The Mudnight Madness Overnight, July 3-4, 2009.
Some reports on the race from the participants.

 

Great night of racing!
From the cockpit of She's the Boss with the disclaimer that the following are my comments only and may not reflect the views of anybody else!

After some minor fussing and concern about overlaps and swinging sterns, She's the Boss started in a clear lane near the Committee boat and began stretching out toward the Race. Second boat to And She Was through the Race, with Dark & Stormy slightly behind and below as we made for Cerberus under spinnaker. The plan from the beginning was to go around the Island counterclockwise, so from Cerberus we headed off to R2. Fireworks from Fisher's Island, Misquamicut and maybe Newport were a visual and sound show with the booms carrying all the way out to us. Chasing wind and boat speed we  made a slightly greater circle route out to R2 than Dark & Stormy and they ate into our lead. Choosing to stay more right around most of the Island cost us the rest of the lead by the time we cranked in for C5-7. Sliding under the reef a bit out 1BI and hardening up for the return to Cerberus we split tacks with D & S, one horrendous 35 degree lefty put us back a little further but our last tack into Cerberus was on the money and gained us a little back. Close reach at sun up from Cerberus to the Race meant little would change on this leg. Chute from the Race to North Hill, where D & S went left to the Dumplings, we hung a hard right remaining South of the little islands and slowly began to eat away at D & S lead as they seemed to go a little flat west of North Dumpling and we had steady pressure along the FI coast all the way across the face of West Harbor. Gybed out skimming the Clumps, dove deep to Ram Island and muffed the last gybe. Not saying we would have beaten D & S even if the gybe was perfect, but the short leg from North Hill to the finish was one of those "we can do it" legs that keeps you coming back for more. Great racing all the way around, congrats to Euphoria! Nice job Mike and Co! Bet you guys never let up, and that meant the four of us couldn't either. Thanks RC, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
-Bob LaFrance

 

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From the cockpit of Breakin Wind

We left the start bearing off a little thinking the flood would give that extra push to windward to make it through the race. The wind started dropping as we reached Fishers Island and the current stopped pushing us. We made a few tacks to get back in position while we watched the rest of the fleet pass through the race a few miles ahead. When we reached the race the only boat in sight was Fate, who had stayed on the close hauled tack in a southerly direction. Well at least we were racing someone.

The leg out to Cerberus was brutal as we fought the 4 knot current in light air. I think we passed the same set of lobster pots 5 times, forward, backward, forward, backward, forward. At least this gave me an opportunity to make dinner. The crew feasted on rotisserie chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, macaroni salad, and peaches. We made it to Cerberus as the last light of Friday glowed on the horizon. We were about two miles ahead of Fate.

The evening was spectacular. As we sailed toward the southwest tip of Block for a counterclockwise rounding natures fireworks were replaced with the man-made variety. Four displays on the mainland and two on Long Island. Did you know the 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi rule applies to fireworks the same way it applies to lightening and thunder? At midnight we were still 6 miles from Block. The wind shifted we swung a gentle arc to the south leaving us about 5 miles south of Block in 6 to 8 foot swells. There wasn't enough wind to drive the boat and we were taking a pretty good beating in the heavy seas. Time to tack. While we were getting our bearings and taking the swells broadside one of the crew became seasick and disappeared into the cabin until dawn. We decided to nickname him Chum. With only a three man crew that was the end of the watch schedule. I took the helm from the leeward side of the boat so I could watch the approaching wave train and the crew took up a forward watch. We spent the next 3 hours surfing waves until we reached the southeast corner of Block. Meanwhile, the moon set blood red on the horizon and the density of visible stars doubled. For the first time in my life I saw the milky way. Dense bands of stars across the sky so thick they appeared almost as clouds in our own atmosphere. The serenity of the sky was broken occasionally by a shooting star. We abandoned the compass and steered the course the way it is always been done, by the stars. Venus began to rise in the eastern sky, glowing red and turning brighter as it rose higher. We reached the southeast corner in a building breeze and had a very comfortable beam reach at 8 knots down the east side of the island. We reached the northeast corner as the sun was rising. Along with the rising sun, Chum also reappeared from his restless sleep in the cabin. We gladly turned over the helm as we retreated to the cabin for coffee and fruit.

Cerberus shoal was 18 miles away and upwind. We tacked our way upwind and at about 9:00 am decided it was too rough to cook breakfast so we ate lunch. A 2 inch thick sandwich with ham, salami, bologna, turkey, roast beef, swiss, a slab of tomato and Breakin Wind special seasoning on a portuguese roll. Chum asked if he could have his toasted on whole wheat. The wind built throughout the day and with it a 2 to 3 foot chop with a 10 foot wavelength. The ebbing tide and the chop taunted us by pushing us away from our elusive target. Finally, at 12:30 we rounded Cerberus shoal and started the tack due North towards Fishers Island. Just like the day before when we left the Race at max flood, we were now trying to reach the Race at max ebb. Two tacks later and we were in position to pass through. We crashed through the roiling waters of the Race with the 15 to 25 westerly driving us along. We left the solitude of the last twenty hours and entered Fishers Island Sound to find it full of day sailors cruising around with their mains reefed and the jibs furled. We passed between the dumplings and headed for bell 20. A fleet of dinghy sailors came by battling there way to the upwind mark. The Amastadt motored west into the breeze making 2 knots. We finished at 1500 and began the last leg, an hour and a half sail back to the warm waters of the Thames River beating upwind under full sail, heeled at 30 degrees showing off the bottom to the passing boats.

We tied up at 4:30, tired and happy to have met the mental and physical challenges of a 24 hour overnight sail. We popped the top, the crew squared away the boat, and I made them that breakfast I had promised earlier in the day. Fried potatoes, peppers, onions, bacon, sausage, eggs over medium, and Breakin Wind special seasoning on a portugese roll washed down with a couple of beers.
- Daniel E. Andrews

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Greg: I have not seen the final results of the Mudnight Madness Race, but I am confident that the the Mudhead J105 fleet (aka Dark n'Stormy and She's the Boss) blew away the other competitors. Sadly, after leading Mike thru some waypoints, then losing ground , then regaining etc, I finished behind him by only a few minutes in a 13 hour race. I have to tell you, that was one of one of the most exciting races I have been involved in, with both of us looking at each others nav lights within a few hundred yards or feet for most of the night.

I know full well that there is only one winner's trophy which belongs to Mike. However, I would like to make a case for an honorable mention of the perormance by the two Mudhead J105's and the time differntial by which we beat the rest of the fleet. it so happened that the combination of course and light winds was beneficial to the J105s; we were sailing on a close reach with spinnakers and achieving boat speeds which were about 2 knots more than the true wind. Give us both an honorable mention at the party, why don't you! It's more for the boat than the guys.
Thanks
John Sutherland

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From Doug McDonald, Euphoria.

From the Helm of Euphoria,  Leaving NBYC as late as we could possibly have left as one crew was still out on the water racing Atlantics and another crew still in Essex at 4:00 I had a sinking feeling the weren't going to make the start. The crew finally got on board and at 4:30 we headed out. The motor was purring like a kitten and as we got into two tree channel the engine alarm went off the I looked at the Temp gauge and it was at 240 Degrees. We shut down the motor and I started to replace the water pump impeller and check the strainer:  Then I checked the thermostat and decided to just leave it out. Seemed to work the temp dropped and we continued to motor to seaflower. Just after seaflower the alarm went off again. We disconnected the alarm wire and watch the temp and the start of our fleet. My crew told me to shut the @#$%@# up it is a long race and we will get it all back. They weren't lying watching the set of the fleet really help us we sailed the rum to R2 and got headed just at the rocks on the  end of the Island. One short tack off the rocks and we used the elevator to get around R2. passed 2 boats. At R2 we decided the fleet was getting set way to south so we sailed painfully deep. I seemed to work we compressed with many boats at Cerebus. Our plan was to head for 1BI but the pressure wasn't there so we decided against our better judgement. I finally believed the presser was better than current so we decided to just sail as fast as we could. We flew to the south west corner, Close haul fetched to 1BI. saw Wild eyes just before we rounded 1BI so we figures the down wind leg to 1Bi would have been painful. And yes we would have to beat back. and that is what we did. Had 2 bad tacks 2 out phase. Once we got back in phase thing went better. As the sun started to lighten the sky we could see a bunch to boats ahead to us but only a mile or so. So we started to feel better. We closed hauled fetched R2 and set the chute. Sailed right down the rocks to North hill bell and went between the dumplings then jibed and sailed with more pressure up the north side of the Clumps in as little water as we dare. When bell 20 was abeam we jibed and close reached across the ditch and jibed again at the finish. All of us stayed up the entire race accept a few short cat naps. we watched our instruments constantly as sailed as fast as we have ever had that boat going We had a wonderful sail it was a gorgeous night. we had great food and lots of drink and as usual with my crew just had fun. We had no idea how we did but when we got back to the dock we all said the was a blast. To win was the icing on the cake We all love this race and will do it again Thank you Greg and the rest of the mudheads

-Doug McDonald

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MRMSA 3rd Annual Mudnite Madness, 3-4 July: 2nd in class, 2nd in fleet. This was a 65nm overnight distance ECSA bonus point race from near SeaflowerReef around Block Island and back. We were second to finish and corrected as second. Still dealing with rig tune issues that plagued us at BIRW, hope to have it sorted out this week. My friend Doug on Euphoria despite being late to start and finishing almost two hours after us, sailed a great race and corrected just enough to best us by 15 minutes. Originally planned to do this race double handed as a qualifier for New England Solo Twin but later realized the MYDC was long enough to qualify plus some friends really wanted to sail overnite so we provisioned for 5. Yet aother large anomalous low pressue system was hanging over area last week (see BIRW report) spawning large and intense thunderstorm activity over past 3-4 nights. Driving to boat or should I say crawling at 15mph on the highway in heavy rain and some hail through one of the cells made we wonder what we would do in these conditions under sail. But NOAA's area forecast gradually minimized probability throughout the day so when we set saill we were just tracking one cell on radar over Saybrook but that was it. Skies cleared and high pressure built in a little earlier than planned and we had relatively flat seas, SW 5-12kts, and beautiful moonlight until it set followed clear starlit skies filled with shooting stars.

Our start was lame – we lost track of time dialing in and got back to RC at last minute to checkin and kill engine with seconds to spare. We ran down alone the long line against flood then hardened up but had little speed, while everyone else started at boat end under better speed. Euphoria had far worse time of it as engine issue prompted to radio RC to ask of they would stay on station for the starts We were 5th or 6th to the Race, here’s a little youtube video on the way to the Race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g2xEyxzVRI

We stayed on the same starboard tack from the start all the way until the southeast corner of Block! Spinnaker went up in the Race and we reached out to Cerebus under clear skies. We were 3rd boat to Cerebus behind All She Was and She’s the Boss (another J/105).. At Cereberus we concluded a counter clockwise circumnavigation of Block Island was best based on currents and forecasted wind. The boat ahead of us, All She Was gybed to 1BI and a clockwise circumnavigation and we followed She’s the Boss to the SW corner.

On the way to Block it got dark and like previous years watched fireworks from what appeared to be Point Judith, Montauk and Niantic and heard repercussions of many more.  Jack lines were rigged so we put on harnesses and tethers at dusk just to be safe. It appeared we were more conscious of the current set as were arrived off Block in better position than She’s the Boss whom we lost in the dark. When we converged south of the island they appeared on our beam but maybe a mile further south. We gybed immediately after them just beyond C5 and beam reached up the east speed of Block at 7-8kts having great fun under moonlit skies.

We used the plotter to great effect to stay inshore to minimize adverse current and tacked around 1BI. Made some hot grilled cheese sandwiches and got in some winks. Woke up 2 miles out from Cerebus with And She was ahead by a mile or more and She’s the Boss still trailing. Fast ride to Race with flood, then up with the kite for final gybes to R20. Almost hit rocks at Middle Clump! Depth alarm went off and we crashed gybed out of there. Fatigue and complacency in home waters almost ended our season. Finished at 07:04:05, 65 miles or so in just over 13 hours. Watched She’s the Boss with some issues with their final gybes but until we took the mainsail down outside the Mouses we did not spot any other chutes on the horizon. But continued to fret about Euphoria rating advantage. Docked quickly and took crew out to breakfast at Carson’s, a 100+ year old diner in Noank with a lot of character and best blueberry pancakes with bacon! Leisurely breakfast and then back to boat to clean up. This was the (and our) 3rd annual Mudnite race and it by far the best with great weather steady breeze and clear skies. After weeks of rain, drizzle and fog it ended as a spectacular start to July 4 holiday. Great execution of the entire crew through the entire race. Best sail of the season and glorious sunshine to top it off. Google earth track is here of our circumnavigation of Block is here, plus here are some pics: