What about my NEXT summer vacation?`

TGIF, and as I sit here on the Amtrak Acela coming back from Washington I can't help but think about what my NEXT Summer vacation will be like. It seems to me that if I can plan ahead for work it's only natural that I will plan WAY, WAY AHEAD for something fun like a vacation. Which brings me to... NEXT SUMMER! And, thinking of what is to come certainly leads to great thoughts of our many trips to Maine.

This shot was taken in Damarascove Harbor off of Booth Bay a few years ago of my last boat, Elektra, a 1984 Tartan 37. The moment was captured just before an afternoon thunder storm and the light was really terrific. Brenda and I really enjoy sailing in Maine and we have been going there for a few weeks nearly every Summer for almost 10 years. And, we plan to do so again in the Summer of 2008.

However, 2008 will bring a totally new experience and my first true offshore sailing as skipper of my own boat in an ocean race. A number of years ago I helped deliver a Cambria 46 back from Bermuda but my sailing to date has been mostly intercoastal crusing with a yearly non-stop run to Maine most Summers.

I serve on the Afterguard of a sailing group, The Corinthians, and at this week's board meeting they announced that planning is underway for a new ocean race on the scale of the Halifax and Bermuda races. This race will be called the "Lobster Run" and will be held on alternate years beginning in July of 2008. This coming July it will be open to Corinthains and by invitation to others but in 2010, and in subsequent years, it will be open to all qualifying yachts. The plan is to run the race from the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club, out to a mark South East of Nantucket, hang a left to Booth Bay Harbor and the Booth Bay Harbor Yacht Club. The course will take the fleet well into the Atlantic South of Nantucket andk as we head North to Booth Bay, East of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Santuary. It is this ecologically rich area that is the home of one of the largest concentrations of whales on the East Coast of North America.

With over 300 miles of ocean sailing this race should certainly be an adventure and with good winds we should be able to complete the course in three days or perhaps a day or so more than that if things get messy. I certainly hope to see sunsets like this one that we viewed from Pandora this Summer.

I am very excited about doing this race and look forward to a Winter of preparation to get Pandora ready for such a voyage. There will be many modifications needed to get her ready including upgrades to make the boat safe in adverse conditions. For one, I will need to upgrade the lifelines that run like a safety net down each side of the boat to be sure that knowone falls overboard if the going gets rough.

We will also have to have storm sails including a small heavy weather storm jib as well as a storm tri-sail or really small mainsail that we can set if winds get really strong. A liferaft is also a must if the unthinkable happens. With several nights out perhaps we will see a sunset like this one that I took on one of our evenings aboard Pandora in Onset Harbor, just West of the Cape Cod Canal.

Upgrades needed for the race will also include a new mainsail and jib as well as a cruising spinnaker which I hope to purchase from a fellow SAGA 43 owner. If the winds are from the Southwest as is common in the Summer, a spinnaker will certainly help us keep going when the wind is from behind us. I'd hate to try and cover that much distance without the extra kick such a big sail can provide. This photo is of Camelot, a sistership owned by Keith and Rose Reynolds. As I write this they are on their way South for the Winter. I took this shot while we sailed together from Shelter Island to Block Island over the 4th of July weekend.

One way or the other, it will be great fun thinking about and planning for next Summer so now all I can say as the weather turns cooler each day, "at least we know that it will be better in May".