AQVA 2026

The winds were forecasted to be not strong, and we were just Maud, Scarlett and me.  I had the 155 up from Friday.

We were a little late for the start.  I was confused by the calculations of my start time, so we were about a minute late.  Winds were quirky at the start.We had a good run for a while, and then the winds turned 180 degrees and got light.  

Winds died, and we were squirming to the finish line.  The crash boat came and told us we had exceeded the time limit, but nothing was declared on the radio.  We continued and finished 13th.  Brian W won the race.

Nice evening of cocktails, supper, and dancing.  We sat with Sylvie, Heather, Emma and Rick's daughter Evelume. 

I slept aboard, and on Sunday I biked to St. Eustache, back to the club, and drove home as it started to rain, since the bike battery was drained. 

13th position

Quarky winds

FFR - Jessica, Calyspo and Brian

 Before the race, we changed the head sail to the 155.  We were four and it went well.

We set off and had a good race.  

I finally gave Jessica the midship cleat that I have been meaning to give for a couple of years,  

Jessica and I had some drinks at the bar afterwards.

GNS S4- Scarlett, Maud and John

I arrived early and tuned the mast.  I moved BELLUM to the service dock for a pump-out and to the shear legs to clean the masthead jewelry for the AVQA.  I found the baby stay was about to fall off the mast, which I had decommissioned for the single-handed race, so I reinstalled it.  

The crew arrived a little early but not early enough to help.

At 5:30, the crew of BELLUM boldly went out into what might have been a squall.  It was forecast to pass us, but a large rolling cloud in the Northwest indicated a Lake St. Louis Squall.  

The day was nice, so nobody expected bad weather.  But earlier in the week, it was very unstable.

We all donned BELLUM-supplied foul weather gear, and by the time the race started, the weather was nice.

Good race.

Meet up with Aissam and Salim

The weather looked good, but there was a chance of rain in the afternoon.  Joe saw thunderstorms and cancelled, saying it was too dangerous.

We agreed to start a little earlier at 10 instead of 11, which was a good thing.

We sailed from the club channel to Baie d'Urfé and returned. After the gut, storm clouds were maturing.  Soon I decided to start the engine and made it to the dock about 10 minutes before the rain at 2:15.

All was perfect.

Somerled called with the estimates for the brakes, and by 2PM, it was ready.  

My plan was to go anchor to watch the Perseid showers with the new moon, but the forecast was for showers or rain.

I sat around in the boat until 4, when I decided to go pick up the car and go home.

S3R6 - PHRF I & II Division - Tuesday Aug 11

Paul, Scarlett and Natalie raced with me in a tight, hard-driving race. Scarlett helmed.  Winds were good and relatively stable.

We worked hard to finish 9th out of 15 boats in our division.

Our track

Return to club

Monday with Eric Granny Alex Ethan and Leo, supper with Darla and brake failure

Eric and the family came out for a sail.  I biked to the club and got life jackets for the boy when they showed up.  

Motored to before the lighthouse, and we sailed north around the lighthouse foundation, and then the winds died.  We drifted back towards the harbour, and at 2PM I started the engine and got back to the harbour by 2:15, so they could return home before 4PM.

After Eric's departure, I did a major tidy-up of the boat and locker. I got drenched by a heavy shower. 

At 5, I departed for Canadian Tire and had supper with Darla.  She was very hungry, so I skipped Canadian Tire and went straight to the Manoir to meet her.  Nice supper.  She is travelling to Cancun and Dallas soon.

I went to Costco, and upon leaving Costco, the Honda brakes failed.  I stumbled to a gas station on Sources, put some gas in and topped up the brake fluid, but it drained out.

I drove down Sources and decided I could make it to Somerled Garage.  The brakes were very soft and failed to engage when the pedal hit the bottom.  But there was no pressure until it hit the bottom.  Downshifting showed the car quite effectively, so I drove down Highway 20, exited at St. Jacques, dropped off the keys in their mailbox, and started walking home.  I put on my AirPods, and only then did I realize I left my phone in the locked car.  I walked home, got the spare key and bike to the Somerled garage, and got my phone back.

WindMill Point Long Distance Race

Paul, Natalie D, and I competed in the Wind Mill Point long-distance race on the J24.

I had hesitation between the 150 and 135 headsail.  At the last minute, we switched to the 135, which was a good thing.

Nathalie helmed and set sail to the start near the lighthouse foundation.  The racing chart showed more shallow spots than I was familiar with, so I took the helm.  

We were badly positioned and took two minutes to cross the line.  Winds were over 15 knots.  We tacked to the Gut and to AD 28, then to SL 31, tacked to AD 28 and ran back to the club using the whisker pole, doing over 5 knots.

Starboard tack was not doing as well as Port tack.  Need to check/tune the rigging.

We came in last.

We had a beer with the fleet.  I gave Paul a tour of the Royal, napped, and biked back home.