A few weeks back, I agreed to take part in Buffalo's Full Moon Regatta. The start would be at 6 p.m. and each boat would continue on sailing through the night, hopefully arriving back in Buffalo 12 to 15 hours later. I decided to chronicle each hour of our sail race, starting two hour before our start.

Two Hours Before the Start

Upon leaving our house, we realized that we forgot to pack water. On the plus side, we packed enough beer and wine to last us the next three days. Our team was incredibly optimistic about how this race will go at this point in time.

One Hour Before the Start

The boat is packed, the team is ready to go. We learned of a course change, making the course longer. We are the smallest boat in this race. We still remained optimistic even though we felt like a lone minnow in a school of sharks.

The Start

We had a stellar start! The crew was in sync, our tacks were perfect. This was quite possibly the best start we have managed all summer. Since we would be on our course for a while, I grabbed a quick snack and then headed up to the side of the boat.

Hour One

The race was going so well. We may have been in last place, but not hopelessly so. Spirits were high... until the wind died. We were making no forward progress. In fact, the waves were pushing us backward away from our first mark. Our only salvation was the absurd amount of beer we packed. In the words of our dear captain, "When there is no wind, there is no f****** wind."

Hour Two

The first mark had been in sight for the last 30 minutes, yet we made no forward progress. We have managed to spin in a few circles though.

Hour Three

We finally rounded our first mark at 8:15 at night. We were the last boat to hit the mark. I decided there was no better time than now to take a quick nap and prep for the long night ahead. At the current rate we are moving, we should arrive at our second mark in 18 hours.

Hours Four and Five

There was very little report for this hour as I slept for the majority of it. When I awoke I found that we had made very little forward progress.

Hour Six

A lot happened this hour. We noticed a boat following us for a little while but we did not think much of it until they turned their blue lights on. Turns out the Canadian Water Police had no clue that we were in the Full Moon Regatta because we were so far behind the rest of the race. They clearly thought we were smuggling something over the border. Though I am not sure who would smuggle something in a sailboat on a night where there is no wind. The police made a few jokes about how there was no wind and they sent us on our way. I'm sure they thought we were a group of crazy Americans. We passed Point Abino, our second mark, a few minutes before midnight.

Hour Seven

I decided to take another nap since we would be on our course for a long time. I awoke to the floor of the boat rapidly approaching my face. Aside from a bruised ego, there were no injuries to report from the fall in the cabin. I'm hoping to be able to get a bit more sleep, but I am not so optimistic. The winds and waves are picking up.

Hour Eight

Our captain decided to get a little rest in the V-berth of the boat. As soon as he fell asleep, our crew decided to tack. Dan comes running out of the cabin yelling "What the f*** was that?" After telling him that it was just a normal tack, he dejectedly came to the realization that he would probably not be getting much sleep tonight.

Hour Nine

After spending most of the race trimming sails or sleeping, it was finally my turn to take the tiller. The boat was heeled beautifully, we were speeding along and I could not have been happier... until our navigator told us that we have been 12 miles away from our third mark for the last two hours. We decided to tack and see if we could make any forward progress. I think we are all in denial at this point.

Hours Ten/Eleven and Twelve

After being relieved from the tiller due to a decent amount of weather helm, I once again decided to go in to the cabin to take another nap thus earning the nickname "Leah Van Winkle."

Hour Thirteen

I finally woke up, feeling about as rested as I was going to be. I go up to the cockpit and am informed that we have withdrawn from the race. While I was sleeping, we continued to make zero forward progress. We never made it closer to the third mark than 12 miles. We made a valiant effort but there is only so much you can do.

Hour Fourteen/Fifteen and Sixteen

We finally found the other boats. We were so far behind them that we only caught up to them after cutting over 20 miles off of our distance. The minnow could not keep up with the sharks. The boat that was in the lead officially finished at the start of the 14th hour.

Hour Seventeen

We finally decided to take down our sails, turn on the motor and get back to our slip in Buffalo. We all had a breakfast beer and finally pulled into the dock shortly after 10 a.m.

Somehow we all managed to be in incredibly good spirits, even though we didn't finish the race and had been sailing for 17 hours straight. It goes to show that you don't need to win to have the most fun. We can only hope to improve next year!