Awards Ceremony & End of Race

Today was the official end of the race as far as point-to-point time checks. The Delmarva Rally Committee had a very nice welcoming party and live entertainment for us. Seeing everyone again, in one place rather than spread over many miles was interesting and fun.

Lasata and her crew won a few awards, and I will say that I was proud to have been mentioned in the same category as "Cherokee" & "Hurry Sundown". These guys are excellent sailors and their boats are spectacular. One of our awards was a "Good Samaritan" award for assistance rendered to "Blue Whale", as described in a previous post.

In the previous nights events, many of the Delmarva Rally participants decided to seek shelter from rough seas and impending storms, while we headed out further offshore through the night. In the light of day, we saw "Cherokee" back tracking to find a boat who we thought might have been between us. We also learned that one of the newer boats, actually initiated a US Coast Guard rescue when they beached their boat. And finally, the crew of "Blue Whale" was very lucky for us to have wandered upon them. They had lost their anchor, their engine was giving them trouble, they were out of fuel, and their sails were not up... Oh and did I mention, they were behind a massive sandbar!

I informed the crew they seem to be drifting and they need to make way to keep the boat from beaching. If they could find a path out, under sail I would be happy to give them my Generator Gasoline supply, so they'd have enough fuel to make it to Hampton, VA. After a few hair raising moments, they were off and making way to our location.

For these efforts, the race committee awarded us the Good Samaritan award, and "Blue Whale" recommended an additional "Eagle Eye" version of the same. On a less serious note, we were also awarded the "Provisioning" award, because we actually ran dangerously low on food with all the extra time spend on the ocean.

We will be looking for race times in the near future, maybe we can claim some other small victory; considering just making it around with what turned out to be a very short handed crew was victory enough for me.