This year's LMSS (Lake Michigan Singlehanded Society) long distance solo race was the Q race - held every other year. The Q (qualifier) is shorter and is a way for folks to try out short handed sailing (solo or double). It is 66 nautical miles. It starts from Racine, rounds a buoy in the middle of the lake, and ends back at Racine. This year's race was windy, but from the south on a mostly east-west course. So very close reach out and beam reach back. You were close hauled and heeled over going out in 14-18 knots of wind, and the waves kept building. Not comfortable, but you were moving. The wind was a touch inconsistent, so you had to watch the sails and decide if it was building enough to warrant reefing.

The reefs came out after rounding the mark. This is when you were really flying. I am one of the slower boats, so eventually most of the fleet passed me on the way to the buoy. One double handed boat was catching me on the way to the mark. So for the last four hours all the way home, after rounding the mark, I was trying to hold him off. He finally got by me during the last 30 minutes. He was a faster boat, it turns out, so I easily saved my time over him. As I was racing that boat, I caught up to another boat that had passed me much earlier. He (solo sailer) wasn't looking behind and watching the two of us catching up to him, so he was quite surprised when I suddenly appeared and passed him. I think his auto pilot couldn't handle the wind and waves, so he was luffing his main - a lot. When he sheeted it in, he rounded up once, 90 degrees off course. The next time he rounded up, he ended up with the wind on the wrong side of the genoa. Instead of releasing the genoa (I don't know how his sail didn't rip), he ended up doing a 360 in 17 knots of wind. After that, I think he hand steered and tried to catch me. So I had two boats chasing me for hours. I held off the solo sailor, but only by 21 seconds at the end. He again was a faster boat, so he needed to beat me by quite a bit.

I didn't think I was doing well in the race, since my benchmark boat was well ahead of me, sailing double handed. But these were perfect conditions for him, and he took first in fleet honors - a first for him. It turned out I did great! I was first in my solo section and second among all solo sailors. Overall, I was 7th out of 16 boats. This was my best finish ever. And my auto pilot was rock solid, unlike the guy rounding up, or another solo sailor who had to steer the entire 10 hour race.