Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Meet up with James and Ellie

On Monday morning, they were forecasting 31 mm of rain.  By Monday afternoon, that went down to 80% of about 5 mm of rain.  I figured it would start lightly at 2 and get stronger.  I planned to be back by 3 or eearlier if we saw rain clouds.

Several people cancelled.

James did not have Internet at home I had had to stay in contact with him by phone as to if we go or not.  Ellie showed up a little later.

Jame had never been on a boat.  He had told me that he was a pilot, but later said that he never did it because his wife got pregnant. Some other strange stories, but he was really an odd-ball and did not enjoy the trip and complained a lot.

The winds were excellent and there were many signs of the sun giving us a very warm day.

We put up the sails as we left the harbour about 10:20.  We had a tight tack to get through the Gut, sailed to Dowker back about 3 times.  No signs of rain, got back about 2:30.

Leeway with Michael and Scott was coming out of the club as we were coming in.  

James left without helping to tie up the boat.  No thank you.  Ellie and I tied up the boat.

Peter was supposed to be having a coffee with Angela at the club at 3PM, but he did not show up.

Rain started at 4
I did an oil change and washed the boat and got to the clubhouse for a beer just as the rain came in.


Overall a nice day.  I deserved a medal.





The warmest September on record: Environment Canada


Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips says the average temperature in the city this month was 18.8 degrees — well above the seasonal norm of 15.5 degrees.
The hottest day of the summer was on September 7th when the temperature hit 31.8 degrees.
In addition, Phillips says there were only seven days of rain this past month.
Phillips says even with a forecast high of only 13 degrees today, September will still end up being the warmest September since the weather office began keeping records at Trudeau airport in 1941. The record high average for September in Montreal was the 18.6 degrees recorded in 1961.
And the country's top weather forecaster has even more good news — he says there will be an Indian summer in October, and that this coming winter will be warmer than the last two.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Weekend

Daniele was supposed to race the Myrtle Cup on Saturday, but she started getting a cold.

I had lent the trailer with the car to Chris so I biked to the club on Saturday morning, went to the boathouse and got a charger, LED anchor light and a few other things.  No new anchor.  Elizabeth came to the Boathouse to drive me back to the club with the stash.

I had lunch with the Myrtle Cup crowd and then Keith came by to measure and photograph the spinnakers that Peter had given him.  They fitted very well on Bellum.  I should buy them.

I installed the charger on Saturday and commissioned it on Sunday.  Norm came by and suggested supper at the club.  I was supposed to have supper with Elizabeth. 

About that time Anne Marie came by to visit Cygnus.  Looked interested.

We all did supper at the club.  Nice evening with a wine down on Redline.

Sunday morning I got up in the dark with a flashlight and finished the charger installation and it all worked fine.

Daniele felt better and came to race the first Frostbite.  On the way to the boat she "dumped" the cart with all our clothes and food into the lake.

I had decided to change head sail as winds were supposed to be light.  All this caused us to get to the starting area late. But as predicted, the race was postponed.  We put up the 155 and she sailed quite well in very light winds.  But about 11:30, the race was cancelled.

We sailed to the sandbars and anchored.  The winds wen to 12 knots.  We put the drum back on while Daniele napped.  We sailed for a couple of hours and the winds died down and we drifted for a while.  Eventually we motored to the bay beside the club and had an Asian Rub Pork tenderloin as we watched delicious sunset on one side and a super moon on the other side.

We came back to a rough dockage and came home to Daniele's and tried to set up her new brother printer to her Mac without success.  The printer was very poorly designed.  Sometimes even the power button did not work.

Nice weekend.



Forecast for Sunday (from Friday)
Actual winds - Race canceled 11:ish, wind came up noon
Western Sunet

Eastern Moonrise




Sunday, September 20, 2015

James and Laura



Daniele left about 11.  James showed up at 12 sharp. :)

It was supposed to be cold but it got up to 20.  Quite a difference from the 28's we have been used to.

There was also a decent wind, unlike what was forecast on on Friday.



We set off, motoring to the gut and set up the sails.  Laura wore gloves though out the whole trip !

Nice tacking in a west wind. 

We came back at 3:30 and I left to see Monique with the new laptop.



Friday, September 18, 2015

Easy weekend with Daniele

Daniele need to rest and sleep well this weekend.  I had invited Chris and Jame sailing on Sunday

Weather was nice on Friday so she decided to come sailing.  I did the groceries at Akavan. 

I came to the AQVA meeting on Thursday afternoon.  Had the meeting and had a few beers with Manon and decided not to go out by myself.

Friday I washed Bellum, Pax and a good cleaning on Cygnus.

Cut out the toe rails on Bellum.  Got a little agressive.  Dremeled the outboard motor mount to fit better.

I moved stuff between the locker and rigged the starting of a cunningham and an outhaul.

About 2, I was exhausted and sat at the lawn with Scott and Jean-Louis of Malin, a 26 ft Grampian sailboat.

Daniele showed up about 4, just before Redline. Chris writes to cancel Sunday to go apple picking.

There was no wind. We got a pump out to get rid of the vinegar I used to clean out the holding tank. We motored to Dowkers, towing a Shark with JP to Pointe Claire church, and in the end decided to Le Baie Aurmais, even with the south winds. There was just Redline and Bellum.  We started Friday with 12 year old Glenlivet and a Tandori chicken.  A very nice evening,

Next morning we got up late.  Daniele relaxed.  Redline took off.  We decided to take off about 1ish and reached to the gut and tacked around


a bit when it looked like the cold front was coming in with some rain.  We headed back to the harbour since there were supposed to be strong winds with the cold front.  We go in just in time to avoid the rain about 4.

BBQ supper was difficult in the rain and winds.  It was gusting to over 20 knots and the BBQ kept going out.  Eventually the pork tenderloin was delicious.

Got up the next morning to change crew. 

Daniele slept well on the weekend. Mission Accomplished.


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Tuesday Meetup




It was a lousy weekend.  Rain Satuday, Sunday, Monday. 

I called Peter about having a sailing meetup on Tuesday.

I got there at 2, talked with Patrick, power washed Cygnus.

Winds were very good, a nice sail.

3:30 departure, everyone took the helm.  Sailed to 7 PM and went out for Italian at Natalino. 
Very good day


Friday, September 11, 2015

Friday evening sailing

Daniele and I went out in the afternoon after doing a little extra groceries (veggies) to supplement the food I bought.

Dropped off a memory chip that I restored some deleted photos on for Rick.  Left it with Lise at home.

We set off about 4ish, single handed departure.  Fugu came out behind us with the family.

We motored to the gut and sailed.to Dowkers.  Winds were supposed to be 2-3 knots.  So we sailed to the sand bars to settle for the night.  (damn Wind Guru, it was maybe 10 knots)

We polished of the remaining  Glenlivit 12 year and had a Costco NY strip supper inside, as it was pretty dark.

The night was pretty rocky with East winds meeting the West current of 10 knots in the morning.  At 8AM, the rain started drizzling and we decided to come in.

We pumped out, washed the deck and had bacon and egges and chicken livers.  I had the chicken livers.  We decided to skip the last Friday race.  Apparently 9 boats sailed for about 50 minutes in drizzly weather.  I head it was a nice course.

In the drizzle I installed an engine comportment light, battery operated v-berth light and fixed the 12 volt cockpit outlet.








Daniele and I went to MAC to see theDavid Altmejd and Jon Rafman exhibits where we met Yves,  followed by supper at Le Jardin de Panos and then watched Next on Netflix.






Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Wednesday race with Rick and Lise on Naomie

Weather was rainy and storm watch in the afternoon.  It was scheduled to be over by 7PM.  Manon cancelled again in the last minute.  So it was just Jimmy and myself.  We decided to take Naomi.  Rick came by as we were leaving and I invited him.  We were short handed.

Nice race.  Came in forth in the dark after a very nice sunset.  We had trouble finding the finish line.

Jimmy had no beer, but I was well stocked and it was appreciated !

Supper at the club

Installed new stern line on dock




Monday, September 7, 2015

Awesome labour day weekend and Monday sailing



Daniele and I went to Access Electronics on Friday to get some batteries and wires to fix the navigation lights.  The old wiring was a mess.

We got groceries for the long weekend.

We had planned to go explore the Chateauguay river with the Kayak since the wind forecast for Friday and Saturday was calm.  When we got to the club, there was a decent East winds so we packed up and headed to Dowkers South in a run / broad reach.  Anchored and had a nice supper of Salmon.  BBQ worked okay.

Envingo was there too.

Night was rock and roll with the east winds, but it was okay. Redline spent the night at the sandbars.

Saturday was dead winds and hot so I fixed the navigation lights and we went and kayaked a bit. Swam a lot. Enjoyed a good afternoon nap. Redline went to Soulange.  Talisman VII was kayaking round in their new inflatable kayak    Supper was Portuguese flat chicken.  Nice.


Sunday was windless or not windy enough to sail. We kayaked around Dowkers.

In the late afternoon, Redline came up with the hailer as we were napping on the cockpit.  Traffic at Soulange in the lock was getting crazy so they left.  Norm was telling me the winds were going to be crazy from South West, so we moved to Dowkers bay.  We had hot Italian supper aboard Redline and I left him with one Kayak.  so we did not have to tow two in the strong winds forecasted.

Monday was windy - up to 18 knots from the west / south west in the bay.  Redline left and shortly afterwards, we left.  We put up the reefed main and full jib, but eventually rolled up the jib too.

Nice sailing doing up to 7.2 knots.  We circled around the lake several times and then came back, exhausted and happy.  Saw Naomi come out as we were entering the gut.

Supper at Danieles.








Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Wednesday race in light winds

Norm, Jimmy and Daniele came to race this second to last Wednesday race.

Winds were light and went to very light.  Norm took the helm. Steered very well and delicately.Eight eyes on the wind shifts.

Great start, close to the start line with Chaos coming up fast behind us, close to RC.  We tacked shortly after start to avoid the dirty airs.  We made it to the windward buoy on that tack, with very  little pinching.

Winds died on the downwind and race was shortened.

We came in fourth.  Last in our fleet. 

Daniele and Norm stayed for supper.  I just had a beer after a large lunch with Jean B.

Nice sunset, but too intense for pictures.







Garbage on Sunday morning

 Disgusting garbage on Sunday morning