#SailDonnybrook

Monday, July 26, 2010

Mac Race Day 1

This is a rewrite of my original message. It was lost in posting.

The race started under idea conditions for Donnybrook! Jake, Megan, Roxray, Dan, Mike, and I left dock around 1:00 after an 11:30 boat call. Winds were perfect for Donnybrook, southwest in the mid teens.

We started with a broad reach and sailed north at hull speed or faster for the first 3+ hours, with a maximum of 8.5 knots.

Late evening we witnessed one of the most awesome sights any of us had seen: a wall cloud form and race over the top of us. We furled the genoa and put in a double reef. Winds were relatively mild but it reinforced our healthy respect for mother nature.

The rest of the night was spent watching amd guessing where the thunderstorns would be. We got rain but missed any direct hits.

The lightning we had was the most incredible I've ever seen. A line of thunderstorns was horizon to horizon south of us--the same storns that caused the flooding in Chicago.

During storms we had several bolts directly overhead splintering out like spider webs. I saw at least one bolt hit the water several miles away. It seemed to leave an orange glow where it stfuck.

This was an incredible start to the race.

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