One thousand nine hundred and fifty kilometres from home. Leaving Mississauga Thursday morning, for a trip we would have to repeat Sunday and Monday. A long trip, but if you love this sport, it’s hard to miss a race.

Our vast crew was reduced to one.

Chattahoochee is located about a 45 minute drive west of Tallahassee necessitating an early trip from the hotel to the race site. Arriving at a race site in the dark was unusual. Chattahoochee is far west in the eastern time zone and the late summer light was slow to rise. I saw the dawn’s early rise. Made me feel like singing the American national anthem.

Racing in F3 was divided into two groups. Slotted in group 2, I would have an opportunity to watch the other group. Racing started with Bill Mastro rolling over, and emerging fairly quickly from his overturned boat. Then I was off to get ready.

With Rainer probably worrying at home, I was fortunate to get Sam LaBanco and Sam Miller to assist on the dock and radio. Acquiring something like a 3rd and 5th or so, I was able to prequalify, though we didn’t learn that until sunday morning. While it’s fun to race, it’s a bit of a break to not race and simply watch. The biggest bonus is making for a more relaxing day which would be key for the trip home, but most importantly surviving the Florida heat and humidity and saving the equipment for the final.

Starting 7th saw me start first on the second flag. George Galloway started to my right, with Dean Bowes ahead on my left and last on the first flag. With it seemingly to take forever for all 12 boats to align, the sweat caused by the pressure and high temperature was starting to dominate my thoughts. But relax, stay focused. The flag boat is in position. I’m ready. But wait for the second flag.

Exiting corner one on the inside, I was quickly ahead of Bowes. I had Carol Reno in sight, but she does not make an error. She capitalised on an error by Mark Proffitt, and was able to get around him. Then, it seemed way too early, but was that Neal Haraway trying to lap me? It doesn’t make sense. I can’t be ahead of him can I? What happened? He passes me. He had apparently hooked at the second corner, and was quickly making up ground. Red flag. I don’t remember what for, but I’m focused on the project at hand.

On the restart I was able to get within a boat length of Reno exiting corner one, but that was about it. She was passed by Proffitt, but would re-pass him when he erred. I got close to him on a few occasions. I was ahead of him on the inside, but he had more speed coming from the outside after overshooting the corner. Eventually, he pulled away from Reno. I would close in on Reno at one end, but she would pull away at the other. We continued throughout the race as we had many times throughout the season. The battle stagnated with her beating me to the finish line by 2 seconds.

The result was my best finish of the season; and the 6th place matched my best finish in 2001, at exactly the same course.

It was a fun season and great to be associated with a well run series. The off season is relatively short, and our team is looking forward to the 2003 season.