Saturday, July 18, 2009

Chicago-Mackinac Race

I had my six month CT scans two days ago, and they were clear. No sign of the cancer at this time, I'll see Dr. Grinblatt in August for a progress check, but for now, I have a CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH!!!! WOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I love when that happens. :)

The Mac is finally here! The biggest race in our annual sailing season, the world's longest fresh water race. 333 nm from Chicago to Mackinac Island, which basically runs the diagonal across Lake Michigan and into Lake Huron. I an especially excited about this year's race because I had to watch last year's race on my iPhone from the comforts of our lakehouse, which was horrible because all I wanted to do was be out on the water.
This year's race looks to be really slow, so after this afternoon's start (about 12:40 CDT), we should probably finish sometime Tuesday afternoon. I am racing on the Beneteau 36.7 Veloce. There are over 350 boats entered in this years race, and our section of the fleet has 20 boats in it.

You can track the race, including several boats in the Beneteau fleet by clicking http://www.cycracetomackinac.com/ and then looking for the iBoat Race Tracking logo on the right hand side of the webpage. You may also track the race on Facebook and/or Twitter, if you have any interest. Honore and Hope are already in Mackinac vacationing with the rest of the Woodside clan(except Hope and Craig who are still in Salt Lake City). They will be there when we arrive sometime Monday or Tuesday(hopefully not Wednesday).

For me, getting to do this race is a bit of a miracle. I had no idea I would be this strong, and have this good a stamina within a year. Regardless of how we do, I feel like we've won just getting to be on the boat.

I have to run, have a train to catch to make boatcall or I'm left ashore. Love to you all, thank you for your thoughts, prayers and wishes.

Travis