Spontaneous five-day solo trip with Cindy

 After a cool week at Tupper Lake and home, the forecast was for a one-week heatwave, so I decided to spend the week on the lake. 

I called up Cindy, whom I had not seen in years, and we went to the club on Friday evening for the Saturday FFR with Scarlett and her BBF, who was in town for a few days. 

I asked Scarlet for a confirmation, and she was too busy, so we cancelled. 

We had supper at the club.

Saturday was cool, wet and windy, so the race was cancelled. 

Cindy and I did Yoga, and we took an afternoon nap. About 5, it cleared up, and we anchored at the sandbar.  

Sunday morning, we decided to go to St. Anne's. We had ice cream and set sail for Soulanges to see the Aurora Borealis peaking on Monday night. So, we spent two nights doing nothing. Unfortunately, we did not have a dinghy with us. 

The radar reflector broke and was hanging from the spreaders. 

The fridge thermostat wire broke, and I jury-rigged it to run manually 

On Tuesday, we departed by motor to the club through the Seaway and took the shortcut, bypassing the zigzag channel.

T

Tupper Lake Boathouse

 

Voilavie

We took Karyne's new boat out for her first FFR race.  She wanted to go out on Saturday, but I was not available.

John from Adult Sailing and a friend of Karyne a 420 sailor from PCYC joined us.

Lousy start, going the wrong way and not hearing the radio at the start.  We were not the only boat that did that.

A nice evening.  I went back to the boat and finished last night's pizza and had a Glenfiddich aboard Fugu.

Thursday with Scarlett, Louise and Phil

We met Louise at the AQVA dinner.  Invited her to race, and she came with Phil.  Scarlett was there too.

We had a close incident where we cut Expresso II off.  She had to veer off to avoid us.

Phil was a strong man.  Way too strong on the lines.  Watching out is more important than pulling fast.

9 out of 12

GNS Tuesday Norm and Maud

I biked to the boat on the Norco for the first time in a while.  It wasn't too hard.  My heartbeat was about 142, peaking at 146.  Not so bad.

Helped spot Norm go up his mast to install the PA speaker.

Maud and Norm went out in very light winds, not expecting to race.  The winds did pick up, and we had a great race, starting at the far western end of the lake due to the prevailing eastern winds.

Had burgers at the club later.

I biked home since it was supposed to rain on Wednesday morning.  It did not rain.

14th out of 17

AQVA with Scarlett

I got up on Saturday morning, did yoga, and prepared for the AQVA race.   

Wind Forecast

Scarlett arrived.  Maud did not show up.  She thought the race and supper were on Sunday.

Scarlett arrived, but Maud did not show up; she thought the race and supper were on Sunday. We waited as long as we could for Maud and then set out for the race area. 

The winds were very light, and it was uncertain whether a race would take place.

The start was delayed from 1330 to 1400 as the winds picked up.

Actual Wind

Finished 19th

BELLUM crossed a tad bit early, but the race committee allowed it to pass. We couldn’t win, and if we did, we would have to disqualify ourselves from the competition. We had an excellent race overall. Scarlett and I agreed on most strategies, although the winds were oscillating throughout the day.

At SL 44, Testardo was closest to the mark; we were beside him, and a Kronopio 2, a Tanzer with sail number 313, was downwind of us. The Tanzer decided to tack in front of us, and we nearly collided. We protested against her actions, but she ignored us.  Unfortunately, protests are not allowed in this race.

Our biggest mistake in the race occurred at SL 33. We were trying for speed with wing-to-wing sails, but we drifted east due to the current and had to head back up to reach the mark.

 

FFR Not - BBQ Jessica Jeromie Scarlett

Friday did not look suitable for winds.  I invited Jessica and Jeromie to come to try to race and have a BBQ aboard.

I biked to the club, arriving at 2. Jessica and Jeromie came at 4, and we changed the headsail from 135 to 155.  Went smoothly.  Friday was windless, and tomorrow's AQVA was forecast for low winds.  Scarlett was going to be late, and since there was no race, it was not a problem.

We motored to the Gut and tried to sail a little, but ended up anchoring about half a mile from the sandbars. We had a nice BBQ and enjoyed the sunset.  There was not enough wind to sail back, so we motored, arriving at 10 PM.