Friday, August 31, 2018

Friday Fun Race


There was just Jimmy and me there for the Friday Fun race.

I called Mary to see if she was available and she was supposed to go with Audrey but they were concerned there was too much wind for the two of them so I invited them to come on Bellum.

Jimmy helmed.  Good start. We were only a few seconds late in a very crowded start line.  Antanas was barged out by Ghost Owl.

Nice sailing,  but, we finished close to last. Fugu was beating us until the end.  A Tanzer 22 kept up with us but were not able to pass us.  Not too impressive that he could keep up with us.

The winches were surprisingly smoother.

The photos were badly overexposed because the camera was set for Hi ISO.  I fixed what I could with Lightroom.

Super at the club, gave the car keys to Audrey so she could go home for supper and get the filet mignon for tomorrow's raft-up.





Redline sailing

We were supposed to go sailing with Chris and Norm, Bellum or Redline. Chris canceled due to family obligations.

I got there before Norm and decided to empty the dingy of water.  Dropped the anchor into the drink.

We took Redline out past the gut and sailed around. 

I slept aboard Bellum.
I stayed over at the club after the Thursday race with Norm and on Friday I cleaned up the locker and regreased the sheeting winches and main halyard winch.

Everything was fine so I did not have to pay Jason ransom for his hoarding of pawl springs.





Thursday, August 30, 2018

Race with Norm - Last GNS

The winds looked light all afternoon.  I texted Norm in the early afternoon to see if he was interested or not.  No answer.  About 5, I decided to call Norm to say I was not going.  I went out to the bank and it was nice outside.  It was a long weekend.  Ahh what the hell, I called Norm back and see if he was available.  I drove to the club and made it there about 17:45, departed while tiding up the boat from last weekend.  The long weekend looked liked it was going to be shortened
 by rain, so we'll take whatever we can.

I helmed.  We sailed the first triangle when the winds died and it got dark.  Trying to get to the leeward mark, RC finally cancelled the race.  We motored back and had supper at the club. Besides the Lasers, we were the only club boat there.

Slept aboard and took Friday off.

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Race cancelled for Bellum

Chris and Norm and I were to go sail in great winds, but in the end, we cancelled.

















But they did race. Looks nice





Saturday, August 25, 2018

BNI Challenge 2018

The BNI Challenge regatta to raise money for sailors with disabilities.

With some juggling, I managed to have an interesting crew, Catherine, Jimmy and Chris.

At first, there seemed to be no wind.  I put up the 155 at the dock. The lake was flat when we departed but it picked up nicely.

A flock of birds attacked us just before the gut.

https://www.facebook.com/mike.zeitouni/videos/10160561509650417/?t=40



Jimmy took the helm, I took the main and Chris and Catherine took the winches.  In the end, I did most of the winching.

The crew was tuned with a few tacks and gybes before the race.  With a 15 minute postponement, we got some more practice in.

We were about 1 minute late for our start. The crew was very constructive and productive about performance and strategy.  There as an excellent focus from everyone that I have so far seen on Bellum.  We made a few mistakes.  We saw other boats make many more mistakes.  The boat performed very well.

After we came back in, Catherine and Jimmy departed and Chris helped me put the sails away and reinstall the drum and 135 headsail.

He went back home to pick up the family as I launched around the lawn.

We had supper with Audrey, Norm, Scott.

I slept aboard.





We came in 7th.  Pretty good.













More Photos:





Friday, August 24, 2018

Friday Fun Race with Jimmy and Buruç

Great evening race.  Sunset is coming earlier. Good steady medium light winds.  Forth time Jimmy went out, the second time on Bellum.

Met Buruç on Thursday's race on Gaucho.

We did not go for supper but we finished 1/2 a bottle of Jimmy's scotch (Dewer) at the dock.

Nice sunset.  Good discussion with Buruç about the millenniums.













Thursday, August 23, 2018

Laser 28 racing

I had no crew so I got a position on Gaucho. 

I was running late at the office and left at 4:30 cycling to the club with a 15 knot upwind.  Got there in an hour and hopped on the boat without gear or water.

We were six and it was blowing.  We did not fly the spinnaker for the first two laps but we did on the third lap.

Had drinks and chips aboard Gaucho and we took the bus home.


Tuesday, August 21, 2018

J70 - NOT

Was invited to race on the J70, but a storm was coming up and we cancelled about 4 ish


Saturday, August 18, 2018

Anchor with Redline

I waved to Redline during the Single-handed race as she was heading out.  Later they invited me to raft up.  Tempted .. did it.  After inflating the Canadian Tire toy dinghy.

Departed at about 17:15. Nice downwind sail to Dowkers south.  Decided to anchor and Redline picked me up on their dinghy about 19:20.  Nice supper aboard Redline.  Chloe was telling me about the cruise they just came back from.

The next morning the cockpit had some bugs, but nowhere as bad as last week's shad flies.  Got some bad news from Daniele.  Sailed back to the club in 4-5 knots of east winds.  Puttered around the club, played with the Torqeedo on the toy dinghy. Toy dinghy was a bad idea.

Helped Ted dock and rig his topping lift on Cygnus.

Packed up the car, got the trailer and went to Daniele's to pick up my tires and stuff.

Single Handed Race



Always fun doing the single-handed race.  As with previous years, winds were very shifty.

We (I) came out 9th out of 12.  But I see other boats did not come within 4 boat lengths of AD20.  Just sayin.

Great debriefing with Mr. Beer afterwards.


Bellum Track



Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Windless Tuesday

Daniele was in Cape Cod so it was just Chris and Norm.
The forecast looked promising

I got to the club at 5:10 and pulled the 155 from the locker.  Chris was talking with Norm on Redline.

I could not decide if I wanted to put up the 155 for the next few days of light winds.


Actual graph of winds
There was little time and little winds.  We did not put up the 155.

We left the harbour and the lake was mirror calm after the first buoy.  We motored towards the gut when Ghost Owl came back, saying the race was cancelled.

We motor around drifted and eventually got to the sandbars, swam, had some beer and nuts.

Got back at 8, sandwiches looked boring so we went to Ye Old Orchard.

Chris drove me back to the office with the Sailrite and bike.

Then winds started up around midnight with a good little rain storm after I cycled home.






Saturday, August 11, 2018

Single handed to Grande Anse

I got up early had breakfast at Cafe Marler and worked to clean up the club locker, built a step for Bellum dock and fixed the hose holder from Norm.

Winds were supposed to be light but would be showed 6 knots Sunday and I was in need of a sail.

Took off at 4 and tried to sail to the first buoy, then motored to the gut and then sailed to the Sandbars.  Winds were still good so I waved hi to Tara II and Dissidence and continued to Grand Anse.

Spent the night there with 3 power boats rafted far away.  Supper was a can of chilli.  Went to bed about 10 and got up at 7. 


In the morning, Sailflow said winds were going to die in the morning so I pulled the anchor and sailed for about 4 hours in light to medium winds.  I pretty much had the lake to myself and a Mirage 27.



Came back to the club and refuelled and pumped out.  Washed the deck and cockpit.  Went for a swim. Rode back to moms for supper.


Friday, August 10, 2018

Friday Fun Race

After a long week after the return from Champlain and putting up the mast on Thursday, I went to the club to do some sailing.

Daniele was preparing for her trip to Cape Cod.

I was thinking of sailing single-handed to Grand Anse, maybe raft up with Tara II.

I decided to go racing when Claudia and Sylvie from the shark program.  Kind of rusty.  They really lacked experience.

Big crowd at the start line. Lots of winds.  Nice racing.

Almost T-boned by Slow Dancer II

The girls bought me supper afterwards.\


Garbage on Sunday morning

 Disgusting garbage on Sunday morning