Thursday, July 31st – 3:15 p.m. ten minute gun
This year they are starting 2 hours later and also combining 3-4 divisions into one start. At the starting line, about 26 boats are criss-cross jockeying for position. Winds very strong 10 – 20 knots from the East which means it will take much longer to get to Montauk with the wind against us. Paul is up on the bow with the responsibility to watch that our boat does not hit another one in the process. He is hanging on as the boat is riding up and down 5 – 6 foot seas.
3:20 – five minute gun
3:25 – start
The race is on!

The pressure is not off – though bigger boats are able to move faster since they don’t bounce as much in the rough waters, The weather forecast was right this year – East wind which means tacking back and forth. (Getting to the start of the race – Freeport to Brooklyn, the wind was with us and we had a spectacular spinnaker run downwind done in 2 ½ hours but we knew what awaited us for the next 100 miles on the way back.)

Now everyone is outside sitting on the high rail while the helmsman carefully tries to steer each wave. We are all wearing our foul weather jackets, pants, rubber boots, and life vests. By 9 p.m. we were back off Jones Inlet. Every so often a breaker would engulf us. The boat jumped just like a wild bronco. John was in his glory. He would not relinquish the helm for about 6 hours. Our strategy was running close to the shore tacking when the depth was only 15 feet, sailing out to 40 feet and tacking back. We did this while the current was against us. As the current turned with us, we stayed between 40 and 100 feet. All night long it was howling! To put icing on the cake, King Neptune threw in two downpours of rain. Lois was at home worrying about us in the rain. We told her later that we were already wet from the waves breaking over the boat. Early morning we could see the fishing vessels coming out from Morishes Inlet. The pounding continued. John finally went down below to eat and sleep. Well not for long - while in the quarter berth a few rogue waves threw him up to hit the ceiling more than once. When it was Ken’s turn to sleep his head was the only part of him not protected under the quarter berth and a wave came over, with water rolling into the cabin and his face got a bath along with the pillow and blanket. I decided it would be wise to stay outside and must have dozed off – unfortunately with my moth open. A couple of times I got a dose of salt water in my mouth. We were soaking wet inside and out. Everything was wet – chart books, clothes, bunks. The only thing staying dry was our food in the ice box. The head dislodged – but luckily it did not leak. Anyone know of any waterproof toilet paper on the market?

Finally morning came off the Hamptons, the rain stopped and we started bailing out the boat. All we could see in the distance were 3 boats we assumed were competitors. After a short time they disappeared and the fog rolled in. Usually when there is fog there is little wind but this year we had fog and wind. At 4 p.m. we were 20 miles from Montauk Pt. The current was with us and the wind changed to South. Finally spinnaker time (the very large colorful sail.) Not so – our light chute ripped in a gust. Wind increased and with the current now against us, we took advantage of the back eddies near the shore in 20 feet of water. We were in total fog as we rounded Montauk at 9:50 p.m. Here navigation was critical. As strong as the beam of Montauk Lighthouse is, we could not see the light from it though we heard the fog horn. The strangest thing was that we could see the stars. I have sailed around Montauk at least 35 times but never experienced anything like this. It was a dark, dark night.

A strong current grabbed us and at that time we were beating to Plum Gut at 7 ½ knots which is a good speed. The fog lifted by Gardiner’s Island and we could see the Iron Lady Lighthouse at Orient Point. We are now going West after passing into the LI Sound and the current is still with us. Our decision to stay at the South side of the Sound paid off. Knowing from previous experience that the wind in the Sound had a tendency of turning from the South to South West, we were able to point from 260 degrees to 210 toward the finish of the race at 8:20 p.m. Saturday.

The biggest surprise awaited us at the finish line. They sounded the gun which signifies the first boat of each division over the line. This is the first time we have heard it in 27 years as handicaps change the finishing times. Since we had not seen any competitors for the last 28 hours, we were afraid we had sailed badly. Those observing Bohemia witnessed the guys jumping up and down and yelling with joy.

Now to prior to the race: The weather was certainly not normal – cold and rainy. The boat needed a new motor – changing over to diesel and the weather held up the work. Boat was not done until July 3rd. There was actually a period of 2 weeks without rain but everyone knew that the rain would be back for the race in keeping with the traditional rain storm in the ocean at night.

With 5 guys aboard they all had to be skilled since 2 would be usually sleeping.
Skipper Rudi- Safety, tactician, helmsman
Paul Seamon- Navigator, helmsman
John Harris- Sail specialist, helmsman
Steve Harbauer- Equipment, maintenance, navigation, helmsman

We were all psyched to go. After last year when 2 of the crew were seasick for 30 hours, the patch behind the ear was used by a few for the first time. It worked, but side effects were noticed – Ken was not his usual perky self. But the Bohemia crew knew that with the exception of the boat exploding, we stay in the race to the finish.

However, it is known that besides skill and determination, a certain amount of luck is necessary. I guess we just hit it right this time. With the currents we seemed to be at the right place at the right time – did not have to anchor once to wait for the tide change.

Statistics:

FIRST PLACE Bohemia 54 hours
Second Place Jammin Finished 4 hours after 1st place
Third Place Shooting Star Finished 3 hours after 2nd place

Happenings: The controls on our brand new motor got damaged during the rough ocean trip. Thank God John, our mechanic, with the help of Paul, our engineer, were able to repair it as we needed to run the motor in neutral to charge our batteries for lights and instruments.

This is an important one!! At times when it was very dark, visibility bad and we are sailing in restricted waters, have someone with a strong strobe light watching out for obstacles and buoys. In Plum Gut we knew there was an unlit buoy out there and we did shift to the port a bit and sure enough, hidden by the sail, we passed only 30 feet away from a buoy 10 – 12 feet high and big enough to do very serious damage had we hit it. Wonder if any of the boats that dropped out hit it.

On the fun side, the joke voted number one this year was from Ken who became his usual self once in the Sound. Following one of Rudi’s naps when he stuck his head out of the cabin and just looked around, Ken quipped, “Will there be six more weeks of winter?”

The annual return of the boat was with Rudi and support crew, Joe Doyle, Jim Smith and Adam Mikolajczyk. They experienced about 1” of rain going through churning Hell Gate to Williamsburg bridge and then in the ocean at night the wind howled, thankfully in the right direction blowing them back to Jones Inlet, there were breakers in the channel. Rudi in his quietness said, “Thank God it was dark so we couldn’t see the waves.”