It was an emotional and happy night on Tuesday as the American Sail Training Association presented it’s TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Awards from this summer’s race series on the Great Lakes, and our Sail Training Awards. And without any further ado, here are the winners:
TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Awards
Perry Bowl – Awarded to the Top Finishing ASTA Member Vessel in the 2010 TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Races
Winner: Pride of Baltimore 2 (Photo – Bert Rogers and Linda Christenson, Executive Director of Pride of Baltimore 2)
It seemed like only a few weeks ago that I was frantically packing up my office to go on the road. It was with nervous anticipation that I looked forward to the first stop of the series in Toronto. How would the interns be? Would they all get along? How will we make it through SIX ports without getting burnt out? Luckily, I needn’t have worried. Brian, Patti and I bonded in the minivan for the five hour drive (and two hour wait at the US-Canada border) to the first port of Toronto. As Brian and I fought like siblings over the radio, Patti napped in the back of the van and I knew then that this summer was going to be OK. Here is an example of what the minivan dynamics were like:
Last night, 11 pm: the tallest building in Chicago comes into sight as a dim green orb across a calm stretch of Lake Michigan. At first we don’t know what it is, the four of us standing on the quarter deck; we spend several minutes staring through the binoculars before identifying it as the Sears Tower.
I am both counting the number of hours until we dock at Navy Pier and dreading it. Something pulls me to shore, some undertow sucks me down and pushes me back out. I count the number of hours until we port—three—because my arrival to Chicago signals the end of this summer, as it’s our final stop, the narrowing and then closing of this fraction of my life: two months spent on Erie, Huron, Superior, and Michigan, living, working and writing on the Denis Sullivan. “Matchless” is the only word that comes to mind. Arriving in Chicago is a type of graduation, then, because that’s what it’s been for me on this ship: a 24-hour-a-day education. Instruction through immersion: some new frontier I’ve come out of more capable than I was before.
Here we are in Chicago, the final port of the Great Lakes United TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE®. The ships arrived yesterday afternoon and Navy Pier has been busy since then. About a week ago I joined the crew of the Lynx for the final race of the series. The race began outside of Green Bay and was a straight shot south for almost 100nm. Because it was such a short course and the Lynx carries only 10 crew members I was very busy for most of the race. We held around 7 knots for the entire race, but it was not enough to keep us at the front of the fleet. We crossed the finish line almost 24 hours after leaving Sturgeon Bay and Captain Beebe-Center called for all hands to wear ship so we could turn around and head north to Port Washington, WI. Exhausted from the race I went to my bunk to catch up on sleep during the short sail to Port Washington. I expected to be woken up to strike sail upon our arrival into to the harbor, but while I was sleeping the wind died down and Captain Beebe-Center gave the word for a swim call. We drifted over to Pride of Baltimore 2 and Roseway, two other ships headed to Port Washington, and relaxed in Lake Michigan for about an hour before heading into port. We came up alongside on Wednesday night, a day early so that we could have a maintenance day on Thursday. The festival was open over the weekend, and because Port Washington was not an ASTA port I got to stay onboard Lynx and help out with day sails. It was nice change of pace to work a festival from the ship’s point of view. We left Port Washington early Monday morning for the overnight transit to Chicago.
The festival is in full swing today, the ships opened for deck tours this morning and day sails will begin this afternoon. I have been anticipating this final port stop in Chicago all summer, and I can already tell it is going to be just as exciting as I imagined.
Standing on the Sullivan’s quarter deck, waving back to the shoreline welcome crowd, my first impression of the city was the opposite of what I expected. It was Duluth’s topography: white wood houses, red brick clock tower, shiny hotels and skyscrapers rising against a sharp hill that made the city look more like something out of a calendar of French vacation beaches rather than a Midwest port. Except that when the Sullivan pulled into Duluth, it was in un-calendar-esque weather. Slight fog had rolled in and fat clouds meant rain. We were told to expect thunderstorms all weekend, the entire festival. I was thankful I’d be under a tent, but knew that the rain also meant the crowds would be thin at best.
“Overtaking you!” shouted Captain Robert Vos with a wild flourish of his hands as he informed our night watch about his recent radio communication with the Denis Sullivan– our de-facto opponent in the race.
Just abaft the beam of our vessel hovered the green navigation light of the Sullivan, a mere handful of miles away. As we sailed ahead we watched that light fall more aft. It would never again be forward of us.
In the beginning of the race, Milwaukee’s large schooner, the Denis Sullivan, had left us in their wake. Our course was similar to theirs- to head in a more northern direction over the Keewenaw Peninsula of Lake Superior. Unable to catch the smaller schooner, Robert changed tactics. We would instead hug the coastline to shave off miles. Downwind, with our studding sails, and Robert’s coast-cruising navigation, we were able to creep, mile by slow mile, alongside the Sullivan, finally overtaking her on the morning of August 5th at about 0200.
It was blowing a stink for the start of Race Three of the Race to Save the Lakes and Captain Tiffany took full advantage of the wind to be the first across the line, 45 seconds after the cannon blew, followed closely by Europa, Pride of Baltimore 2and Roseway. Niagara was fifth across the line, followed byRoald Amundsen. Today’s noon positions of the fleet are as follows (all on elapsed time): Niagara is ahead of Denis Sullivan by about 17 miles, of Europa by 19 miles and ahead of Roald by about 34 miles.
So the standings on un-corrected time are Niagara in first, Denis Sullivan in second, Europa in third and Roald Amundsen in fourth. Both Prideof Baltimore and Roseway only started the race since they had prior commitments in Duluth. I’ve heard that the wind kind of died a little bit but it’s still a good race. According to Billy, First Mate on Niagara, the wind is definitely not favoring the steel hulled vessels (Europa and Roald Amundsen). There is still a ways to go and anything can happen on Lake Superior. Follow the racing on our Fleet Tracker (on the left sidebar).
It’s a quiet Monday evening here in Duluth. There are still a few ships in the harbor doing day sails but the vendors are gone and the crowds have dwindled to a few curious onlookers. Last night we announced the winners of the second leg of the Race to Save the Lakes during the crew party generously hosted by Visit Duluth. Race two started off of Tawas Point last Monday night (read about the start here). The ships raced 121 nautical miles to the north end of Lake Huron and finished by Drummond Island. On elapsed time, Pride of Baltimore 2 crossed the finish line about 13 hours ahead of Pathfinder. But, since the ships are handicapped to ensure a fair race, on corrected time Pride beat Pathfinder by 45 mintues to come in first. Read the rest of this entry »
Jesse Loge, who hails from the Northwest, earned his captain’s license in 2007 and has served as Sullivan’s Relief Captain under Senior Captain Tiffany Krihwan. Last night we got to chatting in Houghton’s funky/smooth Ambassador Restaurant and I asked him some questions.
It’s three in the morning and someone is at my bunk, whispering my name.
“Natalie.” A woman.
“Natalie,” Rebecca repeats. “You have thirty minutes until watch. It’s cold. Bring your jacket.” I resist the urge to pull my comforter over back over my head. I know that the watch before me, who have been on since eleven, won’t be released until I am up on deck.
That’s the way “watch” works aboard the Sullivan: after nine hours off, part of the crew has a four or five hour shift. Each watch we work is at a different time, and we get a full night’s sleep every third night. The crew is split evenly into watches, and there is always a crew on watch. Having the 3-8 am shift means I’ll go on watch again after dinner, around 6 pm. I pull myself out of my bunk and start searching for my sweater in the dark.
TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Series Official Blog 