Queen Cup

[Miles Henderson]

I encourage any C34 owners to participate in the Queen's Cup this year.

Last year we enterred for the first time, we were in a division with 18 other boats and finished 2nd in our division.

The Queen's Cup is normally considered to be a "Reach-fest", which is particularly helpful to a heavy boat like ours with a very large asymmetric. 

Get out there and have fun!

Miles H
Kumatage 1204

[Bob Kuba]

Miles,

Could you post some more information here about the race?
Dates, start/finish, course length, etc..

Thanks
Bob K.

[Miles Henderson]

This year the Queen's Cup goes from South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee to Grand Haven, Michigan about 60 miles due east across Lake Michigan).  The race starts at 6:00 pm on Friday, June 25th.  Many boats arrive at SSYC on Thursday and there is a party that evening.  Also there is a Saturday evening party/reception in Grand Haven.

See SSYC's website for more info:
http://www.ssyc.org/index.php/queens-cup

Generally you can expect 200 boats sailing across Lake Michigan at night with a full moon.  There were eleven PHRF divisions, and our C34 fin keel, tall mast was in division nine.

Hope you can make it Bob.  If you make plans to participate, let me know an I will look you up in Milwaukee.  My email is miles@mainstim.com.

Miles H

[Bob Kuba]

Sounds like fun! We'll check our schedule.

Bob K.

[ed webb]

Mike,
Just sitting in the house freezing my transom off and thinking about getting back in the water. I was wondering how the race went for you? I had gone to Penwater last year on the weekend of the race. I brought the Anchorman back to Muskegon by myself (a first for me) and it was a little challenging. A friend of mine made the race and had a pretty rough ride home.

Ed

[Miles Henderson]

Hi Ed,

Last summer the wind was blowing straight out of the south when the race started at 15-17 knots.  We got a good start and went south of the lay line.  Once we were about a mile south of the lay line we headed straight for Grand Haven (this year the race goes to Muskegon as you probably know).  The wind held steady until 10 pm when it started to shift gradually to the southwest.  We put up the asymmetric and started to make time on the competition.  The wind started to pick up steam when it was coming from the SW.  It was blowing about 22-24 from midnight to 2am (we were flying the asym the whole time).  We had a fairly experience crew which was necessary to handle the boat and sails.  Then the wind picked up the around 2 am to about 26 knots and we continued to fly the asym we hit 10.5 knots going down a wave (per our gps) and were going a steady 9.5 knots.  The boat was under a significant amount of pressure be held up very well and we were able to keep the helm balanced. 

Then about 3am (eastern time) the wind continued to pick up and we had to take the asym down (which was an interesting challenge in itself).  The wind picked up the 30 knots and the seas built.  We finished at 4 am (eastern time) which was 9 hours after the start.  We finished second in our division and 7th in the fleet.  It was a heavy boat night (the heavy boats ruled).  A 41 foot Choy Lee ketch won our division and finished 3rd in the fleet.  The slowest division had the 1st and 2nd place winners in the fleet.  Nice to see the 'slow' boats can win the Queen's Cup in the right conditions.  I had one of the guys from the yacht club complain that the 72 foot sleds didn't have a chance in the heavy wind.  I said "Cry me a river, you guys normally rule 95% of the time in the lighter air".

Anyway, it was a good time.  The year before in very light wind we also finished second in our division (the race took about 20 hours, if I recall).  We also hope to do The Hook this year.  The Hook goes from Racine around the Door County peninsula to Menominee/Marinnet MI on Green Bay

[Ted Pounds]

I'll second that about the Queen's Cup; did it twice and it was a blast.  Dress warmly thought; it's surprising how cold it gets out there at night.  Also another fun race is the LMSS Double Handed Challenge.  It usually runs the week before the Queen's and goes from Winthrop Harbor to Port Washington (also has a second section that runs from Muskegon to Port Washington).  Crew is limited to two people (hence the name) so it's a good race if you're having trouble getting a crew together.  A lot of folks use it as a start for a little vacation cruise.

[ed webb]

I was checking ssyc website but not much info at this time. Can you tell me what the cost is for entry?

Thanks,
Ed

[togve]

test

[tom475]

Does anyone have current info on this years races, east to west and back?

Tom