For Longview, Tx. resident Pete Pattullo and crew, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are the preferred locations for summer races.
For the past 15 years, Peter Pattullo has driven his Farrier 33 up to one of the two Great Lakes and put it in early June. Four times during the summer, his crew of Bryan Rainbow and Phil Trotter of Norman, Ok., Martin Brown of Tulsa and brother Mike Pattullo of Cairo, Mi. will hop on Nelda Ray and set sail.
“Both [the Chicago Mac and Port Huron Mac] have interesting components,” said Pattullo. “Port Huron is friendlier and more accommodating for before the race. The Chicago Mac is a more challenging race.”
Pattullo and company know how to maximize their sailing experience. After the Mac ceremonies on the island, they head down the coast of Michigan with family enjoying sites at several towns along the coast.
“We’ve stopped in over 100 ports on Lake Michigan, Huron and Superior the past 20 years,” he said. Staying on the rhumb line they rode light winds into Sunday morning. At sunrise, they headed to Ludington, Mi trying to catch a shore breeze.
“For whatever reason, we didn’t have our battery charged,” said Pattullo. “We had a compass, no radio, no wind information. It was seat of pants sailing.”
“We were a hundred feet from shore; you could feel the centerboard tap the sandbar. Sunday evening, the wind filled in from the west and was consistent.” Two spots proved critical for Nelda Ray after falling behind 16 miles after slowing down south of the Manitou Islands.
“Monday morning we took off; we had 20 knots out of the east,” he said. “We did 30 miles in an hour and a half. We started with a spinnaker and then moved to a screecher. We were running; we averaged 19-20 knots for three hours. The boat felt like it wasn’t touching the water, there was no friction. We were within a mile of Caliente at Gray’s Reef [at noon]. We’ve never had anyone pass us in those conditions; The Farrier 33 is built for those winds.”
At the Mackinac Bridge, they made a gut decision.
“The prevailing winds were out of the northeast, the wind stations at the bridge showed southeast on the app, but it didn’t show up on the radar,” said Pattullo. “We headed for the south end of the bridge and got a lift; the other boats went north. We had ten knots and sailed a reach to the finish line without tacking. Double Time tacked the last four miles to the bridge; High Priority tacked to the finish line.”
Nelda Ray beat Caliente on elapsed time 49:40:46 – 49:53:11. On corrected time, Caliente took first 53:19:57 nipping Nelda Ray 53:22:28. It was their best finish in six Mac races. High Priority was nine minutes behind, Double Time was fourth 54:53:34. Earth Voyager blew past everyone reaching the finish line 38:23:06 and kept going to the Port Huron Mac. Their elapsed time was 55:38:22.
“We also knew, there was no way we can beat Caliente if we follow them,” he said.
Pattullo and company know how to maximize their sailing experience. After the Mac ceremonies on the island, they head down the coast of Michigan with family enjoying sites at several towns along the coast.
“We’ve stopped in over 100 ports on Lake Michigan, Huron and Superior,” he said.
“We went from racing to cruising mode,” he said. “Our families met us and we spent Tuesday at St. Ignace. It’s a 30 minutes sail from Mackinac. The rooms are a hundred dollars less and there’s a lot more space.”
Oddly enough, Pattullo’s first trip to Mackinac Island was in 1979 when, Somewhere in Time was filmed.
“There are six of us,” he said. “We stop in Rogers City, Alpena and Harris before leaving the boat in Caseville. Mike has a camper and we put the gear there and a few of the people sleep there.”
Pattullo and the crew come up Aug. 23 for the three-day multihull challenge in Bay City which has over a dozen boats. After that, he drives Nelda Ray back to Longview. Tx.
In mid-October, they do the Harvest Moon which is 150 miles beginning in Galveston and finishing in Port Arkansas, Tx. They’ve won the multihull section four times. In November on Canyon Lake near San Antonio, there’s a race with ten-fourteen hobie cats and multihulls.
In March, Pattullo has the crew over to work on the boat over a three-day weekend. The first race is in April, the Governors Cup at Lake Travis. – Seth Schwartz
