be tough to meet that goal. Also, we are one of 6 boats entered who will be skippered by a woman. It is another goal of ours to be the top finishing boat skippered by a woman. With the high percentage of woman involved in our fleet it would only be fitting. Our toughest competition will probably come from Julia Bailey from Great Britain, and Shannon Bush who comes from the Houston fleet. Also competing are Betsy Altman from Chicago and the reigning Adam’s cup champion, veteran Etchells sailor Pat Stadel, and an unknown from Ireland. Gretchen will have her work cut out for her but we have complete faith in her skill and instincts. Other than that we want to sail to the best of our abilities, get the boat going fast and feel good about being a part of this event. Pretty simple goals.
Another interesting part of the Worlds will be a “mock” race, being held on Friday afternoon. Two members from each crew, as well as, 2 kids age 14 to 16 from Chicago’s inner city will participate as a crew in the event. The kids participating all come from the Rickover School, a talented and gifted program that emphasizes Marine themes in their Science classes. The kids have been studying the Physics of Sailing. The event will be televised as a feature in the Chicago area and ends with a big picnic dinner with the sailors and kids. Should be fun.
I will try and post a number of reports back from Chicago to all our friends in Fleet 27 as the World’s progress via our blogspot on the web. We are extremely proud to represent our fleet and the Maine sailing community. We will do our best to positively represent our fleet both on and off the water.
Right now, our biggest worry is to shed those last couple of pounds so we can confidently make weight, and have a little room so we can have some fun in Chicago. It seems the challenges never end.
You can follow the series, live through the International Etchells website www.etchells.org. , but only if you’re going to be rooting for Bow number 50.
Ralph
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