Fall Cruise

[Dobbs]

Thursday morning we were up at 2 bells on the morning watch (5am). There was a mandatory captain's meeting at 6:30 followed by a dash to the start line 22 miles away! Start was at noon and Grace has to work hard to make 4.5 knots under motor. The wind, or lack thereof was no help.

The trip to the start went fine and we got there just as the start sequence began. There were to be 3 starts, with the biggest fastest boats starting first. We were in the last start, a half hour after the first, but we wanted to see everyone off. The forecast 5 knot SE breeze manifested itself as a shifting 5 knot NW wind instead. The flukey breeze dealt a cruel blow to Pride of Baltimore and drove her west of the starting line! She was just working her way into a position to cross the line when we started. It was painful to watch.

There were dozens of spectator boats swirling around. There was even one right on the starting line as our start was counting down! Even with the confusion we were on the line at zero and the race was on. One other boat shared the line with us and another was less than a boat length behind us and to leeward. The rules of racing says that we have to stay out of the way of a leeward boat. With the light air, this was going to be tough...