This week has been all about Mackinac preparations. Trying to acquire all the gear and warm clothes necessary is a daunting task. The weather predictions show lots of wet and unstable stuff. The water temperature is around 40 degrees. When you have no land for miles that means the air will be that temperature too. It will basically be camping in the rain in the winter. I've been extremely lucky and have been able to borrow some key pieces of gear from very generous individuals. A big thanks goes out to all of them.
Wednesday I helped Tim replace a part on his boat that required going up the rigging. It was AWESOME. (Just pretend the boat isn't swaying so much while you're up there.)
Thursday I got to help deliver Thor, a lobster boat that's supposed to parade the commodores, or something. I'm not sure what it's for, but it was fun. I felt like I was on the Deadliest Catch without all the frozen-hell stuff. We got super close to this freighter too.
I realized that with this delivery, the race from Port Huron to Mackinac, and the delivery of Fast Tango (Tim's boat) to Chicago I'll have boated from Detroit to Chicago. That's around the whole mitt!
Thor is a cool boat. My dad would definitely be jealous.
Today is bittersweet. I'm leaving for Port Huron, and besides the weekend of the Chicago race, I won't be back in Detroit. I'll be living on boats for the next couple weeks, basically living the dream. It's crazy to think that only a few months ago this race was literally one of my wildest dreams. I feel extremely privileged to have made it this far, and I'm eternally grateful to everyone who has helped made this happen. I've met some great people here, and I'm already scheming to get back here next summer.
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