| Here we are for the Gloucester Schooner
Race once again! This year we find extremely
light winds and a flood current keeping most of
the racing fleet of schooners moving backward
with the tide. You can see the green track that
is the start of the race coming out from the
inner harbor and crossing the start line off
Eastern Point well after the starting gun. The
start was precisely at 1100. Schooner Ernestina
was the second vessel over the start line at
about 1430. The upper
chart image shows the schooner finally stemming
the tide toward the mark (red flag) as the wind
had gone easterly enough and strengthened for a
solid starboard tack. We rounded the mark just
after the Alabama and sailed down wind for the
finish line to overtake her and come in just
ahead of Californian. Close finish though! The
Californian was closing fast and might have had
us with another quarter mile.
A special part of the day was
the dedication to fishermen lost at sea by
Clarence Rudolf and Jeff Hynes. A wreath was put
over the side and a moment of silence was
observed. Both men have a long fishing history in
their families. The Ernestina provided a backdrop
to a similar dedication taking place ashore led
by Joe Garland and Linda Greenlaw as guest
speaker at the "Fishermen's Statue."
Schooner Ernestina had her
dories over with Willi Bank, Peter Marshall,
Chris Newlan and Phil Smith giving it their all
to stem the tide. Peter Berger even tried an oar
out through the freeing port for an extra edge.
It gave us that 150 feet on the Californian we
needed at the finish!
Wind: light NE'ly
Visibility: Good
Captain: Amanda
Madeira
Program Coordinators: Crista Mellican
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