This is a sailing story with more than one chapter. (Link to GPS of race now works and result is 8th)
Intro
Every year in August when the moon is full, the weather is warm and the winds are good, there is a sailing regatta on Lake Washington that includes a long distance race designed to be timed so that when you reach the windward mark and set the spinnaker, the full moon (99.7% this year) is rising in front of you.
This year had two other bonuses – a meteor shower and a fireworks show off Medina. The race is from Leschi to Sand Point and back. For us that means we have to motorsail 13 miles over and back but our efficient little motors can do that on one tank.
Chapter 1:
Left Kirkland ahead of schedule and motored against the SSW winds on the nose (of course). Cleared the bridge at 5:47 and arrived in plenty of time for the 7pm start (did not really go
- Medina fireworks under the full moon
straight). The fleet was mostly J/24s with a few bigger boats and 2 slower ones. Horrible start because the wind died and we were low boat on the line so we had no steerage. After 2 minutes we got going and dove deep to the east side. In almost no wind we had passed the entire fleet and were in 1st place after 40 minutes. Then the sun went down and the wind picked up (from the WNW where all the other boast were of course). Within 2 minutes we went from 1st place to 15th. Then the wind pounded us (20mph) and we hit 7.4 knots, which is very fast in a little boat, before we needed to take the spinnaker down for safety. Nonetheless, given our handicap, we were probably still in the lead as all the boats passed under the bridge and headed up and at the halfway point in the race we were probably still in the top 20% on corrected time.
1st half of the downwind was pleasant. The clouds covered the moon and it was very dark but we were with the wind and making good time so the temperature did not matter (by the way, it was COLD I don’t know if it hit 70 degrees on the water) and we modified our goal to make the bridge in time to be able to see the fireworks off Medina. Uneventful reach from the bridge to Leschi until 10pm when the fireworks started. Marvelous show under the re-emergent moon (see poor video-hey, we were racing and I used the egoCam!). After the show we concentrated on the finish line, which we could not see – but we could see other boats lighting their sails to let the RC see their sail numbers so we had hope. About 1,500 feet from the finish the wind died. Completely. All the boats that owed us time had finished and now we were sailing in no wind, not knowing where the finish line was and losing time rapidly. Eventually we smelled a bakery on-shore which told us where the wind was going to come from and we tacked in and across the line and finished in just under 4 hours. Yay!
If we had a good result I will post the link here eventually. We finished 8th -lost 2~5 places when the wind died.
For now: Watch the race. Notice our speed during the long, dark, slow painful finish in no wind.
Chapter 2:
Now we have to motor back to Kirkland in no wind. It is after 11pm and I am usually long asleep by now. We all re-hydrate, have a few cardboard energy bars and settle in. Cross under the bridge around 11:30pm and are about halfway home. Now re-read the last line of the Intro above. That is what I believed. I was wrong…
About 3 miles from home the world was suddenly silent, no wind, no waves, no jetskis, no planes, no movement – no gas in the engine. The lake was like a mirror barely reflecting the clouds (no moon now).
Overwhelming guilt (I said we did not need extra gas), exhausted and desperate. We ran out of gas near all the rich people’s houses so there was no nearby dock or park or beach. Around midnight I decided to call wifey to let her know I might be late.
- On standby
She was still up and good-naturedly agreed to find the lawnmower gas can and the 2-cycle oil for the scooter and be our backup plan. The couple I was with were absolutely wonderful about it. After 6 hours on a boat with me they were possibly stranded even longer.
We tried sculling for about 20 minutes, which helped (one of the quotes of the evening “and what is this doing for us?” Thanks B!). It moved us enough that it made no sense to try for any port except home so I called wifey and told her to stand down – we would tough it out. There was a little teasing involved.
Within 60 seconds of that call, a gorgeous wind came up and blew us right into the marina. I told me boatmates that sailing fast on a quiet lake late at night with good people was really ruining my bad, tense mood. We still made it in before 12:40 and I was home just after 1am.