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Page 62 <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Ontario</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong> Racing Guide <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Ontario</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong> Racing Guide Page 63<br />
whitecap. Getting the main down became an imperative because listening to<br />
its horrific flogging and watching the rig shudder was a real cause for concern.<br />
It took everything I had to pull that main down, but I eventually got a tie around<br />
it. Next, still struggling, I furled the headsail, though about two feet remained in<br />
the wind because I’d run out of furling line on the drum (it was a considerably<br />
tight furl, as you might imagine). After that, I knew I was fine—still doing about<br />
five knots—and began assessing damage.<br />
Above decks, there were several things: a more tattered headsail (though it<br />
seemed to be mostly UV stuff); the dislodged mainsail slides (track bolt disappeared,<br />
no spare); some torn canvas (flapping hideously); and the cockpit in<br />
complete disarray. So far, so good. Below decks, on the cabin sole, lay a shard<br />
of lumber about a foot and a half long, with a sizable metal fitting still attached<br />
to it. Though I knew it belonged to the boat, I had no idea what it was<br />
or where it had come from. Still, it couldn’t be good news. With a little forensic<br />
exploration, comprehension gradually dawned: in my rush to get the main<br />
down, the halyard had dislodged a single hinge, and the heel of the boat had<br />
shattered what was left hanging of my wooden companionway stairs.<br />
Try as I did to figure out a way to tie the steps back up again, the best solutions<br />
I could come up with amounted to little more than clever booby-traps waiting<br />
to catch me unawares. I considered carrying on without the steps (just tossing<br />
them forward somewhere), but in due course I took more time, pondered,<br />
and looked around. The winds were not about to go light, there were droves<br />
of mammatus clouds in the sky, and I knew that the waves at the other end of<br />
the lake would be huge. There were times I’d damn near broken my neck at<br />
the dock with the companionway steps removed. So I made my decision and<br />
gradually turned the boat toward home.<br />
“I’m done,” I told Maria on the cell phone (later she told me she was surprised<br />
because the weather at home was fine). I was about seven miles from Bluffer’s<br />
when the weather gods had finally spanked my tail between my legs, so I asked if<br />
she could pick me up at the club. And there was another thing I hoped she could<br />
do for me. I had tried several times to inform the race committee of my retirement<br />
from the race on VHF. Nothing. I heard others trying to hail the RC several<br />
times over VHF. Still nothing. Then I tried using my cell phone and got a busy<br />
signal. Okay, I thought, that made sense, they should be busy. I tried again, and<br />
this time got an answering machine. I also gave Maria an address and asked her<br />
to email someone. An inglorious end, I thought, to my glorious event.<br />
I had spent a year anticipating and preparing for that one race: a 24-hour qualifying<br />
race the summer before; paperwork for the GLSS (who govern the Solo<br />
Challenge) completed in the fall; gathering the required safety equipment over<br />
the winter; a Safety At Sea Seminar in the spring; and, of course, readying the<br />
boat itself in the months prior. I lasted three hours. And that was that.<br />
Next summer? Well, that’ll be another story. Most certainly.<br />
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