91 replies to this topic

[Dixie]

Here's mine:

I'm going to race upwind down the gulf stream next week in the Wirth Monroe which is from FLL to Palm Beach. This will be my third time, after saying twice that I'd never do it again. It tends to be a long slog on the back of a bucking bronco.

But a good boat, good friends and a tray full of rum at the finish dock make it wirth [sic] it.

And no fault to the planners of this race - it always attracts a lot of locals and quite a few snowbird boats doing their first winter season shake down. This year is no different. So good boat scenery and a fantastic dinner in Palm Beach make it a really great but still dreaded race (for me at least).

What's yours?

[us7070]

I've done that race flying a chute the whole way..., so it isn't always a slog.

[DA-WOODY]

Human

[PDG]

Swiftsure. No particular year. Who was it that called Swiftsure "A good party marred by a mediocre yacht race"? I keep going back and I don't know why.

Hallmarks of Sailors: High tolerance for abuse. Poor short term memory.

[Somebody Else]

Ensenada.

No explanation necessary.

[Mexican]

The ORCV used to run a race to Burney in Tasmania over the Melbourne Cup long weekend.

Race start was generally at the turn of the tide from Queenscliff at two in the morning, Prevailing wind was on the snotter all the way across Bass Strait.

The race finished at Burney which is a bit of a shit hole of a place at their industrial docks.

Thankfully, they've now moved the race finish to Stanley, which is just as much upwind all the way, but is at least a picturesque kind of place.

Mex

[LarryE]

That was my last ocean race.
Many years ago, 30kts. out of the North and cold!!!

[LarryE]

Edit, same as Dixie, Wirth Munroe

[unShirley]

any drifter...oh yeah, Somebody Else already said that.

[Green Card]

Any race with "Winter" or "Vashon" in the title. And of course we are doing Winter Vashon this weekend.

[One eye Jack]

Sailboat racing to a sailor is like a heroin addiction. But with salt water. You do it,get the crap beat out of you, swear you'll never do it again, costs more money than you can really afford, and next race there you are,waiting for that salt water fix. Sound familiar?

[Maxx Baqustae]

Swiftsure. No particular year. Who was it that called Swiftsure "A good party marred by a mediocre yacht race"? I keep going back and I don't know why.

Hallmarks of Sailors: High tolerance for abuse. Poor short term memory.

+1
One year when my regular program didn't go I just went anyway. Looked for a ride on Friday, not that hard, booked a room for Saturday too. The party on the Saturday was epic as the hairy unwashed guys that were trying prove themselves out there so I was escorted by girlfriends, wives & female hang-oner's so who's the dummy! I told people that I won Swiftsure by not going.

[Bitpitch]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

[Snaggletooth]

One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

Theire notte sapposte to, youre our sapposte to do the moveng..... juste sayeng.

[Bitpitch]

Exactly my point. Glad to see you back snags

[Footlong]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

x27

[mad]

One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

Theire notte sapposte to, youre our sapposte to do the moveng..... juste sayeng. :)/>

Snags, I feel you have a future as a tactician.

[mad]

Oh yeah, original question. Just about every race on the east coast of the UK.

[Snaggletooth]

Oh yeah, original question. Just about every race on the east coast of the UK.

Saim heare, sailed from Hollyheade to Dubin, it sicked, untille the John Poweres/watere withe Anne.

[Somtam Cowboy]

RajaMuda thru the Mallaca straights was a cracker this year.....Ha!

Tuffy...How'd it go for you guys?
Fun?

[Merit 25]

Down the bay race. 120+ miles of upwind work in a 24.5 footer.

And I'm doing it again in 2013

[Tunnel Rat]

Hallmarks of Sailors: High tolerance for abuse. Poor short term memory.

Brilliant

[Bump-n-Grind]

Down the bay race. 120+ miles of upwind work in a 24.5 footer.

And I'm doing it again in 2013

save yourself.. leave your boat at home and come with us.. J35 loves that race upwind. The foredeck gang not so much.. but the main and genoa trimmers have fun

[dog of war]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

[Dixie]

Swiftsure. No particular year. Who was it that called Swiftsure "A good party marred by a mediocre yacht race"? I keep going back and I don't know why.

Hallmarks of Sailors: High tolerance for abuse. Poor short term memory.

Gotta say, I kinda love that quote. It is so very true. Off topic, but I like to say it seems to take 7 years to forget I hate j/24s. For ugly races, it's like 3 years to forget.

[Beau.Vrolyk]

In my youth it was always the Channel Islands Race in So. Calif. The course was: Start in Los Angeles then leave Richardson's Rock and all the Channel Islands to port returning to Los Angeles. The 120 mile beat to the Rock (located 20 miles due south of Pt. Conception in the breezy bit) was always an UGLY ride, light in the beginning and then really really breezy at the end.

The payback was the run from there to San Clemente, causing you to forget how miserable you were on the initial beat and you'd go back the next time they ran the race.

Eventually, folks just quit showing up. Their memories must have started working.

[bowman81]

Only done it once but everyone always says, the Sydney to Hobart, a cunt of a way to get to a good party.

[Tax Man]

Lake Ontario 300. Looking at the Olcott stack for a full day.

[MacGregor_Lover]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

x27

x9

[TimFordi550#87]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

x27

x9

What was it, 2009? Only 9 boats out of 60 or so finished. A bit of breeze on.

[dogwatch]

Worst - a Cowes Week where the owner and his wife were reenacting scenes from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". The one and only time I've walked off a boat mid-regatta (and I was not the only one to do so).



Second worst race was my 3rd and to date final Fastnet, with people I didn't know well, where by the end pretty much nobody on the boat was speaking to anybody else. Actually by halfway round most of the afterguard were so tired they could barely speak, period. Thank God it wasn't a rough race.

I enjoyed my first two Fastnets but those were with teams with whom I had sailed together regularly. Lesson learned.

[sledracr]

Channel Islands race was definitely a slog. Don't miss it a bit.

The "hate the state" race, part of Kenwood Cup had a few redeeming qualities, but not many.

And I'm a card-carrying member of "Transpac Anonymous", but would happily break my years of abstinence for another taste.

[Locus]

Any race with "Winter" or "Vashon" in the title. And of course we are doing Winter Vashon this weekend.

Winter Vashon is tame in comparison to Toliva Shoal. Raced it a dozen times, never finished.

Wost was 02 or 03. We spent the entire day getting to anderson island (not quite half way) due to lack of wind the RC finished at the day mark there, but skewed the line past the island and into a 2k current. We spent 2 hours shooting the line and falling short each time, while watching the shallower draft boats run up to shore (<5') and get their nose over the line and get flushed back.

Plus it was cold and our two tactitians had been yelling at each other for 6 hours at that point.
Said I would never do that race again, but went back next year

[Bad_Moose]

Probably that time the RNLI pulled our mast down. Not their fault but still, it did bugger up the season a bit. :/

[btbotfa]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

x27

x9

x15 pathetic!

[mad]

Probably that time the RNLI pulled our mast down. Not their fault but still, it did bugger up the season a bit. :/

Used the mast as a tow point?

[Somebody Else]

Worst - a Cowes Week where the owner and his wife were reenacting scenes from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". The one and only time I've walked off a boat mid-regatta (and I was not the only one to do so).

That pretty much defines WAPCE right there.

[KRC]

Worst single race/regatta: I did Verve Cup in Chicago one year with a very abusive skipper (physically and verbally). At one point I contemplated jumping overboard and swimming for the committee boat. I stuck it out, deciding that a commitment is a commitment. We won every race except one, but I learned that day that having fun is much more important to me than winning.

Runner-up: My first BYC Mack. 220 nm in 66 hours. We got becalmed late Saturday afternoon. Sun went down, and I could see city lights abeam of us to the west. I asked Dad: "What city is that?" "Harbor Beach" he said. Sunday morning, afternoon and evening came and went. Nighttime came again and I saw some lights on the horizon to the west. "What city is that?" I asked. "Harbor Beach" said Dad. And then there were the flies...

[PDG]

Any race with "Winter" or "Vashon" in the title. And of course we are doing Winter Vashon this weekend.

Winter Vashon is tame in comparison to Toliva Shoal. Raced it a dozen times, never finished.

Wost was 02 or 03. We spent the entire day getting to anderson island (not quite half way) due to lack of wind the RC finished at the day mark there, but skewed the line past the island and into a 2k current. We spent 2 hours shooting the line and falling short each time, while watching the shallower draft boats run up to shore (<5') and get their nose over the line and get flushed back.

Plus it was cold and our two tactitians had been yelling at each other for 6 hours at that point.
Said I would never do that race again, but went back next year

Best ever Toliva Shoal race was (I think) 2006. Bitterly cold, but sunny and windy. The whole fleet finished the course in daylight. Swore I would never go back but, of course, I did.

 Toliva Shoals.jpg   114.27K   15 downloads

Photo credit Sean Trew

[Delta Blues]

_{75 boat fleet, Z Flag is up (20% penalty for being over the line). I still can't explain why, we are over the line by 2 boatlengths all by ourselves nobody pushed us over when the gun goes off. We circle back and restart DFL. So we need to pass 15 boats before we actually start to make a gain on 75th place. We get up to the first mark having passed some boats, it's blowing so it has two reaches next, we're making moves passing boats left and right when we get to the jibe mark and hit it. We do the 360 and let some of those boats we passed pass us. We ended up passing 23 boats after another windward leeward windward, so we ended up 67th place for the score in that race. Damn harsh day to be on the water. Did not feel any good in the experience.}

[Caca Cabeza]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

+1

Done it about 15 times. Too bad it's down to about 8 boats, but I see why.

[jeff carver]

the 3 i've done where people died

[BalticBandit]

Any race with "Winter" or "Vashon" in the title. And of course we are doing Winter Vashon this weekend.

Winter Vashon is tame in comparison to Toliva Shoal. Raced it a dozen times, never finished.

Wost was 02 or 03. We spent the entire day getting to anderson island (not quite half way) due to lack of wind the RC finished at the day mark there, but skewed the line past the island and into a 2k current. We spent 2 hours shooting the line and falling short each time, while watching the shallower draft boats run up to shore (<5') and get their nose over the line and get flushed back.

Plus it was cold and our two tactitians had been yelling at each other for 6 hours at that point.
Said I would never do that race again, but went back next year

That was a fun one... short tacking the rocks there, essentially crash tacking when the boat ahead of you "tripped"...

We crossed the line close hauled, almost parallel to the line and sliding backwards towards the nasty chain on the bow of the RC with the skip doing his best not to look over his shoulder as he was about to be impaled by the RC's pulpit...


Yeah Toliva shoals is one

[dog of war]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

+1

Done it about 15 times. Too bad it's down to about 8 boats, but I see why.

I think that the DDR (started as a feeder race for ST) killed it 1/2 the time and all of the fun! Worse ST race was on J24 with nothing but beer and "freeze dried chicken" for provisions, best was on Blue Blazer...the red headed bartender was a nice pre-race treat, the bridge shots were a nice durring the race treat and winning it was a great post race treat!! That was my last!! I still think we should do it again.

[Locus]

Any race with "Winter" or "Vashon" in the title. And of course we are doing Winter Vashon this weekend.

Winter Vashon is tame in comparison to Toliva Shoal. Raced it a dozen times, never finished.

Wost was 02 or 03. We spent the entire day getting to anderson island (not quite half way) due to lack of wind the RC finished at the day mark there, but skewed the line past the island and into a 2k current. We spent 2 hours shooting the line and falling short each time, while watching the shallower draft boats run up to shore (<5') and get their nose over the line and get flushed back.

Plus it was cold and our two tactitians had been yelling at each other for 6 hours at that point.
Said I would never do that race again, but went back next year

That was a fun one... short tacking the rocks there, essentially crash tacking when the boat ahead of you "tripped"...

We crossed the line close hauled, almost parallel to the line and sliding backwards towards the nasty chain on the bow of the RC with the skip doing his best not to look over his shoulder as he was about to be impaled by the RC's pulpit...


Yeah Toliva shoals is one

If they had set the line 10' to the west the entire outcome would have changed for the better.

Following year we spent 6 hours trying to get through balch passage on fading wind and negative tide.
We pushed through with 2 outher boats at 4am and turned on the motor somewhere near devils head.
At that point we could not finish under the time limit unless we averaged 10k back.

Also had the skipper call it at Toliva and motor back to Seattle.
I think my last one was 2005 so I must have missed 06.

['No.6]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

x27

x9

x15 pathetic!

Quit your whining.

[Left Hook]

Any race which involves spending way too much time staring, drifting, at the smokestacks on the north shore of long island...

[Matt DI]

I always thought the around Block Island race kinda sucked. You race all the way out there, a rocks throw away from some great partying and have to go all the way back without stopping. A good way to waste a Memorial day weekend. I thought it would be cool to race out there stay over night and race back.

[Snaggletooth]

I always thought the around Block Island race kinda sucked. You race all the way out there, a rocks throw away from some great partying and have to go all the way back without stopping. A good way to waste a Memorial day weekend. I thought it would be cool to race out there stay over night and race back.

to wordes: Offsondings Spirng!!

[Bad_Moose]

Probably that time the RNLI pulled our mast down. Not their fault but still, it did bugger up the season a bit. :/

Used the mast as a tow point?

It was blowing 35 knots and we chinese gybed reasonably close to a lee shore. We got blown on whilst trying to drop the kite (luckily it was low tide) and called the RNLI out because the boat was bouncing off the bottom and we were worried the keel was going to get pushed through the hull. When they arrived they tried towing the bow round but the boat didn't budge, so they took the main halyard down to the back of the RIB and drove off to try and heel the boat over. 30 seconds later, down comes mast. Bit of a silly thing to ask them to do in retrospect but the boat was in a really dangerous situation. Somehow she survived with no damage apart from the broken mast and a chipped rudder.

[dasher12]

I always thought the around Block Island race kinda sucked. You race all the way out there, a rocks throw away from some great partying and have to go all the way back without stopping. A good way to waste a Memorial day weekend. I thought it would be cool to race out there stay over night and race back.

I can agree with you on this Matt and then to multiply the pain you usually end up staring at those damn stacks trying to get back to Stamford. But I'll be back again this spring haha

[MacGregor_Lover]

I always thought the around Block Island race kinda sucked. You race all the way out there, a rocks throw away from some great partying and have to go all the way back without stopping. A good way to waste a Memorial day weekend. I thought it would be cool to race out there stay over night and race back.

Always cold as a bitch at night too. I seem to forget every year that it gets that cold in block island sound in late may at night.

[btbotfa]

one year it snowed behind Block, ask Mike R

[MikeR]

one year it snowed behind Block, ask Mike R

Oh yes!

['No.6]

I can remember rounding Block, when you could go either way, in a snow squall in very limited visability. Think it was 1972 or 1973.

[Great Red Shark]

It's been noted before that there is a reason they run Transpac every OTHER year - just long enough for the memories of the first nights misery to fade.

[Snaggletooth]

Worst - a Cowes Week where the owner and his wife were reenacting scenes from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf".

At leeste they spoke clearley......

[fogmachine]

A Coastal Cup (SF - Santa Barbara) where, among other things, the owner for no good reason samurai doused the kite in 35kts (we recovered and reset it) and later preferred to piss in his foulies than let someone else drive for a few minutes. I'm sure there's some sort of pithy video I could link to, but this is a family channel.

[MikeR]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

x27

x9

x15 pathetic!

Quit your whining.

Somewhere around 20 of these, staring at Smithtown Bay and those stacks...

[MikeR]

There was a Block Island race sometime in the early '60s where we started in a snow squall and it got worse from there. I was on an Olsen 36 and they had to pry my fingers off the tiller when it was time to go below...nasty.

[some dude]

I always thought the around Block Island race kinda sucked. You race all the way out there, a rocks throw away from some great partying and have to go all the way back without stopping. A good way to waste a Memorial day weekend. I thought it would be cool to race out there stay over night and race back.

closely related to the around Catalina race in the Whitney series. round the east end, head for the finish, get caught in the lee (and there was no breeze anyway) and drift around a mile off Avalon for a few hours. and it's February. and next weekend is the Tri-Island. ugh.

[Dixie]

Only done it once but everyone always says, the Sydney to Hobart, a cunt of a way to get to a good party.

Not a big fan of the descriptor, but I wondered if this race might come up.

[aA]

ddr uphill, not once but twice. finished both times and after the first said we'd never do that again. short tacking 67 miles (shorthanded) and finishing after the bar is closed sucks but obviously was karmicaly proper since we won the following year

we've pledged to tow the boat to stockton and race home if it ever happens again...

[Heriberto]

Obviously none of you have ever done a Trans -Superior. There is a reason it's called the Trans-Stupid. There Isn't even it at the end. Barely a place to dock.

[dacapo]

The hate fest known as the Around Long Island Regatta. Every year I say never again until next year which has been going on for over a decade. One year spent my entire watch staring at the stacks in Port Jeff and they never moved.

x27

x9

x15 pathetic!

That's Rid.......

[Matt DI]

Saw the best MOB pickup ever in the around BI. I think it was '88 or '89. It was a spinnaker ride around the nack side of the Island. We were on a shock 41 (KP) and I believe the boat by us was a NY 40. The bowman sliped and fell off the boat. Yhey had the chute down amd turned faster then I have ever seen. They picked up the bowman he wrapped atowel around himself and was up on the bow to re-set the chute. 5 min tops.

[bowman81]

Only done it once but everyone always says, the Sydney to Hobart, a cunt of a way to get to a good party.

Not a big fan of the descriptor, but I wondered if this race might come up.

I'm surprised no one else has joined in on it. The year I did it was quite tame, but 3-5 days sailing away from the equator, getting colder and colder, and at the end you're in Tasmania, The party is great and the rum is generally plentiful enough to wipe the memory so that you sign up to do it the next year.

[dacapo]

I can remember rounding Block, when you could go either way, in a snow squall in very limited visability. Think it was 1972 or 1973.

must have been that pesky global warming thing....

[Presuming Ed]

The Cowes week race this year when I thought we were passing the mark to port, when we should have been rounding to starboard was pretty bad. Especially as we were lying second at the time.

Hate drifters. Nothing to get your teeth into.

The once a year race when nothing goes right. You/we have neither height nor boatspeed. Every tactical choice proves to be wrong. Can't wait to get ashore and into the Pimms on those days.

[Jonathan Green]

Marblehead-Halifax has got to be the worst, but as with many others already mentioned, the party on the other side is almost enough to make you forget all the hair you pulled out drifting across GOM.

[Mastadon]

Marblehead-Halifax has got to be the worst, but as with many others already mentioned, the party on the other side is almost enough to make you forget all the hair you pulled out drifting across GOM.

[Mastadon]

Last year was alright, running in 25, until we broke the rudder cable....

[Nettles]

Marblehead-Halifax has got to be the worst, but as with many others already mentioned, the party on the other side is almost enough to make you forget all the hair you pulled out drifting across GOM.

Last year was alright, running in 25, until we broke the rudder cable....

The last three have been atypically unpainful but there was a string in the late 90's that convinced me there were better ways to spend my time than drifting aimlessly in freezing dense fog for three days. Then there were the deliveries back, in 25 on the nose....

[longy]

!984 Bermuda race on a Peterson 45. We had been selected to go to Sardinia Cup on the US team, & it was decided that the boat would sail across on her own bottom, so why not do the race? Well: We had previously always had Lowell North anboard, but he had comitted to another boat, so owners lined up Dee Smith (UK at the time). Some of the crew somehow felt the rest of the crew (west coaster's) did not have enuff offshore experience so signed on Chaz from Taz. We also had a new (to the boat) navigator, a very famous guy from San Fran. Start & first part of the race was light close reaching, never one of our strong points as we were short waterline for our handicap. Even the J-41 passed us. Whenever we asked Smith for help trimming he'd just state that all North sails had the wrong shape and there was nothing he could do but sell us new sails. Coming up on the stream, JT reaching, Chaz got the helm - seemed fine until he would suddenly do a crazy ivan, claiming to have just dodged a huge floating log, & immediately blither on about his last delivery in Asia somewhere (never could figure out where) where such things were common place boat sinkers. After three zigs where the 4 bodies on the rail never saw a thing he got removed from the helm rotation. About this time we discovered that the navigator thought it completely un-necessary to ever go on deck, & had rat-holed a bunch of empty beer cans under his seat. He woulld pee in these & hand them out to be disposed of. So when he next took a nap, I cleaned out all his stock. He complained loaded the rest of the race about this. Crossing the stream with the #2 up we fell off a wave, broke the checkstay & kinked the spar. There after had to jibe the remaining checkstay wire every tack/jibe. Shortly thereafter, the main engine hydraulic drive reservoir split a seam & dumped 10 gallons of oil into the boat, where it immediately filled all the headsail turtles lying there. Sail changes from then on required safety harnesses on the bow, as oil spilled out during the change. This hyd oil mixed with salt water coated the entire lower half of the boat interior & began the stink. Several crew took to sleeping on deck to escape. Mid fleet finish, pulled into Saint Geofge at about 9 pm, by 11 I was the only crew left on Bermuda. Spent a lovely 3 weeks cleaning & repairing the damages. Did get to watch Chaz nightly at the YC bar, don't know where he spent days.

[Caca Cabeza]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

+1

Done it about 15 times. Too bad it's down to about 8 boats, but I see why.

I think that the DDR (started as a feeder race for ST) killed it 1/2 the time and all of the fun! Worse ST race was on J24 with nothing but beer and "freeze dried chicken" for provisions, best was on Blue Blazer...the red headed bartender was a nice pre-race treat, the bridge shots were a nice durring the race treat and winning it was a great post race treat!! That was my last!! I still think we should do it again.

WD. Forgot about the red headed spinner. The key to the success in that race was "the beehive". It was a 5 liter jug of tequila that I picked up in Baja for $8.50 (so you can tell I only get my crew the best). Then we taped a box of Dixie Riddle Cups to the side. Every time we passed under a bridge of gybed we had to toast.

For those who know the course of the South Tower, there are more than a few gybed involved.

Good times.

[Jonathan Green]

Marblehead-Halifax has got to be the worst, but as with many others already mentioned, the party on the other side is almost enough to make you forget all the hair you pulled out drifting across GOM.

Last year was alright, running in 25, until we broke the rudder cable....

The last three have been atypically unpainful but there was a string in the late 90's that convinced me there were better ways to spend my time than drifting aimlessly in freezing dense fog for three days. Then there were the deliveries back, in 25 on the nose....

The party in Hailfax must have been good in 2009 for you to forget the pain of that race. Took me longer to get to Halifax that year than it did to get to Bermuda the month prior. Hell, the beat back to Marblehead with 15 on the nose was faster than the race over.

[Left Hook]

Last year was my first Halifax race ever and I'm seriously considering never doing another one just so that my memory of warmth and solid 16's down the front of big ass waves isn't sullied.

Delivery back was even better, 35kts from directly astern for the first 12 hours and a beam reach in 25 across the gulf of Maine. Halifax to SW-CT in just under 60 hours.

[Nettles]

Marblehead-Halifax has got to be the worst, but as with many others already mentioned, the party on the other side is almost enough to make you forget all the hair you pulled out drifting across GOM.

Last year was alright, running in 25, until we broke the rudder cable....

The last three have been atypically unpainful but there was a string in the late 90's that convinced me there were better ways to spend my time than drifting aimlessly in freezing dense fog for three days. Then there were the deliveries back, in 25 on the nose....

The party in Hailfax must have been good in 2009 for you to forget the pain of that race. Took me longer to get to Halifax that year than it did to get to Bermuda the month prior. Hell, the beat back to Marblehead with 15 on the nose was faster than the race over.

You're right, I did forget that one. Of course, I'd learned my lesson by then and gave it a miss. As for the delivery home, I've done a lot more of those than the race, and they are almost always faster. I hate to say never but it'll be a warm day in the GOM before I do the Hallie Race again.

[NoStrings]

Delta Dinghy Ditch. 30 miles on port in a Finn.

[Guitar]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

\
About the same amount of times and really miss it.
Iron man (and women) stuff.

Couple of seconds and finally a first in '95. Last one.

[mad]

The Cowes week race this year when I thought we were passing the mark to port, when we should have been rounding to starboard was pretty bad. Especially as we were lying second at the time.

Hate drifters. Nothing to get your teeth into.

The once a year race when nothing goes right. You/we have neither height nor boatspeed. Every tactical choice proves to be wrong. Can't wait to get ashore and into the Pimms on those days.

Anything that drives a man to Pimms has got be really bad

[Dixie]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

\
About the same amount of times and really miss it.
Iron man (and women) stuff.

Couple of seconds and finally a first in '95. Last one.

OK...I have to ask, what is the South Tower race and why was it so fun in a horrible sort of way?

[dog of war]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

\
About the same amount of times and really miss it.
Iron man (and women) stuff.

Couple of seconds and finally a first in '95. Last one.

OK...I have to ask, what is the South Tower race and why was it so fun in a horrible sort of way?

Stockton- South Tower (16) and back....I'm sure a few more will elaborate.

[WhoaTed]

Obviously none of you have ever done a Trans -Superior. There is a reason it's called the Trans-Stupid. There Isn't even it at the end. Barely a place to dock.

Yup. The fuckfest locking up: got the first group crammed into the Canadian lock and moved up only to have the railway bridge upstream malfunction and not raise. Back into the lock, down we go, the fleet shifts over to the American side and lock thru after the ships have all cleared. Motor forever out past Gros Cap to the start. Then the race.

Beat your brains out for a couple of days, only to sit becalmed for hours in pea soup a couple of miles out listening to the horn on the bridge. Dinner/awards is okay, but no party and really not much to do after you hit Fitgers and have dinner at the excellent wine place down in Canal Park (damn, forgot the name...Bennino's?). Challenging but a PITA overall, the bigger the yacht the better. Nice if you're cruising before/after. Best done on a big yacht on the OPM plan.

[P_Wop]

Those Channel Triangles 'back in the day'.

Leave work in London on the dot of 5pm, and drive like a lunatic down to the Solent to get aboard for a 7pm start. Then 150 miles bashing around the English Channel with a small jib and two reefs in filthy rainy weather and zero visibility, dodging shipping and ferries, before finally finishing 60 hours later more-or-less where you started - off the most miserable corner in the Universe (Gilkicker), then struggle against the tide to get the boat back to the Hamble or Gosport or wherever by 0730, before driving like a lunatic (again) up the M3 to get to the office by 0900 Monday morning so you don't get fired.

Showering or changing out of fetid sailing clothes was not an option. At least nobody in the office would get near you all day. And then finally home on Monday night, only to get it in the ear from "her indoors" who really, really wanted to go to the new movie on Saturday night.

And we did it every 3 weeks throughout the "summer". Morgan Cup. De Guingand Bowl. Channel Race. North Sea Race. Channel Triangle. And so on...

The 3 week gap was the clever trick, though. You tended to forget.....

[pickles]

Only done it once but everyone always says, the Sydney to Hobart, a cunt of a way to get to a good party.

+ 6
But I may have learnt my lesson finally as I'm having a year off and going down for the party!

[moody frog]

Those Channel Triangles 'back in the day'.

Leave work in London on the dot of 5pm, and drive like a lunatic down to the Solent to get aboard for a 7pm start. Then 150 miles bashing around the English Channel with a small jib and two reefs in filthy rainy weather and zero visibility, dodging shipping and ferries, before finally finishing 60 hours later more-or-less where you started - off the most miserable corner in the Universe (Gilkicker), then struggle against the tide to get the boat back to the Hamble or Gosport or wherever by 0730, before driving like a lunatic (again) up the M3 to get to the office by 0900 Monday morning so you don't get fired.

Showering or changing out of fetid sailing clothes was not an option. At least nobody in the office would get near you all day. And then finally home on Monday night, only to get it in the ear from "her indoors" who really, really wanted to go to the new movie on Saturday night.

And we did it every 3 weeks throughout the "summer". Morgan Cup. De Guingand Bowl. Channel Race. North Sea Race. Channel Triangle. And so on...

The 3 week gap was the clever trick, though. You tended to forget.....

So true ! but imagine what it was like to sneak out of the office early afternoon on Thursday, driving to Le Havre hoping for a good night on the ferry, just to find party-minded competitors .........., re-unite with the boat at C&N, clear the mess from the last race, then the only "good" moment a Pimms' at that pub round the corner of the yard entrance and off to the start. When back on Sunday, get a quick shower and rush to the ferry. Sneak in on Monday afternoon, hoping nobody had urgently looked for you on Friday.

[dogwatch]

Those Channel Triangles 'back in the day'.

Hmmm.......I liked them. Offshore races with tactical options.

There again, I don't do them any more.

[mad]

Those Channel Triangles 'back in the day'.

Leave work in London on the dot of 5pm, and drive like a lunatic down to the Solent to get aboard for a 7pm start. Then 150 miles bashing around the English Channel with a small jib and two reefs in filthy rainy weather and zero visibility, dodging shipping and ferries, before finally finishing 60 hours later more-or-less where you started - off the most miserable corner in the Universe (Gilkicker), then struggle against the tide to get the boat back to the Hamble or Gosport or wherever by 0730, before driving like a lunatic (again) up the M3 to get to the office by 0900 Monday morning so you don't get fired.

Showering or changing out of fetid sailing clothes was not an option. At least nobody in the office would get near you all day. And then finally home on Monday night, only to get it in the ear from "her indoors" who really, really wanted to go to the new movie on Saturday night.

And we did it every 3 weeks throughout the "summer". Morgan Cup. De Guingand Bowl. Channel Race. North Sea Race. Channel Triangle. And so on...

The 3 week gap was the clever trick, though. You tended to forget.....

Uuurrgghhh, thanks for the memories, had successfully blanked my memory until reading your post.

[JumpingJax]

Those Channel Triangles 'back in the day'.

Hmmm.......I liked them. Offshore races with tactical options.

There again, I don't do them any more.

Hmmmm ... No Pimms for you.

(You're welcome.)

[Pro looper]

South Tower Race.....done it 8+ times hate it...and miss it!!

\
About the same amount of times and really miss it.
Iron man (and women) stuff.

Couple of seconds and finally a first in '95. Last one.

OK...I have to ask, what is the South Tower race and why was it so fun in a horrible sort of way?

Stockton- South Tower (16) and back....I'm sure a few more will elaborate.

Did the tower only once on Eclipse kind of a 44' 5o5 with racks ,roughly 120 mi round tirp
from Stockton , Blackaller to port, Stockton finnish 21 hrs record still stands...

[Barbara_Banker]

Sydney Hobart...need i say more and you keep going back for it.