Uproar comes out of retirement to race again
17 August 2015
Truly a cruising boat with a racing problem!
We were in Detroit area for a family reunion this weekend, planned to coincide with Uproar's journey through the great lakes. Brother Bob suggested we race the St Elmo's night race out of the Albatross Yacht Club.
Water tanks were emptied and the Mylar/Kevlar #1 was hoisted. Crew consisted of Lisa, Russ, Bob, Dad, (88 years old) John Whitten and David (Bob's son, now a flight nurse in Nome, AK).
The race was planned for 17 miles but was shortened to 5.5 miles due to light winds. Thunder and lightening was in the distance but wasn't bringing any weather, at least at the start.
It was a light beat to the first mark buy a wind shift turned it into a spinnaker run. We rounded the mark with our division and headed back up wind. The wind increased and we kept depowering so Lisa could keep under control.
Then it HIT! The sky turned black, the wind blew and the sea flew! We saw the Genoa on the boat next to us shred from head to leech. There was not enough left to stuff in a sail bag! Boats were rounding up and flogging sails. We rolled the Genoa then heard on the radio that RC was abandoning the race.
Dave was shouting, "I love this!" He sure is one for adventure, it was quite a ride. With crew on the rail, we were able to stay under control. The Genoa rolled so tightly there weren't enough wraps on the drum to roll it all up. We had about 3 feet of the leech exposed. I thought the worst that could happen to us was a torn sail.
Dave saw a flare and we saw 3 rescue boats come out of the Clinton River with blue lights flashing. One boat was dis-masted and one boat called Mayday, saying they were out of control and heading for shallow water. They eventually grounded.
By then the hail and rain were pelting us sideways. Poor Dad was hanging on for dear life, enduring the pounding. John, Bob and Dave were holding the rail down and we were feathering to keep some forward speed but not heal too much.
The sun was setting against black clouds. Lisa said it looked like an Old Testament scene!
I thought the safest course of action was to keep feathering and tacking to stay in deep water (12 feet on Lake St Claire) and wait for the wind to die down. We sailed like that for about 20 minutes. I saw 43.5 knots but sure wasn't watching the instruments much. The new chart plotter at the helm was helpful in keeping us away from the shallows.
When the wind abated to 28 knots, we dropped the main and motored into the Clinton River channel. Most of the boats were coming in at that time too.
There was a much subdued party after the race. The free hot dogs and fixings were great! The RC boat indicated wind of 53 knots solid, not gusts! Those on shore saw 60 MPH winds.
This was the most wind I have ever sailed in, not to mention racing in. No damage to Uproar and everyone was excited about our wild ride.
That night, I woke up and realized that we had risked much more than our boat, we risked our home and adventure. Would I do it again? Hell yes! That is what Uproar is built for. We will certainly see winds like that again. We will just have to prepare and enjoy the ride.
Picture was taken after wind abated and main was furled. Oh, Sophie was on board too!