Geoff Emanuel - My First Monhegan
1971
I was 14. One adult aboard; average age of rest of crew 16
8 crew
1970 Irwin 38 sloop
Skipper and sole adult was 32 yr. old Legare Van Ness, one of Ted Turner’s regular crew; ran Camden, Maine YC junior sailing program in ’71
Hurricane Beth went east of race course during race; forecasted to be farther east than actual
Light SE until dusk; then NE 15-25 knots with gusts to 30 Saturday Night and early Sunday, slowly tapering off during Sunday
Used a light, full sized genoa with a wire luff called a Drifter on first leg to Cape Porpoise 2CP whistle turning mark; rounded just before dusk Saturday
Changed to a full sized Heavy #1 genoa to beat to Monhegan; should have had up a #3 but no one but Legare was the only one with the strength and experience to steer in the rough conditions and the rest of crew was too scared to change the headsail; good news is sail was made of 12oz Dacron and did not fail
Fog rolled in for last half of leg to Monhegan
61 foot C&C came out of the fog headed back to Hussey Sound with spinnaker up going like a freight train. We were only 15 miles from Monhegan turning mark so it was a big boost to our morale
Rounded Whistler 14m whistle 2 miles SW of Monhegan Island shortly after sunrise Sunday
Set 1.5 Oz spinnaker and broached 5-6 times between Monhegan and Witch Rock
I was cook and not allowed on deck after dusk Saturday. I tried to cook pre-made meatball casserole, but alcohol oven wouldn’t stay lit. Only thing I could do was boil water. Made instant oatmeal around midday Sunday and had to spoon feed Legare because he still was only one who could steer on screaming reach with full sized kite. At another point a dish towel hanging on steel barrel protecting stove caught fire from spilt flaming alcohol. I threw it out of companionway without warning crew. Needless to say, they were quite startled.
Finished say 2pm Sunday. Ended up third in our class
