Page 32 - 2012 Lake St. Clair Guide

Rhumb Runner .....
the Pickle Boat
Written with the help of crewman,
Dan Robbins
We went to “Boat Night” in Port
Huron for the 2011 Port Huron to Macki-
nac Sailboat Race. Even if you’re not a
sailor, the events that Port Huron puts on
for the Bluewater Festival really can get
everyone revved up for the race. More on
what goes on there on page 14.
Interestingly however, we were
One of the big guys
at the St. Clair Boat Races the following
weekend. While trying to beat the 90 de-
gree heat in between races at a local “air
conditioned” restaurant, we met Dan Rob-
bins, one of the crew of the Pickle Boat
from the Mackinac Race. What’s the
Pickle Boat? It’s the last boat to finish the
race! According to Wikipedia, the origin
of the name comes from English yacht-
ing, where the last boat was called the
“fisher.” The boats used to stop to fish for
herring and then pickle them. The pickling
required the boat to take even longer to
come into port.
I’ve been fortunate enough to sail
in a
few
races Stephenson of Southfield, friend of Linus’
on
Lake
St.
The author, publisher, or seller assumes no liability with respect to the use of information contained herein. Page 32
Clair...
admit-
tedly,
I was
invited
mainly
to serve
the
cock-
tails,
but
sailing the Mackinac Race
for an affirmed sailor must be unforget-
table so I was very excited to talk with
Dan to learn what it’s like to be in this
huge event. The Bayview Mackinac Boat
Race is run by the Bayview Yacht Club of
Detroit. It’s one of the longest fresh-water
races in the world with over two hundred
boats entering the race each year. The race
starts just north of Port Huron, 4 miles into vious year...and about 44 hours behind the
Lake Huron and ends at Mackinac Island.
As for a little background, there
were six crew aboard the 2011 the Rhumb
Runner, a 36’ Catalina, her 3rd race with
owner/skipper William Howard of Lap-
eer. The boat is kept at Oldford’s Marina
in Lexington, MI. Also from Oldford’s
Marina were Linus Isabell of Rochester
Hills - his 6th Mackinac Race, Craig and
son Matthew Shaw of Attica, MI - Craig’s
2nd Race and Matthew’s 1st, and our ar-
ticle contributor today, Dan Robbins - his
1st Mackinac Race. And also was Arthur
Our crew, as we left
Lexington, MI
for Port Huron
- his 6th Mackinac Race.
So, needless to say, there
were a lot of experienced
yachtsmen in the group.
The shortest sailing
time of the 2011 - 87th race
to Mackinac was Cheekee
Monkee with an elapsed
time of 24 hours/43 minutes.
This was a multi hull style
boat which always seem to
be the fastest boats. The ac-
tual winning boat with a elapsed time of
31 hours/52 minutes was Natalie J owned
by Phil O’Niel III of Bloomfield Hills.
(Boats are handicapped like in golf so
with corrected time, the Natalie J won).
The Pickle Boat, the Rhumb Runner fin-
ished with an elapsed time of 68 hours /
13 minutes, 20 hours longer than her pre-
1st boat to Mackinac.
68 hours straight, sailing 235
miles in a race is a long time. Here’s Dan’s
account of what this experience was like
for his first time in this historical race....
I would not say there was not a lot
of tension at the beginning of the race, but
While waiting for the start
during the high heat and
no wind, there were some
final dips to cool off
rather much excitement and anticipation
of what the lake would dish out weather
and wind wise.
The start of the race was ex-
tremely low wind. It was hot and muggy
and the race was delayed for 45 minutes.
Continued on Page 36......