Offshore - Lake Ontario 300

Page 28 Lake Ontario Offshore Racing Guide Lake Ontario Offshore Racing Guide Page 29
With speeds reaching 16 knots the drag race down the lake is not without its
spills. With over 10 wipe outs and almost as many spinnaker douses, packs and
re-launches we are focused on keeping the lead boats in our fleet within sight.
As our first night draws to a close, morning light creeps across the lake and
boats emerge from the darkness and we begin to take stock of the fleet around
us. After nearly 18 hours of sailing and a 100 mile downwind sprint with two
J105’s the
only thing
decided
is that we
are evenly
matched.
Rounding
Main Duck
Island we
gybe and
head south.
Coming out
from behind
the island’s
lee the fleet
is sailing
on a close
reach into
steep eight
foot waves
This image of Main Duck Island has been
provided by Marinas.com
and 15 to 20 knot winds. After another 30 miles and 3.5 hours of close reaching
the two J105’s have held us off and we round the Oswego mark in third
place. The return course towards Niagara starts as an upwind sail directly into big
waves and strong winds. It doesn’t take long for the J105’s to show their superiority
in these conditions. Twenty miles into this leg, more boats have appeared
and watching the sky it looks like the weather may be about to change again.
We review the weather forecast from our shore crew and the consensus is that
the better wind this afternoon will be out in the lake. Afterburn tacks away
from shore with not much company following suit. By 3:30pm the wind dies
and we are drifting.
At 7:00pm wind ripples become visible on the water and the crew begins
working the sails again. Chris serves up our one hot meal for the race – chili.
By 7:30pm dinner is done and Afterburn is building up boat speed. As night
two begins the lights of Rochester illuminate the shore to windward. A well balanced
Afterburn under the power of the asymmetrical spinnaker slips through
the flat water at 6 knots on a beam reach. Around midnight the south shore
starts to come up to meet us, at the same time bow lights appear to the inside
of us, with no idea which boats they are.
Weather updates indicate that an
approaching storm system has passed
through Windsor and London, is
headed our way and lightning is visible
over both the north and south
shores. With the experience of the
Saturday afternoon squalls fresh in
everyone’s minds the entire crew is
wary of a rapidly developing weather
system.
The predicted storm hits at 3am;
the wind speed rapidly strengthens
and the lights on the shore and the
boats around us disappear as we are
engulfed in a grey shroud moving
out of the darkness from the West.
Suddenly Afterburn is sailing into a
30 knot headwind and heavy rain.
With no time for a sail change the
boat is completely overpowered
flying the #1 genoa and a full main.
Doug and I go into sail preservation
mode, I stuff the nose of Afterburn
into the wind as much as I can to
de-power the first third of the #1,
and Doug is working feverishly with
the main sheet and traveler to keep
only the back 2 feet of the main
powered up. The wind and the now
horizontal rain make it feel like we
are sailing in a car wash! We sail
like this for 10 or 15 minutes which
feels like forever, then as quickly as
it arrived the wind drops to 15 knots
and the wall of grey recedes off our
leeward starboard quarter. Minutes
later another line of weather is upon
us. Similar to the last line we see
30 knot winds and we work hard to
preserve the sails. It passes within
10 minutes. The lights of the South
shore re-emerge but it is difficult to
pick out the other racers. It is now
4am and it starts to feel like morning
light is almost here, we have gotten
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