GNS fall series

 Norm, Maud, and I raced the Sunday fall GNS. Nice winds with the 155.  We sailed from the club channel to the race area and checked in.

Norm helmed the first race, and Maud helmed the second race

On the way back, we got rained on, but it ended when we got back to the harbour.  Maud docked the boat.

From Nathalie

Reline with Olga and Eric

I invited Olga and Eric to come sailing.  

Olga wanted to invite her boyfriend, Dima, and I told her okay. 

Eric was supposed to invite Cole and/or Shane.  They were not available, but the kids were "empathetic," so I made it six on board.  Or 4 and 2 halves.

I asked Norm about borrowing life jackets, and he invited them aboard Redline.  I didn't tell the crew until they arrived.  They were quite surprised, and we had a great outing. 

We motored to Pointe Claire and put up the sails, but there was no wind, so we drifted.  The kids stayed occupied with the forward and aft water hoses.  As we returned, the wind picked up, and we had a good sail back to the club.

Nauti Crew with JP

I met JP about 10, debriefed, and we took her south of the Royal, entered the Lachine Channel, sailed back to the club channel, then to the gut, and back to the club.

Captain JP

Our Track on Sail Tie

On the way out, we saw Redline returning from Grand Anse.  Norm took a couple of photos of us on the way out.

Raft up with Redline

Chris drove me to the Boathouse to buy lines for BELLUM Traveller, then to the club.

I set sail at 4, struggled upwind to the Gut, then tacked slowly to follow Redline to Grand Anse, arriving at 7.  

I got up about 7:30 and got Norm to detach at 8:20, motored back to tlub for 9:30, much of it WOT to clear the engine. I had an appointment with JP at 10 to take Nauti Crew out.  

Saw Redline come in at 10:30 from Naut Crew.

GNS Fall Series - Labour Day with John and Mark

I got up at about 8:30, had a quick breakfast, weighed anchor, and motored to PCYC.

John and Mark joined at 10, and we departed to race.  Winds were mostly steady.  I helmed the first race, and Mark helmed the second race.  

We did okay, coming in 7th out of 13.  Nice to have the 155 head sail.

In the second race, the winds were quirky: the second windward was a close reach directly to the windward mark, and a beat to the finish line, where Le Fou de Bassan got blown upwind, causing us to miss the pin. We turned around and tried again, but we blocked Frank's wind, causing him to drift upwind, and I started the motor to get out of there, declaring ourselves disqualified.  They still scored us 9 out of 13.

Southwind barged both races.

After the race, we all had de-chlorinated beer, did two nice rounds of the lake, and decided to return to the Royal, where I drove the boy back to PCYC to pick up their cars.

Chairman meeting at the Sandbar

On Sunday morning, I was supposed to sail JP on his Cat boat Nauti Crew.  Unfortunately, the engine did not start.  

I couldn't figure out how to turn off the water intake valve, so we didn't crank the engine much to avoid waterlogging it.

The valve was plastic, and I did not want to force it.

I decided to replace the corroded relay on the starter circuit.  The engine start button was not responding.  I had used a contact cleaner on the Yanmar connectors and the relay socket, but the problem persisted.  After changing the relay, the problem persisted.  Next, I plan to replace the starter button.

At about 1:30, I helped Chris depart her dock with a friend aboard.

I departed shortly afterward.  

I tried to sail around the lighthouse, but the wind was too quirky, so I motored to the gut and sailed to Dowkers and back to the Sandbar, where I saw Fugu approaching the Disidence and Zig-Zag rafted up.

Mike, Ed and I went for a swim in 22-degree waters.  

Some asked if there was a chairman aboard, and I was, so I called a board meeting.

Just the boys participated. We adjourned and moved to cognac.  

About 6ish, we decided to start the BBQ, but Dissidence's anchor was drifting into one foot of water.  We broke up the raft-up, and I reanchored, and everyone else returned to Dorval.

I BBQed my steak and slept peacefully.

FFR pursuit on Saturday followed by Raft Up

Jessica and Natalie came to do the last Friday Fun Race on Saturday.

We messed up some tacks.  The winds were quirky. We hit a yellow SYLVA buoy.  I had to take the helm.

We started 22 minutes after the scratch boat and finished dead last.  The crew was learning.  

We had the 155 headsail up.  Near the end of the race, the winds picked up, but we were in a broad reach.

I came to join the raft-up with the mainsail still up! URG!

We partied, and about 7:30, we broke up the raft-up to return to the dock to BBQ the barvette.  

The Course

The Crew

The fool

The Raft Up

The Barvette