Night near Dowkers

After the Frostbite, I left PCYC and sailed single-handed west, ending up just east of Dowkers and Grand Anse.  Zero carbon anchoring with lots of scope, 80 feet in 10 feet of water.  Made sausages and corn.  

Had a bad night's sleep.  The boat was calm.  I've got to stop mixing scotch, wine and Sambucca!

I got up at 7:00 AM, hauled anchor at 7:40 without the engine, sailed back to the club, and started the engine to enter the harbour and dock.

Biked back home to move the car that was parked on the street.  They are cleaning the street at 12:30.  I should have moved the car before the weekend.

Frostbite Series 1

I left the sandbars at 7 and docked without touching bottom at PCYC.  Told Norm and Andrey to meet me at PCYC.  Had a complimentary coffee and shower.

We changed the head sail to accommodate the 12-15 knots of wind expected. 

Actual winds

Norm helmed.  Andrey was a little rusty, but kept up.

The first race was great.

Race 1

The second race was a mess at the RC.  We were clear and late.  The jib sheet whipping failed on the first windward leg.  Fixed it with a knot.  I thought we would have been abandoned, but we didn't, and we ended up second to last.  Not bad.

Race 2

The third race was better.

Race 3

First Frostbite Series summary

After the race, we sailed around in great winds, returning to PCYC about 2:45 PM.  

Andrey fell off the boat onto the dock.  He said he was okay.  It looked rough.

Norm and I hung around, then I joined Bill for a rag chew.  At 18:10, I departed the club, ending up night sailing to the area between Dowkers and Grand Anse.

Sandbars with Jason and Mike

After fueling up, I left for the sandbars.  I tried to sail, but there was not enough wind.

Tied up with Zig-Zag, checked out Jason's new floatie.  

They left, and I spent the night at the Sandbars.  The night was calm, and in the morning, there were 15 knots of wind.  I decided to go to PCYC to pick up the crew for the Frostbite race.

Pas de deux avec Scarlett

On Friday afternoon, I biked to the club, departing around 2:30 PM.  I had intended to go earlier to sail before our dinner party, celebrating Jason's 53rd birthday.  When I arrived, a dark cloud was approaching from the west.  Jason and Jenn had gone out and tried to get back before the rain hit.  Tried, but they got wet.

I rigged the new jib sheets with the soft shackle. 

Mike Jason and I had some drinks aboard Fugu.  We had some drinks before dinner, wine with dinner and drinks after dinner.  Jason showed off his new floatie.  Ed and I had a discussion about the Middle East.

I had considered going to PCYC to pick up Scarlett for the Pas de deux, but my last experience of hitting the ground at PCYC had discouraged me.

Saturday morning, Scarlett arrived, and we were uncertain whether we would race since the winds were calm at the club.  I called Frank, and he said there was wind at PCYC, so we departed.  The winds picked up. It was a nice and fun race, and we finished in 8th place.  

Wind forecast

Came back to the club to the fuel dock.  Saw Dissidence, Fugu and Zig-Zag in the channel. 

Scarlett left, and I fueled up 32 litres to last the rest of the season and got a pump out.

First GNS Fall Race with Michael, Virginie, Scarlett - aground

The crew got together for our first GNS Fall Race of the season.

We arrived at 9:45 to put up the 155.  I arrived early to set things up.  Everyone arrived on time.  

But due to various reasons, we left the dock late and raced to the starting area, which was the west end of the lake.

The race was postponed due to light winds.  We practised some tacks and gybes, but the crew wasn't up to snuff.  

For the first race, we had a great start with timing.  We were starboard, and most of the fleet was port.  But due to confusion, we tacked to port to avoid the fleet.  Just to be safe.

In the second race, we were late by about 50 seconds.  Ten seconds after we started, RC signalled the second start.  We kept up with Expresso-X and Ghost Owl.  Quite impressive.  

After the finish, we tacked back to the gut, and then we ran aground after we started the engine.  I was disappointed that I clearly briefed Scarlett about the rock, and she still ran aground.  She was in a rush to get back to errands for the weekend, and I had cancelled my trip to Costco with Lynda.

I washed the boat using the new Costco washing Hulo.  It was okay, but not impressive.