LO300 Booklet 2010_04_09 Low RES - Lake Ontario 300

Page 34LO300The 2005 race started with anunusual and very light northeastbreeze and a 1 to 2 foot powerboatchop. The wind backedgradually and built until it wasblowing out of the south at 25 to30 knots with occasional gusts to35. After the turn at Grey’s Reef,the trip down the Straights was ascreaming beam reach in four tofive foot seas.Hiawatha started in Section 8capturing the pin end of the startline and was just able to fetch the north end of the Chicago breakwall on starboardtack. She and Dandelion (another old IOR 1 ton) led the fleet along the Illinoisshore. As the wind clocked, she cracked off a bit and continued along the shore,then decided to parallel the rhumb line close hauled, then on a reach, and finallyon a run as she approached the Michigan shore.At the 45th Parallel radio call-in, Hiawatha led her section by just over 20 minutes.She ducked inside the Manitou Islands and again ran the rhumb to Grey’s Reef passage.Down the Straights, she went wing-on-wing until a Tartan 10 threatened toovertake her. Not to be passed, she launched her 1.5 oz. chute. About two hourslater, a gust and a wave caught Hiawatha instigating a 360 degree broach; blowingout her boom-vang; and bending the release pin on the spinnaker pole tip.She finished wing-on-wing in 49 hours, 29 minutes and 21 seconds but that wasstill good enough for a first in section and 12th overall in her Chicago to MackinacRace debut.Lake HuronBayview (Port Huron) toMackinac Yacht RaceLake Huron heads north from Port Huronand bends gradually to the west by the time itreaches the Straights of Mackinac. Huron boaststhree sizeable bays, Saginaw Bay, Georgian Bayand the North Channel and is the second largestGreat Lake. The Lake’s winds are predominantlywesterly though they curve along theshoreline and frequently go light near shore inthe upper 1/3 of the lake. This makes for someinteresting race strategies.The Bayview-Mackinac Island Race participa-LO300 Booklet 2010_03_12 FINAL.indd 3409/04/2010 9:09:19 PM