Morson Race Results from Paul Gmori

I know everyone has been waiting, so at last here is a summary of the trip to Morson along with the race results!

The Morson race took place over the July long weekend. This is a fantastic race that takes the fleet out to some of the further reaches of the lake. It is a journey and an adventure and certainly one of the best weekends of the year. The race starts from MacPherson island which is on the North side of The Little Traverse Bay, and proceeds South into Big Traverse Bay, around Big Island to the final destination at Buena Vista resort near the town of Morson. This year 5 boats made the trip which was comprised of small crews of couples and families.

The fleet left home on Saturday and made their way South. The weather was sunny and warm and the winds started out light and built to a steady 8-10 knots from a Southwesterly direction. This provided an opportunity for a nice upwind sail towards Tranquil Channel. Passing through the channel, the fleet continued South and then East into the Johnson Passage taking them towards Tug Channel. At the end of this Channel is MacPherson Island, the anchorage for the first night. A casual skippers meeting was held that evening once all the boats arrived.

The next morning, the winds were light, so the fleet began motoring down the course towards Bear Island. The wind filled in along the way from the Southwest and the fleet began sailing up the course. Gathering just East of Hay Island, a start line was set, and the race was started at 12:00 pm. The fleet raced upwind to The Three Sisters, where they rounded the reefs and began reaching towards Mineral Island. The wind died off to very light and the boats slowly made their way toward Mineral Island. Riddari arrived first and set a finish line and the boats finished the race there. After that, the wind picked up allowing for a rushed sail towards the resort as a dark thundercloud followed the fleet down the bay. Everyone was safely docked before the storm hit enjoying and drink in the lodge as they watch the storm blow through. Buena Vista hosted us with a great dinner in their new lodge! Thank you to everyone at the resort for all their hospitality!

The next morning, the fleet awoke to a 22-knot breeze out of the Southwest with big waves rolling down the bay. One by one the fleet started at their calculated times with at spread of over an hour between the first and last boats. The boats tacked upwind into the waves making their way all the way up to The Three Sisters. From there, the rest of race was a close reach and then a downwind taking the fleet all way back to MacPherson Island where they anchored for the night.

The trip was a lot of fun, with great weather, great company and great sailing!

The results are as follows:

Since the course was shortened for the first race, a time-on-time calculation was used to tabulate the results based on the start and finish times of each boat. The second race was the full pursuit race and the results are based on the order of the finishes. This year we have a tie for 2^nd place, and the tie is broken by the winner in the last race.

Morson 2018 Final Results

Position	Boat	RACE 1	RACE 2	Final Score
1	Borderline	1	1	2
2	Riddari	3	2	5
3	Kitchen Party	2	3	5
4	Sloops Troops	4	4	8
5	Kapriz	DNF	DNS

RACE 1 Correct Times

BOAT	PHRF	Start	Finish	Elapsed Time	Corrected Time	Position
Borderline	174	12:00:00	17:50:30	05:50:30	05:31:37	1
Kitchen Party	111	12:00:00	17:44:45	05:44:45	05:57:16	2
Riddari	84	12:00:00	17:31:35	05:31:35	05:58:15	3
Sloops Troops	156	12:00:00	18:10:00	06:10:00	05:58:59	4
Kapriz	186	12:00:00	DNF

Paul