Swiftsure 2019 was a Driftsure with a beautiful sunset and sunrise. It took Cheekee Monkee approximately 40 hours to cross the finish line. The race started with rain, low winds and rolling waves. As we drifted on into the evening, boat by boat dropped out, we were one of 2 multihulls that decided to continue.
Overnight we had shifts, I was on a shift with my brother Kyler from 2 am to 6 am on the foredeck and Mike was on the helm. It was so cold, our fingers and toes were frozen and we could barely keep our eyes open as we didn’t rest well previously. As we drifted so did Kyler and I into sleep, as there was no wind we only woke up and tacked once and continued our cold nap. I remember waking up to the sunrise and the warmth of the sun touching my face. And there appeared our saviour from the cold, my grandpa. He released us from our shift and I went straight to bed in my sleeping bag and had the best sleep of my life.
Later that evening, after we had all been well rested, there was fun, laughter, music and more drifting. As the sun began to set, we were neck and neck with the only other boat in sight – Big Broderma an F31. Now the race was really on! Who could outdrift the other toward the finish line? They ended up passing us slowly but surely, and we crossed behind them by about 30 minutes.
As we approached the dock after finishing we heard our cheering squad (mom, grandma and Morna) “ooo ah ah” making monkey noises. We had Finally Finished after 40hrs! This was my first race and it was a long one but very memorable.
Ashlyn
