49th running of Great River Race
Last year my daughter and I made our first race the clubs annual Great River Race, we did it in our trusty O'Day 25 and somehow managed a 2nd place finish in short course non-spin class (9 hr max time 1 lap of the river course). We were shocked with the results since there was a fairly healthy turn out, but a lack of wind meant many pulled out before finishing. So we have been looking forward to this year in the 310. Unfortunately due to some race schedule issues this race was moved from late September to first weekend in November. Normally we in Northern Alabama don't really have to really worry about winter temps till late Nov - Jan, but the 'hold my beer state' had other ideas for the crew of RoseLeigh this year.
Speaking of crew, this year since we had the room, it became a family event, even my parents wanted to 'race' with us. This put a total of 6 people all day on RoseLeigh, which was the most we have ever sailed with and the longest day we have been on the water. The start line was set at the south end of Lake Guntersville from our marine, so we had a 1.5 hour motor down river to arrive before the 9 AM start. I set the wake up time for every one for 5 PM because we also had 30 min drive to the slip to plan for. Amazingly everyone got moving and we managed to arrive at a frosty RoseLeigh and docks by 6:15 AM. Since I spent Friday doing all the loading of provisions, fuel and checks we were underway within 30 min, greeted by the coldest sailing we have ever done but also an amazing sunrise over the lake!
Boat operations, safety and plan for the day was reviewed during our power run down the lake. My daughter, son and I did most of the operations and prep as everyone got comfortable, ate some breakfast and enjoyed the experience and adventure. We arrived to the southern start location an 1.5 hours early and were the only boat out there, so I swung us into the cove next to the Lake Guntersville Light House, which is a person's house that was built with an actual light house like you see in New England and dropped our anchor. The water was dead calm and the wind was not looking good with maybe 3-5 knots at the mast head.
At about 45 minutes to start boats started to show up, a total of I believe 12 for this cold race day with winds not looking to be great. The race horn and flags started to announce and there was high hope a wind miracle would occur, unfortunately it did not and the start was a replay of last years drift fest to the bridge that took 2.5 hours. Exciting sailboat racing was not happening today for sure but sprits were high and we had a ton of food and drinks! We did our best with what we had and everyone remained positive all day. My wife took helm duties very seriously and probably spent most of her time gently adjusting and holding our course while I worked trim adjustments to try and get every bit out of our wind. My Mom and Dad helped with tacking, my daughter filled many roles and my son was always up for hanging out helping me on the deck as we sat against the mast and just talked and helped make adjustments.
Afternoon winds picked up a bit but the progress was painfully slow. We made the turn around mark with 3 other boats and chaos erupted when a 4th boat took the turn on the wrong side in the middle of us. I called us off the mess and noted the issue by VHF to RC. I was pretty upset not for the lose of race lines but just the incredibly dangerous situation we were in. We adjusted and stayed clear and moved on. We then had a nice extra large barge and tug come around the bend luckily we stayed clear with no impact. We showed 8-10 knts at the mast but with less then 2 hours to finish our return to the finish line I knew we weren't going to make it. I made the call that we were with withdrawing and turning around to motor back to our slip. I know it was disappointing but the wind just wasn't going to work for us this year for RoseLeigh. The return home was also a first for us in the dark, thank god for Navtronics on my phone to help guide us back. Docking wasn't a drama this time either and everyone helped load up and clean up RoseLeigh. Our celebration of a completed challenge was at our favorite real Italian pizza and pasta place with a pitcher of bear that didn't last very long
I'll post up the pics I got from everyone next, as usual I didn't take pictures but my wife, Mom and daughter did!