By Guernica D. Williams, Communications Journalist & Media Relations Director| Donald Lawson Racing INC.| Guernica@donaldlawsonracing.com
Because Donald Lawson is an avid sailor he is always receiving invitations to compete with other sailors in various races. Recently Donald was asked to participate in the 31st Annual Solomon’s Island Invitational. With a crew of five that covered close to 50 nautical miles on Wild Card, the Reynolds’s 33 Catamaran, crewmembers sailed into second place across the finish line by two minutes out of 120 boats. On corrected time in their fleet they were third in place.
Given the last two training opportunities Donald had gone on I was eager to pry and hear what interesting happenings took place on this trip. According to Donald, “The boat is starting to show signs of her age. The hull and deck began to separate on the starboard side. Our genoa halyard snapped and the sail fell to the water. We were able to recover the sail in less than a minute and hoisted a new head sail within five minutes. We then re-hoisted the genoa about 30 minutes later after we had cleaned the boat.”
Despite the mishap, while crew members are not strangers to this race, they were elated because the winds were strong long enough for them to get a good finish. Had they not have recovered the sail it would have been lost and they may not have been able to complete the race.
As for Donald Lawson Racing’s next venture, they will be working earnestly toward acquiring their own boat.