Saturday was the Blackhole long distance race which is a 22nm triangle out to the outer channel tower in the middle of Saginaw Bay.  The race was held in 15 - 25+ kts of wind from the SW with 1 - 5ft waves.  The first two legs were very fast with most boats carrying screachers on courses slightly below a beam reach.  This made for some fun and exciting rides.  We shared the course with a group of monohulls which started 20 minutes prior, and most of them were passed by the fleet before the end of the second reach.  The last leg was upwind with very steep short waves and 20+ kts of wind.   Flight Simulator and Nelda Ray were the first two boats to finish in about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Sunday races were two windward - leward buoy races 5nm long.  The bay greeted the fleet with a 15-18 kts from the NW which made it rough going to get to the startting area.  By the time the first fleet started, the wind had dropped to about 10-12 kts with left over seas.  This was an omen for what the day would eventually end up with.  The race finished with 6 -8 kts of wind and took about 1.5 hours.  The second race started with the same 6 -8 kts of wind, but by the time the fleet got past the windward mark, the wind started to die.  Most fleet finished the second race leg downwind in 3 - 6 kts of wind.  Then the fleet started going on the third leg to the finish, but before any of the boats finished, the wind started to get shiftier and lighter and then totally died.  Most of the fleet finished ghosting upwind, getting whatever they could out of each puff they saw, which made for a very frustrating finish.  For the last five boats, the wind gods had pitty on them, and filled in the course with 10 kts of wind from the west and they were able to finish with 7+ kts of boat speed.

Friday was a great day of racing and we were able to run two races in the afternoon.  We had 8 - 10 kts of wind from the south with a little chop.  We have 17 boats participating split across 3 fleets  Afterwards we had dinner at the Gougeon Boat house and talke about the races today, previous sailing experiences and promoting GLMRA. 

Earth Voyager is in Bay City, on a tour promoting Water quality in the Great Lakes and rasing awareness of the need to continue to push for improving the Great Lakes.

Results have been posted in the section below, or by following the following link - Results

A supplemental information document was created and uploaded to the site with information about the club, some hotels and the general area.

The 2008 Multihull Regatta registration form and Notice of Race have been posted on the website for download.