6.5 knots on Donnybrook

What's it like to race up Lake Michigan on Donnybrook? This is one view. It's Saturday and we've sailed over 70 miles. We sailed very well through the night with as many as 22 boats within sight at 1:00 am. At sunrise there were still nearly a dozen visible.

This morning the wind was starting to build after stopping for part of the night. We readied "Blue", our cruising spinnaker. Once up and set, trouble! We had an 18 inch rip! Down came the chute for patching. Once down, the cause of the tear was found: The plastic spreader cover was on the deck.

My first thought was I should go up to put the cover back up. After some thought, I realized Mary and Roxray are both much lighter than me. I asked Mary if she'd volunteer to go up the mast to replace the cover, and she agreed!

After about an hour we had the cover replaced and were underway again. We had some main halyard problems from sending Mary up but they were fixed after another hour or two. Total loss from the adventure: maybe 6 miles.

We're now sailing 6+ knots on the rhumb line. We finished breakfast, pancakes and sausage. Thanks, Todd, for cooking! The crew is exhausted after the all hands event so the auto pilot is steering (benefit of cruising division) while I watch sail trim and tidy up.