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Doing my first long distance race, 300nm, any tips or tricks I should know?
I joined a beercan team this season and they asked me to do the Chicago to Mac race with them. My sailing background is mostly leisurely with a few charters thrown in so I don't know what to expect. Do you guys have any recommendations on what to bring, necessities or tripsavers? Any advice and tips are appreciated.
Do you have safety gear? You will need PDF/harness/tether. What about a PLB? Not really required but a good idea. A good set of foul weather gear is important too.
You should also have a headlight with red and white light, and just a few clothes. Don't bring too much to wear. If it gets cold at night remember to bring a warm hat. The guys on the boat I race on don't drink much coffee so I bring some starbucks via packets. Add boiling water and I'm all set.
How dry is the boat you will be on? Many boats leak down below, and having to use soggy gear is a drag. I pack my stuff in a small drybag so I'm good to go.
Bring a water proof camera and take pics / video.
Have fun and when you are off watch sleep as much as possible.
Yes, take no more than what you can pack in a zippered duffle. I no longer bring a sleeping bag - just a small, stadium style fleece blanket and small sheet. Bring your own personal water bottle (with screw top) and a coffee mug with a lid. Miso soup and snicker bars are fantastic during the mid watch (bring extra for your watch mates!). If the rest of the guys aren't big coffee drinkers, bring some of those single serve packets from starbucks. I also like powdered lemonaide drink mix in the afternoons. How cold does it get on the great lakes in the summer? Have you sailed through squalls before? And do you have the appropriate foul weather and safety gear? (I learned the hard way that you should always pack an extra rearming kit or two)
Your job when you're off is to rest. If you're otherwise needed they'll call you. Bring and wear a sleep mask and foam ear plugs. Set your alarm so you report on deck when you're supposed to be up.
Wear capilene underwear; at least your crotch will be dry. Bring a new pair of wool athletic socks still the unopened bag; they're like bus fare home. Watch cap. Your knife and shackle key.
Have a specific location to stow your gear; don't put it down anywhere else. Searching for your harness in the dark is the pits.
If your team hasn't done a distance race before, John Rousmaniere's article on organizing watches is worth reading.
Adding to what others have suggested, I like to have a small, bright flashlight that I can use to check sail trim at night. You should also attach a strobe light to your pfd similar to this one, in case you go overboard at night.
Pro tips- Skin Sensations wit Deet- You will thank me when the black flies start biting.
Fleece jacket, thermal shirt, polyester bottoms, fleece pants, wool or polyester watch hat, ski gloves- Sunday night you will most likely need them, Shorts, t shirts, 2 pair shoes, Rocky socks (waterproof), and foul weather gear.
Your PFD must have 33lb of buoyancy.
Good sunglasses with strap
70 Sunblock
Secret stash of energy food- Kellogg's Fruity Snacks work.
Always go on deck as soon as possible when watch is called. Keep quiet and focused. Stay positive. Have fun
If you read all the advice (none of which is bad per se) you'll end up, by the time you trundle down the dock, looking like Mrs. Howell boarding the S.S. Minnow.
Remember this is only 300 nm -- a day and a half for a decent PHRF boat. You aren't circumnavigating.
Absolutely positively you need foulies and your own PFD with built-in harness. You should have dry clothes, especially socks and underwear. One set of dry clothes and three of socks and underwear. Pack all that in your duffle in a trash bag. Bring a towel in another trash bag. Bring a couple of extra trash bags. Sun screen, insect repellant, water bottle, small flashlight, and a credit card.
TALK TO THE OWNER. You shouldn't bring what he is bringing. Find out his plan for meals and snacks and ask how you can help. Find out expectations for extras like tethers, PLBs etc.
You are racing not sight seeing. Bring your phone but leave your handheld GPS, VHF, camera, etc home. Find out ahead of time what the plan is for charging personal electronics - don't assume you can and manage battery life accordingly.
Be sensitive to owner sensitivities. For example, I don't allow crew to wear headlamps. Just too many bad experiences. If the owner says everyone sits in the head you sit. If s/he says ten pumps you pump ten times. Make sure you understand your job when on watch and you focus on rest off-watch unless asked to do something. There are only two places for your stuff - on your body and in your duffel. Don't spread out.
If you do think there is something you have that would be helpful, ask the owner.
Be cheerful. Be happy. Be helpful. Have a good time. If you don't like the owner's rules don't go back.
The key is to pack small. I bring less and less these days. Just a pair of sailing shorts and pants and a tee or rash shirt (or more, depending on race duration). Then layers when factoring in weather etc. I pack one set of YC/traveling clothes. Remember, if you run short of clothing at the end, you can always buy a souvenir tee or polo at the end of the race. One thing I found really handy are those Eagle Creek packing cubes at REI. They make organizing your duffle very easy. Your smart phone can double as a camera and iPod so that cuts down on “stuff”. Depending upon the boat situation, bring a 12v USBI receptacle. On ULDBs that are power challenged, I have one of those little recharging packs that are the size of a smart phone. I get 2 -3 charges on phone batteries that are next to dead.
But most importantly, what boat will you be on and what is the race date? We would all love to live vicariously with you on this race. I would absolutely love to do a Chi Mac sometime! Oh, and SAIL HER LIKE SHE’s STOLEN!
The race is this Saturday and like I said my racing experience is limited to a few beercans. I'll be on a reasonably outfitted j/35 so we should hit the island by Monday morning. I appreciate all the great tips here and I will report back on my experience.
Shoes, SV Auspicious is full of hot air. I've done 19 Mackinacs (BYC & CYC) and you will be lucky to get in on Monday morning. Look at the last 5 years results for elapsed time and you will see what I mean. Your finish will be anywhere from 40 to 60 hours. It is 300+nm but seldom that is the actual distance you sail. In some races we've sailed as much as 400 miles in the race. I've raced on everything from sleds to 38 footers in that race. Making 7knots VMC is pretty tough unless you are on a sled and even then it has taken us over 40 hours at least once. The forecast calls for rain Sunday, Monday. Water temps of upper 50s to 60s in northern part of the lake. Think cold at night. And no it is not a day and a half day race as Auspicious claims. The wind forecast is favorable for an offwind race this year but not much velocity. At least you won't be cold but watch out for the flies.
A day and a half or four days really doesn't matter. You're racing. Same packing list. Add your own container of baby wipes to my list and you're done. There isn't space or time for a lot of amenities. Too many people in too small a space.
I defer to your experience on the Chicago-Mac. For packing purposes that doesn't matter.
The most important thing is coordination with the owner, as I suggested.
Have lots of fun! I don't know anything about Great Lakes sailing conditions, but a J35 is pretty fast and I'm guessing a 48 hour passage. An added incentive is to arrive BEFORE the YC Bar closes for the evening. To reinforce the pack lite/keep your gear stowed: These photos are from the Socal 300 portion of the California Race week. We are seven days in and we have shed all our cold weather gear. There are five of us sharing a cabin along with four spinnakers and two headsails on a Cal 40 - lap of luxury.
Despite it being July, a watch cap and gloves might be useful for chilly late night watches. We have also had occasion on the CHI-Mac to find dive goggles useful for seeing in 50 knot rain/hail squalls. A rule book could also come in handy (just in case).
Middle distance races like the Mac and the Bermudas are a different mindset than buoy races.
Keep the boat moving. Look at the d-mn sails. Remember you are there to maximize VMG. Everything else is secondary unless positioning for weather or current. Unlike beercan where the other boats are is irrelevant. Forget wind shadows, positioning for right of way and other beercan tricks. Sure use them if convenient but that stuff should not be primarily in your thoughts. VMG, VMG,VMG.
To this end look carefully at that boats polar and suit of sails. Talk with owner about these things. He may tell you little important things like she's faster on port than stbd. tack. Faster with a big genny than a code in moderate air. Likes to be on her feet than rail down. Etc.
I used to review each watches performance post race. You can guess who I invited back.
As noted it should be only 2 days, but it might be 4. It's fresh water, so you don't need many replacement clothes, but a dry change at the end is precious. Take a SMALL duffel that's only big enough to fit your boots, foulies, harness/pfd and spares when you board. Stow it and don't leave it open. Take a pack of baby wipes to "bathe" with.
your pfd/harness should have a rigging knife and red flashlight on lanyard. You probably need crotch/thigh straps on the PFD, and having your own tether bundled into a stuffsack is not a bad idea.
put your NAME on each piece that could come adrift, ALL Foulweather gear & boots looks the same in the middle of the night.\
Ask about bunks, likely you will be hot bunking, and sharing the sleeping bag/blankies etc. Sleep in Dry clothes, and have your boots/foulies/harness laid out where you can find in the dark if a sudden squall.
Keep the hatches closed at night, don't use white lights after dark and take your motion sickness meds (trans dermal scop) the day before.
Ask owner about policies: we put on Pfd and harness to jack lines if any of: reefed, after dark or alone on deck.
Shoes-The forecast looks like light and variable on the nose on Saturday, heavier wind on the nose on Sunday. My prediction is that you will arrive sometime late Monday night. One of the challenges is to manage several variables for the race.
1. By all means attend the party Friday night but be moderate in drinking and eating. Nothing worse than being hung over on Saturday afternoon as you are bobbing around off Evanston. Your fellow crew mates won't appreciate you for filling up the holding tank with foul smelling crap from those 8 fish tacos that tasted so good on Friday.
2. Moisture management. A wicking shirt helps a lot. You don't want to be damp when you go off watch in evening. Put your sunblock before you leave the dock. Change to a dry shirt before you come on deck on Sunday.
3. As you work your way north it will be cold at night on Sunday especially with a northeast wind. Fleece is your friend.
4. Pack a small towel. You'll need it at the showers in the Marina. You will want to be fresh when your team goes to pick up your award on Tuesday.
Have fun. Hopefully you are not on the J-35 with 6 total crew. Not enough for this race most years. My money is on Bad Dog to win the section.
PS- If you need a ride back, I'm bringing a 68' sled back to Belmont leaving dock 6:00am on Wednesday. PM me if you want to go.
If it helps, here is a write up of my very first offshore race ever that was about the same distance of 300 miles. I also did the return delivery of the boat - so about 600 miles total. I learned A LOT:
The hardest thing to do on a long race is for 100% of the crew to give 100% effort, for 100% of the time. It is so very easy to slack off for a minute or two, which can cost you. Good luck!
I hope he's having fun and doing well. I look forward to the post race report.
This race really interests me. Next season will be my first season with a boat though and I certainly won't be ready to participate. Sometime in the next few seasons...
Looks like a fast race. Reports from my friends say that it was cold, wet, and a little scary in the 2 storms. There were several retirements and 1 48 footer that sunk with 10 crew. The crew got into a liferaft and were rescued by another boat. Wow. Shoes should be finished by now. Sounds like an epic race
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