Conference unifix::sailing

    Certainly wouldn't do the race to benefit yourself!
    
    I'm not racing, but I was wondering if anyone had
    thought up a method of sponsoring people who are:
    $10 donation for a completed race, incrementing by
    $10 for the top three finishers...
    
    I'd sponsor someone.
    
    Dean F.

re .1:

The idea behind the race is as you suggest. Entrants are encouraged to 
find sponsorship where the sponsor's contribution goes to Children's 
Hospital. 

    
    You know, I would love to be there..  But would also like to help
    Children's as well.  If you are still needing sponsors, I can provide
    an entrant with a few bucks!!
    
    DTN 225-5584
    TOLKIN::DEMOSS
    `Charlie'
    
    P.S. Don't forget the DEC matching gifts.  ( I think it applies??)

    re .2
    
    In that case, if anyone is looking for a sponsor,
    please contaact me.
    
    Thanks,
    Dean F.

John Spencer and I will be sailing my Valiant 32 in the Monhegan Sail 
Challenge race (doublehanded, non-spinnaker class) to benefit Children's
Hospital. We would like to ask for your sponsorship support in the form
of checks made payable to Monhegan Sail, Inc. Please send them to me at
156 River Road, Carlisle, MA 01741, or, if you trust interoffice mail,
at ZKO1-3/B10. 

It should be no surprise to SAILING readers that my Valiant is equipped 
for cruising, not racing. Moreover, John and I are generally disinclined
to unproductive physical activity such as dragging boat gear ashore just
for a race. But, to show that we are truly excited about this race, and 
to provide some fundraising incentive, we've decided that for every
dollar of sponsorship from DEC sailors, we will remove one pound of
normal cruising stores and/or equipment from the boat (up to 1200
pounds). 

The race starts at 0800 July 22nd in Provincetown, MA, and ends off 
Tenants Harbor, ME, Sunday or Monday depending on the whim of the wind. 
Last year about 50 boats started the race.

Thanks for your support,

Alan and John

    I'll ask the question here, for everyone's benefit. What is the
    minimum matching amount for DEC?  $15 sticks in my mind, but I'm
    not at all sure.
    
    Bill
    

>>>   What is the minimum matching amount for DEC?  

Yep, $15 it is.  But think of all that leverage!  Besides, it's much
cheaper than almost any piece of sailing hardware you could imagine.  And 
at 15 lbs of comfort and ease to be sacrificed for each minimum ante, you 
can watch a couple of real cruising types try to think like racers as we 
have to make the dockside pile grow.

;-),  and up for the fun of it,

J.

     How much will it cost to remove ALL cushions for the cockpit
     and berths?

     How much for the two of you to spend an afternoon in the water
     with goggles wet sanding the bottom with 400 grit? How about
     a second pass with 600 grit?

     -Paul

re .8:

>>>     How much will it cost to remove ALL cushions for the cockpit
>>>     and berths?

We don't have cockpit cushions and the PHRF frowns on removing interior
cushions (or so a recent letter informed me). 

>>>     How much for the two of you to spend an afternoon in the water
>>>     with goggles wet sanding the bottom with 400 grit? How about
>>>     a second pass with 600 grit?

More than you can afford! Us cruising folks don't wet sand bottoms. A 
quick swipe at the waterline slime is about all you'll convince me to do 
(and then only on a hot day). 

:-)

    Way to go Alan and John.  Keep the cushions, racing doesn't have to be
    painful.  My check will be in the mail today.
    
    Let's go folks, ante up.  It'd be worth it just to get Alan's trip
    report when this is all over.  Racing the PHRF way, who'da thought it?
    
    How does one go about getting the matching funds from DEC?
    
    ... Bob

>>>    How does one go about getting the matching funds from DEC?
    
Personnel has the forms. You simply fill in the blanks, sign, and send 
the form to the organization you are contributing to. Someone there
signs and mails the form back to DEC. Someone at DEC checks to make sure
that the organization meets all of DEC's requirements, and, if so, finally
sends a check. 

There will be a pop quiz next week.

Checks should be made out to "Monhegan Sail, Inc.", and should be for at 
least $15 so you can include a matching gift form ;-] (min. $15).  DEC may
not recognize that organization yet, but we'll take care of seeing that
they do in time to make use of the doubling feature. 

Alan's collecting checks, as detailed in .5 -- best send them to his home.

As I write, Alan and Julie are in Gloucester preparing Toward Morning for 
a launch on this afternoon's high tide.  Tomorrow the renewed and freshly 
Awlgripped mast will be stepped, and the trip to home base in M'head made.

We plan to overnight aboard in Marblehead on Thursday 7/20 and sail to
P'town Friday morning in time for evening festivities there.  Though I
haven't checked with Alan on this, I'm sure we'd be interested in meeting
any noters who might be around Thursday evening for a gam. 

J.

    I just talked to the Matching Gift Program office and felt the
    information I got would be of interest here.
    
    1 - New forms - but not out yet - said use old forms
    2 - Only need one card listing TOTAL 'Value of Gift' but....
    	- must attach a list of Digital Employee sponsors, their badge
          and amount.
        - The TOTAL must be at least $15.00 but the individuals can
    	  donate less!
    3 - On the question of non-profit status
        - a letter from the IRS stating the Monhegan Inc is a non-profit
    	  org. under Section 170(c) of the IRS Code or the checks made
    	  out the Children's Hospital (?).
          
    NOW - before anyone calls me for donations - I obtained this info
    for my boat - Emotional Rescue - which is racing in this race.
    
    
         

    I forgot to mention in .13, the person I spoke to felt the $100.
    entry fee is not eligible for matching funds.  Maybe someone from
    Monhegan Sail Inc. should find out more and see if any portion of
    the entry fee is eligible.  I think it is not eligible because it
    is a 'fee' and not a 'donation'.  However, if a portion of it actually
    goes to the Hospital, then maybe some of it would be eligible.
    
     

    I think you guys should re-check who the beneficiary is.  I believe
    it is Children's Medical Center - Not Children's Hospital.  But
    either way, it is a GREAT cause......

    Could someone please list the actual "correct" name and address
    of the hospital.
    
    tks__mb

    
    	It's Children's Medical Center.
    
    	I don't have the address of the Medical Center but you could find
    	out easy enough.
    
    	The address and phone of the race coordinators is:
    		Monhegan SAIL, Inc.
    		P.O. Box 101
    		Prides Crossing, MA  01965
    		(508)922-8158
    
    	If you're donating, it would be easier if you sent your donation
    	to a boat listed here.  The above info is just in case you have
    	any questions about the legitimacy of the operation.
    
    	This, by the way, is the seventh running (I assume year) of this
    	race.
    
    	Tom--	

.17 is correct.  I just spoke (finally!) with Eric Bornhofft, who is in 
charge of this year's race.  They are trying to find out if Monhegan Sail 
really did ever get their tax-exempt status or not; stay tuned but be 
patient.  Better yet, you can make your checks out to "Children's Medical
Center", include your badge number, and just send them to Alan or me
(DLB12-2/D4).  We can apparently get the matching funds all done at once,
as per an earlier reply.  

FYI, Children's Medical Center is the parent corporation for Children's 
Hospital, hence the previous confusion.  Funds will be directed to the 
Hospital.

J.

    Want some publicity?  I talked to Judy Temple, the editor for the
    New Hampshire View, about putting in a short article on the Digital
    employee's sailing in the race.  So Alan and John, and anyone else,
    if you would send me some info, I will write it up and submit it.
    I can take care of the details for my boat, the Emotional Rescue,
    which left Kittery this morning for the trip to P-town (in the rain).
    
    And next year....... we'll try to remember to get it in early enough
    to plug for donations.
    
    The kind of info which I think would be interesting would be crew
    members names and groups, $$ collected,  $$ matched by DEC, time
    it took to finish - oh yeah - almost forgot - boat details, size,
    homeport, etc.
    
    If I get any good responses, I promise to see that the article gets
    submitted to this note for all the sailing community.                
    
    Let's hope the weather clears and they have good winds Saturday
    and Sunday.
    
    Marilyn

    RE: .19  "publicity"
    
    Make sure you shoot some Black and White photos of the event.  35mm
    is OK, but color slides or prints don't reproduce well.  
    

As previously mentioned, the Monhegan Sail Challenge is a fund raising
event for Children's Medical Center. The 1989 race was the ninth one 
that has been sailed. The Monhegan Sail Challenge is sailed from
Provincetown, MA, to Tenants Harbor, ME, a distance of 133 nm, in July 
around the time of full moon. The fleet sails in four classes: single
and doublehanded racing (spinnakers and spinnaker-like sails allowed)
and single and doublehanded cruising (no spinnakers or spinnaker-like
sails allowed). PHRF ratings are used. LOA must be between 23' and 60'. 

To say that this is a casual race is an understatement. The entries this 
year included (among others) a custom Hunter 45 that won its class in
the last OSTAR, a Concordia 41 sloop, a Hinckley Bermuda 40 yawl, a
custom 40' sloop, a Shannon 38 pilothouse, an Alajuela 38, a Little
Harbor 38, a Crealock 37, a J-36, a Cape Dory 30, and a J-29. Definitely
not the usual racing fleet. The protest meeting will be held next
Christmas Day on Monhegan Island. I only saw one or two boats with
non-dacron sails. Some boats sailed with their dodgers up and at least
one boat prudently sailed with an inflated inflatable dinghy lashed on
deck. The race chairman singlehanded a lovely Hinckley 41 sloop (aboard
which, by the way, he barely survived a capsize off Bermuda last
December -- it took him five hours to bail out the boat with a bucket). 

John Spencer and I had a delightful close reach from Marblehead to 
Provincetown on my Valiant 32 last Friday, the day before the race. The
tidal currents were with us and we made a very fast passage. Another
race entrant left Marblehead with us and arrived off Provincetown just
behind us. Since its rating was many seconds a mile lower than ours, we
were pleased with ourselves and optimistic about the race. 

At the skippers' meeting (held at Napi's restaurant) Channel 7 TV in
Boston was taping the proceedings. They're doing a program or two on
sailing which will probably be aired in September on Chronicle, their
Saturday night newsmagazine, and on some children's show. Both John and
I were interviewed. I already looked unkempt and unshaven. Dinner and
dessert were yummy. Most of the skippers and crew looked over 40 years
old (with one exception noted below). 

Race morning dawned foggy and nearly calm. We couldn't see from one end 
of the short starting line to the other. We crossed the line not quite 
last and ghosted out of the harbor. Two hours after the 0830 start we
were just ahead of a boat with a rating 60 seconds per mile lower than
ours. Our smugness was promptly punished by our inept coping with the
tidal currents and light wind. We finally got out of the fog and into a
light wind off Race Point in the early afternoon. By late afternoon we
were within a mile of three other boats (a Crealock 37, a Shannon 38,
and a Catalina 30), all with lower ratings. Not bad, we said, and 
began to discuss the more important question of dinner. We decided on 
spaghetti with canned sauce, leaving the eggs and canned hash for the 
next night. 

Saturday night the wind was light SW, and even wing and wing we were 
rarely over 4 knots. The masthead lights of the Crealock and Shannon 
were clearly visible until dawn Sunday (the Catalina went east looking
for wind). (Editorial comment: Masthead lights are much more visible
than deck level lights. One the return from Maine we passed a couple of
sailboats using only deck level lights. Their lights were obscured by
the two to four foot waves even when the boats were quite close to us.) 

There was considerable VHF talk between a number of the boats regarding
wind, course, position, and strategy. The only time someone used real
racer talk was a quick mention of VMG. I'm sure that every boat in the
fleet was within VHF range of another boat in the race during the entire
event, which added to everyone's safety. 

Sunday the winds, as predicted, went light NE, but not until after
fluking about. We were becalmed for an hour, John tells me (I was
sleeping, so I can't confirm this). By Sunday afternoon the first
boats were finishing, and as we were still SW of Monhegan Island in a
dying wind it was obvious we weren't going to finish any time soon. We
passed the red Manana whistle '14M' shortly after dark Sunday and were
some 15 miles from the finish line. The wind died, and we spent the
night ghosting towards Tenants Harbor at 0 to 2 knots. It was so quiet
I could hear seals exhaling as they surfaced (why they weren't asleep
on a comfy rock ledge I don't know). By 0530 Monday morning we were less
than a quarter mile from the finish line. An hour later we were about a
half mile from the finish line. We finally made it across the line at
0722, giving us an elapsed time of 46 hours and 52 minutes. 

By the way, boat preparations included leaving ashore the anchor 
windlass, 165' of anchor chain, the 45 lb CQR anchor, and all of our 
cassette tapes (this last was a mistake). We had aboard only 40 gallons
of water (instead of the usual 90 gallons), 15 gallons of diesel fuel
(instead of the usual 40 gallons), and only enough food and ice for a
week (instead of the usual three weeks of supplies). Much of the race we 
sailed singlehanded (that is, I sailed and John slept and visa versa).
In retrospect, we should have gone east to find the winds further 
offshore instead of staying on the rhumb line. We should also have 
borrowed a drifter headsail. A heavy 133% genoa is not the fastest sail 
in light air (at times we were trimming the 420 sq ft beast without a 
winch). 

Monday afternoon there was a banquet and awards ceremony. I stuffed
myself with delicious mussels, lobster, baked potato, salad, watermelon,
and a beer. All in all, this was a fun and challenging race, and, dare I
say it, it was awfully nice to totally forget about DEC for a few days.
Would I do it again? Sure, even though the trip back on Tuesday and
Wednesday was a beat into a light 15 knot SW wind much of the way.
Besides, I can hardly fail to improve on this year's elapsed time. 

Oh, you want the results, do you?

First to finish was Retrac, the Hunter 45 (30 hours, 26 minutes). However, 
on corrected time Retrac was beaten by Ardent (Avance 33), Pyewacket (custom
40), Incentive (Petersen 34), Jubilation (J-29), and Killick (Cal 34). 
Jubilation, Pyewacket, and Retrac were singlehanded. 

The doublehanded cruising class was won by High Zoot (J-36) by less than 
three minutes on corrected time. Magic (Concordia 41) finished second.
Magic was skippered by a teenage girl (her father, an experieced sailor,
was crew). We, to our utter astonishment, finished third in class and
16th overall in a fleet of 30. We were also the last boat to finish.
Fourteen boats either gave up in disgust with the light winds or failed
to reach the finish line before the race time limit of 52 hours. I was
quite happy to accept a nicely engraved silver plate for our dogged
determination (which is one way of putting it -- dumb is another
perhaps). I didn't tell the race committee that we had a third crew
member, Rex, along to lend a 'hand'. 

Thank you for the contributions we have received. Every year this race 
raises several thousand dollars for the Children's Medical Center. 
Datamarine has donated a new loran to be auctioned ($1095 list). If
you'd like to bid, let me know. 

This race would be a great way to begin a Maine cruise next year or just
get some offshore sailing and passage racing experience. The hardest
part of this year's race was having to return home after only a day in
Maine. The return trip was made more bearable by the help and pleasant
companionship of John Carver and John Whitcomb. 

Alan Berens and John Spencer

The eleventh Monhegan Sail Challenge race to benefit Boston's Children's 
Hospital starts at 0800 off the Provincetown, MA, breakwater on 
Saturday, 31 July 1993. The finish line is off Tenants Harbor, ME. 

As described in earlier replies to this note, this race is a fund-raising 
event to benefit Children's Hospital while having a good time sailing. 
The race is open to mono and multihull boats 23' to 60' LOA either 
single or doublehanded. IYRU rules as adopted by the USYRU are used with 
the exception that autopilots are allowed. PHRF ratings will be used.
Last year 47 boats started the race. 

As in 1989, John Spencer and I will by sailing my Valiant 32 in the 
doublehanded cruising class. Last time we finished third in this class. 
We quite enjoyed the race then and we expect to enjoy it equally this 
year. 

If anyone is interested in entering, you can contact Eric Bornhofft at 
PO Box 101, Prides Crossing, MA 01965 or 508-922-8158. Eric does not 
always respond promptly, so I'll be glad to send anyone a copy of the 
entry form and other information. Entries are supposed to be in by July 
15th.

Now the money part. As this is a charity fund-raising event, sponsorship
contributions are encouraged and welcomed. If you'd like to contribute 
on John's and my behalf, please send your checks made out to Monhegan 
Sail, Inc, to me at 156 River Road, Carlisle, MA 01741. 

Thank you,

Alan

re .22:

Because of a recent physical problem, I will not be able to do the race 
this year after all. Growing old isn't always as much fun as it is
supposed to be. 

Sigh,

Alan

Does anyone know if any plans for a 1996 Monhegan Sail Challenge are in the
works?  If so an address or phone number for details of the event would be 
appreciated?

The last note regarding the event was in 1993 thus the request for current
information. Others may be interested as well.

Thanks!

phil

The 1995 race was again organized by Eric Bornhoftt. I think that this
information is still correct:

    		Monhegan SAIL, Inc.
    		P.O. Box 101
    		Prides Crossing, MA  01965
    		(508)922-8158
    

Alan