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Saturday, Sept. 12, 1998 Fundraiser for the New England Lighthouse Foundation
Lighthouse Depot III offers a combination of a time-speed-distance road rally (turf cruisin') and a chartered excursion aboard the M/V Oceanic (surf cruisin'). During the day, tour the back roads of York County, Maine in your vehicle, searching for checkpoints. That evening join us for a cruise departing from Portsmouth Harbor, NH, enjoying views of several lighthouses, Jerry's Point Life Saving Station and other historic sites.
During the past two runnings of Lighthouse Depot Rally, 158 competitors, hailing from as far south as Kentucky up to as far north as Montreal, have embarked on a trek that originated at the Lighthouse Depot Gift Store in Wells, Maine. By following directions, called 'route instructions', these adventurers negotiated a course of intertwining secondary roads located in York County, Maine. This year's route will take rallyists way out into the "boonies" upon twisty, hilly roads which are bound to satisfy one's driving pleasure. The entire course is approximately 135 miles in length, comprised of paved roads for the most part. The dirt roads that are used have smooth surfaces; thus are appropriate for nearly all vehicles (Mazda MX-6 approved).
For those of you who are not familiar with the sport of road rallying, here's a synopsis. A speed-time-distance road rally is an automobile tour contested by teams (each made up of a driver and a navigator) on public roads, obeying ordinary traffic rules. Just about any kind of vehicle is suitable, so long as it's street-legal. The object is to stay on course, as described by a set of route instructions, while maintaining specified average speeds. A rally is not a race! Each vehicle is timed at checkpoints found along the course at locations unknown to contestants beforehand. Penalty points are acquired for arriving either early or late at each checkpoint. Scores are figured by comparing a team's actual time of arrival against the pre-calculated perfect target time. Low score wins.
No prior rally experience is necessary to compete. A novice rally seminar will be held on the evening before the event to provide guidance to those new to the sport. If neither you nor your partner has ever competed in a road rally before, you are eligible to run in a separate "first-timers" class. Selecting this class will avoid your having to compete against experienced rally teams, thereby increasing your odds of winning one of the unique awards supplied by Lighthouse Depot Gift Store, the event's sponsor. No special equipment is needed to run. All you need to enter is a watch that reads in seconds, a basic pocket calculator, a clipboard, paper, pencils, pens, and highlighters.
The rally entry fee will be $55.00 per car, which includes a lunch buffet for two and a donation to the New England Lighthouse Foundation. Cruise tickets will be available for $16.00 per person, inclusive of parking fee. Lighthouse Depot is providing custom-designed, long-sleeved T-shirts to the first 30 teams to enter, so sign up early! To obtain rally flyer/entry form, stop by the Lighthouse Depot Gift Store in Wells, Maine or contact the event organizer Patti Mikkelsen, e-mail address: mikks@megalink.net or by phone: (207)583-4148. If you're online, check out the rally's web page at: http://www.agate.net/~cmotorclub/lhdepot.htm
This story appeared in the
July 1998 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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