SLOW MAC RACE WON BY MOJO

COLLABORATION IS 2^nd

RHUMB RUNNER, 3^rd

(Tuesday, July 21, 2009) In what was the slowest race to Mackinac Island since 2002 when the Beneteau 40.7’s began their own section in the event, Mojo, led by co-skippers Jeff Comeaux, Gary Powell, and Scot Ruhlander won 1^st place over the fourteen one-design boats in the class. Mojo’s elapsed time was 66:51:40 (hrs:min:sec).

In the Mackinac Trophy Division of the race, in which the Beneteau 40.7 section competed, Mojo finished 20^th out of the 134 boats entered. Handicap ratings were assigned by the Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) system.

Beside Mojo’s three skippers the balance of the crew consisted of Greg Comeaux, Brad Seavoy, Jim Elvart, Steve Powell, Bob Constantino, and Barrett O’Donovan.

2^nd place in the section was won by Bob Vickery’s Collaboration 2, with an elapsed time of 67 hr., 40 min., 54 sec. This is the sixth straight year that Vickery “The Lake Fox” has finished in the top three in the section.

By comparison to Mojo’s elapsed time this year (66:51:40) the fastest ever winning 40.7 time since 2002 was 37:15:51 by Alan McMillan’s Finesse in 2002. The previous slowest winning time was 62:07:47 in 2004 by Bob Vickery’s Collaboration 2.

The slowest completion of the race ever by a 40.7 was this year by Bogdan Stojkowski’s Temptation with an elapsed time of 74:26:59.

This year it was optional for the boats to carry tracking transponders. Eleven of the fourteen boats in the section carried the transponders, three did not, those being: Mojo, Tsunami, and La Tempete.

At the 40.7 start, at 1 PM on Saturday, July 18^th, the wind was northeast, slightly to the right of the rhumb line. Everyone started with genoas. Shortly after the start Collaboration put up a spinnaker and reached off to the west while pulling ahead of the boats close reaching. Other boats, reportedly Clem Boltz’ Cancan and Mojo were seen reaching with good effect flying their jib-top reachers.

Positions of the 40.7 section two hours after the start (Spanker and Cancan not updated here. Mojo, Tsunami and La Tempete don’t have transponders.):

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What wind there was at the start began dying a few hours into the race. This was a view looking east about four hours after the start:

Here are the positions of the boats on Sunday at 1800 hrs.:

And the boats’ track up to Sunday 1800 hrs.:

As the wind alternately died and lightly picked up, rarely over 8 knots, the boats alternately played the shore, or went offshore. Approaching the Manitou Islands, Tsunami (without transponder) was the lone boat that went west, outside of the islands.

Here are the positions of the boats as they worked through the Manitou Passage on Monday at 1800 hrs.:

With the leaders approaching the bridge at the Straits of Mackinac at 0800 on Tuesday the rest of the fleet was arriving at Grays’s Reef. Here, Collaboration has just passed Rhumb Runner to move into 2^nd place. The winner, Mojo, in stealth mode [no transponder], is not shown. Cancan is a close 4^th.

After the race we were able to talk to Jeff Comeaux one of Mojo’s three co-skippers, and to a couple of the crew, Gregg Comeaux (Jeff’s son) and Steve Powel, son of the other Mojo skipper, Gary Powel.

40.7: Guys, congratulations on a great accomplishment this week, the winning of our section of the race to Mackinac Island.

Did you have any plan before the start and if so how did that affect what happened in the first few hours after the start?

Jeff Comeaux: Sail north close to rhumb with the best pressure we could find. We all knew there was a big hole in the middle of the lake.

40.7: How did your strategy evolve on Saturday evening, and on Sunday, and Monday? What were you observing with other boats in the section, either visually or using the Iboat trackers?

Jeff Comeaux: We played very close attention to every flicker of wind and constantly trimmed the sails accordingly. We noticed that a lot of the boats that went east worked back to the west, and strangely, several of the east boats consolidated to the center. It appeared that nobody had a solid plan.

40.7: When did you feel that you pulled into the lead?

Jeff Comeaux: When we passed Rhumb Runner at Point Betsie. We crossed tacks at Big Sable Point earlier in the race.

40.7: Can you describe what happened towards the end of the race, say from Gray's Reef to the bridge and then to the finish?

Jeff Comeaux: We sailed about ¼ mile in front of Rhumb Runner through the Tous and constantly worked the boat for speed and pointing. Our hard work paid off with about a 2 mile lead by the time we hit Gray’s Reef. At that time we noticed that Cancan was now in sight and it appeared that Rhumb Runner changes their concentration to Clem (Boltz, skipper of Cancan). About 10 miles southwest of the reef, we hit a new wind that was quickly dying. Unfortunately (we) got stuck for several hours – finally the wind started to fill-in from the southeast. We also thought that Rhumb Runner and Clem may have slipped passed us in the dark since they were both moving when we lost our wind. In fact, we started to seriously think that they were both two miles in front of Mojo in the straits. Our biggest concern was that Bob Vickery (“The Lake Fox”, skipper of Collaboration 2) somehow, someway, was four hours in front of us. Bob is cunning and uses more options than most of us can even imagine. When we heard his call in at the bridge after we finished, we all had a sense of relief. From discussions with Bob, it appears that he worked Collaboration 2 to its max and rolled several boat along their path. Congrats to Bob!!

40.7: Mojo was one of only three boats in the 40.7 section that didn't have a tracker so you were in stealth mode. Do you feel that this mode might have helped your final standing?

Jeff Comeaux: No – I like the old fashion way of doing this race … by the seat of your pants. In the 80’s and 90’s, we used to rely heavily on the quadrant call-in on sunday evening (good opportunity to be creative) and the call-in at the 45th parallel.

40.7: There's been some talk among the skippers that the tracker be required on the Mac for all boats in our section. How would you feel about this?

Jeff Comeaux: I am 100% against it. From what I have learned about this equipment, it is unreliable, an added expense to a very expense program, a major hassel when you finish the race, for those who want to go stealth – throw 2-3 sails on top of the transponder.

40.7: Can you describe any exciting incidents on the race?

Jeff Comeaux: (for us, the excitement was mainly seeing the wind pick up to 3 knots!) The most exiting incident during the race was to observe that none of our competitors were calling in at the bridge before us. We were fairly confident that we would hear Rhumb Runner and Clem make the call.

40.7: Who was your MVP?

Jeff Comeaux: Barret, Bob and Steve for making no less than 50 sail changes on this race.

40.7: Who were your crew?

Jeff Comeaux: Jeff Comeaux, Gary Powell, Scot Ruhlander, Gregg Comeaux, Brad Seavoy, Jim Elvart, Steve Powell, Bob Constantino and Barrett O’Donovan. Jeffrey Comeaux had to drop out at the last minute due to a sailing injury the week before.

Mojo crewmember, Steve Powell had this to say about their victory…

Steve Powell: “As far as specific preparations go, there really weren't any. Ever since we started racing on Mojo three seasons ago, all we've been focused on has been getting the boat tuned properly on a regular basis, so that when the crew finally jelled and came together as one, she would be in the best position possible for success. I think that this year in general, we have done a much better job of doing that, which I think is reflected in the results. As for the Mac, each watch group (but really the crew in general) did an outstanding job of staying focused in some extremely squirrelly and oftentimes maddening conditions out there.

“One of our bowmen (Jeffrey Comeaux) sustained a pretty nasty injury to his forearm in a previous race leading up to the Mac, and was thus forced to abstain from participation this year. This meant we had nine crew with only one true bowman to go 'round. Watches were roughly 4 hours on, 4 off with 4 crew per watch and the bowman "floating" based on whether or not we were anticipating any sail changes. The positions on the boat were generally as follows: Jeff Comeaux -- driver, Scot Ruhlander -- Main trim, Gary Powell -- sail trim / driver, Brad Seavoy -- sail trim / driver, Jim Elvart -- tactics / sail trim, Gregg Comeaux -- Jib/Spin trim / driver, Barrett O'Donovan -- mast / rail meat, Bob Constantino -- bow / rail meat, Steve Powell -- mast / rail meat / main trim

The meals were handled almost exclusively by one of our owners, Jeff Comeaux, who I must say did a truly outstanding job all the way around. He handled shopping, preparation, cooking, serving, and clean-up. If you want to know more about the menu, it's probably best just to ask him about it because I'm starting to get all of the meals jumbled together in my head, but needless to say they were 5-star for the conditions. I forget which General it was, maybe Napoleon, that remarked that an army "marches on its stomach". Well, the crew of Mojo was no different, and we made the "march" up to the Island with lots of good food that continually boosted spirits and morale despite the race conditions.

“As far as how we felt we were doing at various points in the race, it was definitely a roller-coaster of a ride. The hours after the start were obviously very slow, and we all were wondering when we would no longer be staring at the B'hai, aka ‘Temple of Doom’, off the port-side. The entire fleet was pretty much still bunched together, so we had a good idea of where everybody was. I don't think anyone was particularly concerned about the situation at that point, because everyone knows it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We didn't really know how we might be standing until we hit the Manitous and reports trickled in that Rhumb Runner and Collaboration might be in the area, and that they were at the head of the fleet. We had a pretty epic game of cat-and-mouse with Rhumb Runner from Sunday night through most of Monday, overtaking them, being overtaken, back and forth until finally Monday we were able to stay out ahead of them for good. At that point, we were feeling good for sure. Monday evening, about 20-odd miles or so from Grays Reef, we were dead-on rhumb doing about 8 knots in 14 or so of breeze when suddenly someone switched the wind off (again), and we were stuck, completely becalmed. Hours upon hours passed, and we began to get antsy, not only because our boat speed was hovering just above triple goose-eggs, but also due to the fact that we could see bow lights way back in the distance. Some of them were from much larger boats to be sure (another source of positive vibes for us) but a couple of boats we couldn't be sure they weren't in our section. Two in particular stuck in close to shore, riding the thermals all the way up the coast. When it's dark out, any boat that passes you is "the competition" even though we couldn't be sure. We tried to get inshore to cover, but underestimated the distance. Needless to say, they passed us and went off into the dark. This was probably the low-point of the race for us, because we began to imagine how many boats had passed us in the night, and how we had surely sacrificed the lead this close to the finish. It really wasn't until we passed the Bridge and someone got a phone call saying that we were the only ones to have checked in thus far did anyone have an idea that we might have actually done pretty well. It was about 8 AM Tuesday when we heard the race committee acknowledge Collaboration checking in at the Bridge, about an hour behind us, when reality sunk in and we realized we had won. This of course put everybody back on Cloud 9, from the depths of despair.

“For me, the most memorable moments were on Saturday night / early Sunday morning, Monday during the day, and finally through the finish Tuesday morning. Saturday night / Sunday morning was great because I just just gotten up for my watch shift at 4 am, and our boat was barely moving in the almost non-existent wind conditions. Inexplicably, and as Lake Michigan tends to go, the wind began to steadily build over the course of a couple hours to almost 14 knots. I was settled in at main trim for a good portion of this time, and we really got the boat speed honkin'. It was the first time I really felt like we were racing and not just meandering in search of wind. Monday was great because of Rhumb Runner. They really sailed a fantastic race, and gave us one hell of a run for the money all day. We made the mistake Sunday night of tacking away from them in anticipation of better wind, and they made us pay for it by overtaking us in the dark. Luckily we were able to recover, but we spent almost all day Monday covering them and trying to stay one step ahead. I specifically recall watching them take their boat hard inshore near Sleeping Bear dunes, inside of a mile, where there is a very real chance of running aground, trying to bang the inside corner. It was exciting to finally have our competition right there within shouting distance, and to have that kind of a chess game going. As for the finish, I think it pretty much speaks for itself.”

Next we talked to Mojo crewmember, Gregg Comeau…

40.7: Did you do anything personally to prepare for the race?

Gregg Comeaux: Personally, I spent time on Mojo getting her ready and trying to coordinate a ride back.

40.7: How did the crew work together?

Gregg Comeaux: The crew work on Mojo was seamless for the Mac this year. Our core team is pretty deep so just about everyone can do just about every job.

40.7: How did you feel Mojo was doing as the race progressed

Gregg Comeaux: We did not have a great start, I believe we were with Temptation for most of the first hour. A few hours later as the boats began to separate, we had Das Boot and Cancan deux right around us until sunset. We pushed Sat. night right up the rhumb and found ourselves with Timberwolf and Raven the next morning about 20 nm south-southwest of Little Sable.

Most of Sunday was spent with Rhumb Runner trying to fight our way through the light breeze between the two Sables. Sunday night the OJOM shift pulled the grave shift and were lucky enough to move the needle inherited from the other shift from 1-2 knts boat speed to around 4-5 for our 4 hour rotation. Several sail changes saw us trade positions with Program and another pretty large boat that tacked out before sunrise.

Monday was really the first day we learned that we were doing well, when we were able to pull up the tracking and see that Rhumb Runner was in first place followed by Cancan deux and Collaboration 2. Our goal from that point forward was to stay with Rhumb Runner and cover them. While they did a great job of playing leap frog with us, our last tack was a huge lift that sent us shooting right down the pipe at 7 knots for about 2 hours. The wind shut off just before sunset and the next few hours were spent bobbing and listening to other boats glide past us. We definitely hit the breaks and let them fly right by. When we finally got the boat moving again around 11 PM, we pulled up the tracker and saw that Rhumb Runner, Cancan deux, Collaboration and Excalibur were just ahead of us. We did not know where La Tempete was, or Spanker because it looked like their tracker was still in Chicago.

Tuesday morning was spent fighting our way through the channel and the excitement we had the evening before was somber since we thought we may have a 5th or 6th with the data the tracker was reporting. Fast forward a few hours and a few heines later and we started to slowly discover that none of the 40.7's had called in at the bridge. I pulled up my tracker again and it showed that Rhumb Runner, Cancan deux, Collaboration and Excalibur were just through Grey's reef.

The last hour was filled with a little more optimism and hit a plateau when we heard Rhumb Runner and Cancan deux call in at the bridge.

40.7: Were there any exciting or memorable moments of the race for you?

Gregg Comeaux: The most exciting moment for this year’s Mac, besides winning, was really the time on the water with the other 8 guys. The most memorable moment, had to be Sunday night with just about every piece of Slam/Gill and Mountain hardware still not keeping the shivers out. I am pretty sure this was the coldest Mac ever.

Final comment--The Bear takes cash.

An article noting Katie Goldman's place as one of the few woman skippers in the Mackinac race appeared on nwi.com at http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/local/article_28866ad1-de8e-532e-ae1e-c66dc909ed7e.html. Katie and Rhumb Runner took 3rd place in the 40.7 section.

Final standing of the Beneteau 40.7 section, 101^st race to Mackinac Island: