Pride of Baltimore II cast off from Port Huron, MI, immediately after breakfast so as to get out to the starting line for the Great Lakes Challenge Race by 1100. For the third time in a month, the ASTA fleet assembled for a race, this time to Bay City, MI. Half the ships spent the night at Sarnia, over on the Canadian side, while the other half stayed with us in Port Huron on the American side.

Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River at the southernmost end of the Lake. As the upper three lakes - Superior, Michigan, and Huron - squeeze into the narrow end of the funnel at Port Huron, quite a bit of current is generated. The Blue Water Bridge spans the river just at the mouth and, as we passed under it, the old girl was a tad skittish in the stream.

It was shaping up to be a fine hot July day, though the forecast was for a big change. The wind was from southwest for the race start. It was fair, but very, very light. The big sailing ships drifted across the line and then spent the rest of the afternoon staring at each other across a glassy calm. Each vessel did its best to gain some kind of advantage. Pride II was generally getting the best of the crowd but it was an unsatisfying sort of sport because it was more of a drifting contest than a race, and over a hundred and twenty miles remained ahead. By day's end, the fleet had scarcely advanced ten miles along the course. The wind, such as it was, moved through every quadrant of the compass, making a port tack into a starboard tack and vice versa with every breath. And then the flies came. Biting flies they were. Biting flies whose crushed carcasses stuck to a slick of sweat and sunscreen that glistened on every arm and ankle as though we were living flypaper. This was not a high point of the summer.

As the afternoon wore on, it became evident that the weather was not shaping up as forecast at all. That is always a bit disconcerting because it indicates that the weather analysts don't really know what is going to happen. Therefore, almost anything might happen. Well, almost anything did happen. Finally, just at dusk, a cold front came down out of the north. This brought a welcome breeze, but instead of finding us forty miles or so up the Lake, it caught us pretty much where we started, thus bottling the fleet up at the bottom of Lake Huron.

The Pride sailed through the night, tacking at the change of watch and gradually the breeze died away toward dawn. By late morning it was time to take stock of the situation. We, and most of the vessels, had only advanced a quarter to a third of the way along the course. The forecast was for a second and even stronger front to bring fresh northerly winds, dead against us sometime during the second night. The calendar showed that we were expected at Bay City by noon the next day. It was a pretty plain choice between keeping the schedule or not. We fired up the diesel at around noon and hightailed it to the north while the sea was still relatively flat.

This proved to be a good move. At about 2200, the wind began to build out of the north and the seas began to rise. But by this time we were upwind of our destination and in a good position to ride things out through the night. We sailed along under short canvas, first on one tack and then the other till dawn. By daybreak, it was blowing a solid Force 7 (28 to 33 knots) with higher gusts. With the breeze behind us, Pride of Baltimore II scudded into Saginaw Bay making 6 knots under bare poles. The somewhat excessive winds aside, it was a sparkling blue day. One by one, other vessels came over the horizon and converged at the channel that leads up the river to Bay City.

The Pride of Baltimore II was warmly welcomed by the people on the dock. Our liaisons got right to work squaring us away. Over the next few days, many thousands of people crossed our decks. The weather remained picture perfect, cool and sunny throughout our stay. Ray Charles performed one night and Pride had a ringside seat for it. The captains and officers from the other vessels joined us. Afterward there was a brilliant display of fireworks, young Kessler Parrott's first ever.

Bay City feels more like a town than a city. A lush green lawn runs down from the main street to the waterfront where the ships lay. The crew could walk easily to all manner of shops and other places where a sailor could procure necessities. Unbeknownst to us beforehand, Bay City is the home of the Gougeon Brothers' WEST system epoxy plant. Their two part epoxy system brought about a revolution in wooden boat construction and repair, as well as introducing a host of new fabrication techniques. On Pride II, we go through the stuff by the pail. Among the many innovative uses for their product is the manufacture of blades for power-generating windmills. On Sunday morning, the last day of the festival, the President of WEST System graciously took the crew on a remarkable tour of the plant where we saw a range of projects, as well as research and development initiatives.

Bay City is where I was scheduled to sign off the ship. My partner, Captain Miles, rolled into town on Sunday evening. We completed our hand off that night and I moved ashore. There was an awards ceremony at which Pride II received a pewter mug for first prize for the Cruising division, edging out Concordia. Pride II has done well in these races, but perhaps more impressive is the extraordinary attention she has received at each port. Posters, newspaper articles, and advertisements for the events have frequently featured the Pride of Baltimore II as the premier vessel. This attention culminated in a huge billboard outside Bay City depicting the Pride and announcing the arrival of the Tall Ships. Pride of Baltimore II has literally become the "poster child" for the Great Lakes Challenge. This honor was not attained overnight. It is at least in part in recognition of the long legacy of goodwill voyages that our ship has accumulated over the years.