Last sail in November

The season is coming to an end.  The weather looked good on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Rain on Thursday.  Norm was interested and available Tuesday and Wednesday.

David offered to haul me out on Monday.  I asked for Wednesday and we agreed on Wednesday noon.  We scheduled Cygnus for 2:30.  Had lots of problems getting a hold of Ted to see if he was available.

I biked to the club on Tuesday for 2PM.  Norm had some rain just as he leaves the house.  We were blown north into the empty Talisman dock as we tried to leave.
I tested the engine on the way out and could achieve 3200 RPM doing 6.4 knots.  We probably could have done a bit better.

We pulled out the head sail down to the gut.  sailed passed the church and some drizzle started.  We were a little concerned but I decided to continue on.  Eventually, we turned back and ran for the service dock. 

I winterized the engine but could not take off the sails due to light winds about  25 degrees off the nose.

I rode back home, having a nice supper with supplier Richard.

October single handed bliss

October is coming to an end.

Four days of rain in the forecast

Wednesday is 15 knots winds from West.  Jason and Mike are working.  Norm is assembling Ikea furniture, Chris does not answer email.

I left the office at 3 and  the temperature was so nice, I came back and packed the bike to go to the club.  Once at the club, I answered my urge to go out.  Winds were 15 knots from the west.  The wind forecast was supposed to drop to 2-3 knots so I had thoughts of anchoring for the evening.

I untied and took off motoring to the gut.  Put up the Jib and sailed to Beaconsfield, tacked around and came back.  I started the motor just before the Gut.  Very difficult to see the gut without the regular buoys. 

Did not anchor. 

Biked back home, arriving at 9.  Glad I did it.   I DID IT.

Frostbites 7 and 8

Norm and Chris boldly went out in threatening rains in the bowels of October.  Winds were light and expecting to rise to 30 km.

We got to the club and sailed out to the start.  Winds were light, too light for a good race.  They waited for over an hour. ML texted Norm saying it was pouring in Pierrefonds.  A little while later, the rain reaches us.

Eventually, there would be thunder and a few minutes later, the race was canceled.

We sail motored back and dried up in the cabin and we all came home.  Main Sail remained uncovered, hoping Norm would be around to the club to put the cover on if it was dry.

Seasons over....  Bellum, Norm and I did every race that was and we were willing to be there if the conditions were not.

Final Frostbite results.  - 3rd white sail

Frostbite 5 and 6 with Norm

I reconfirmed with Norm and Chris for the Thanksgiving Monday morning frostbite.

Chris said he was staying up North.  (thanks for letting me know ahead chris)

We tried to get other crew but to no avail.  The forecast for Monday morning was 3 degrees.  I was not eager to go but Norm seemed eager so we went.  I dropped by the office to pick up some parts and went to the club.

Races were very pleasant with somewhat shifty winds.

We went out for a nice sail before returning to the club.

We tried a new approach using a longer stern line. Result was a fender that popped up and the hull got scratched by a chain shackle on the dock.

We came in 13th out of 18 and 15th out of 18

I hung around and met Andre to gas up his Hunter.

Then I gave Audrey a lift home.

Thursday sail with Norm, Friday overnight with Daniele at Dowkers

I left work early on Thursday with the Outback and a bike strapped to the carrier and met Norm at the fuel dock.  He broke the pump out! We waited around for a yard guy to come fix it.  He got it working enough to pump out the last holding tank and we took off for some light wind sailing and took down the jib.


I stayed around as Mike and Jason came in.  We had supper and a couple of drinks and I decided to stay overnight to spend Friday working on the boat until Daniele came and we went to Dowkers about 4. 

I had done the groceries, moved the whisker pole closer to the toe rail so the jib sheet would not get caught, installed the raw water pump and installed two new fairleads to make the movable cars more manageable. 

We sailed into the sunset and when it got dark, we ended up at Dowkers to protect ourselves from the south winds that were forecasted.  Supper was salad and bavette with lobster tails.

Next morning it was raining pretty hard and we decided not to do the pas-de-deux.  I got up and pulled the anchor and motored back to the club as we passed Fugu and Therapy head for the pas-de-deux.  We docked poorly with the south wind and awkwardly pulled ourselves  into position. 

Daniele went home and I hung around cleaning the lockers and then went home for Thanksgiving the next day.

Frostbite 3 and 4

Norm, Daniele and I got up early Sunday to take on the first Frostbite series.

19 boats showed up.  Nice one start.

Winds were flaky and died near the end of the first race.  Ave wind: 9 to 2 kts   Second race was cancelled due to lack of wind.

We came in 18th. ... Oh no, we are last.  Airway DNF :(  But we are third in our fleet.

Afternoon sail on redline

Seeing the season was coming to an end, I suggested to Norm and Chris to take a Wednesday afternoon off to go sailing.

Winds were North Easterly, just like last Thursday with Peter.  Chris could not make it till after his 3PM meeting.

Norm wanted to take Redline out so we did.

Chris showed up a little earlier and went out at 3:30,  just before Regalia went out with Patrick.  Winds were strong, 15 gusting 20.  We ran up to Dowkers on a broad reach and tacked back and went out again.  Eventually, we reefed the Jib and then the Main.

We motored back from the gut to the club. Zig-Zag with Jason and Mike were coming back through the gut about the same time.

Single handed pursuit race

Finally, after four times, we made it to the annual single-handed pursuit race.

We met at the lawn and got our starts.  Mine was 11:24.  There was no RC since everyone was working on the Laser 28 North Americans.

Redline raced her first race in Canada.  She was the fastest boat and last to start so she did the timing.

Most of us sailed to the start.

The course was from SL 31 area to AD28, through the gut and Club Finish at AS15.

The winds were very shifty.  Started Nort West, and it went north, east, west.  We had calms and a few white caps.


I enjoyed the conditions.  Made mistakes and watch others make mistakes.  It was like a lottery, we never knew who would be right.


I came in 7 out of 10.  Finished in a group with Sylvie, Espresso, Khaleesi . Espresso pushed
Khaleesi and Khaleesi pushed Bellum outside AS15

It was a lot of fun.

Sailing with Peter

Elena and her friend cancelled in the morning so only Peter was coming, but at two.

I spent the morning cleaning Bellum, defrosting the icebox, installing kayak brackets (failed), check Cygnus batteries (boiled dry).

Peter showed up at the boat.

There was a North East wind so we put up just the jib and bombed down to Baie-D'Urfé and tried to tack back to the gut but with just the head sail, we could not get that close to the wind.

Peter has been demolishing his family country house, cutting trees, sleeping in his car and mortaring  his fireplace.

Motored from the gut to the club and with a North wind, I misjudged the approach and had an awkward time backing up and retrying.

I had work to do and skipped supper.  I changed the engine oil (not the filter) and packed up the boat and went to Daniele's for a pizza. I ate the whole thing.

Wind Mill Point race - louisy start abandoned

Jeff, Norm and Chris came together to race the Wind Mill race.

Norm came earlier to help me take down No. 3 and put up the furling No. 2.  Good choice.

Chris came and installed the ikommunicate

The course was from SL 31 to AD28 and Club Finish.

We were practising our tacking and watching for the start sequence at RC.

After some time, we decided to get closer to the race fleet when we noticed that the race had already started.  We sailed up to the start line, tacked and raced from far behind.

We raced to AD 28 and tacked.  It was getting dark and we were probably 5 minutes behind Talisman IV.  I decided to abandon the race and just enjoy a beer on the way back to the club.  There was supposed to be no BBQ so there was no rush.  But when we docked, the staff was walking the dock asking if we were staying for the BBQ.  They had apparently changed their mind about having a BBQ so we left the boat un-closed and had supper.

I decided to sleep aboard 

hookey with norm

The next few days were going to be cool and rainy.  Today was going to be 26 so let's take the afternoon off and go sailing.

Emailed Norm and Chris,  Chris could not make it.

So we took off at 14h15 with the No 3 and did 6 knots tacking to Beaconsfield and a broad reach back with an encounter with the sandbars.

We got back at 17h30 and I colour coded the stern dock lines and repaired the BBQ flavour plate using two stainless bolts to hold it up since the original clip to hold it up had rusted out.

Took the Specialized bike back at 20h00 and got a flat in Lachine.  Had to lock up the bike and take a bus back to the office and take the car to get the bike back.  Late supper.

Frostbite cancelled

Last Friday pursuit race on Saturday

In the morning, we decided to do the pursuit race in the afternoon.  We called Norm and Jimmy.  Jimmy was busy but Norm joined us.

It was windy and supposed to be more windy on Sunday's frostbite. We fueled up and changed the furling jib for the no 3, which we found out could be furled.  We did have to put a pendant to avoid halyard wrap.

It was easier to put the pendant on the tack instead of the head so that is what we did.  In the end, we might have been better with the pendant on the head so that the sheets would have a better angle.

It was windy. We came in fourth, almost made it to third.  Nice race.

Friday night sail

After work, Daniele and I decided we wanted to go sailing.  So we came down to the club, packed up and went to the fuel dock to get a pump out and fuel up.  I had checked the club website and it said that the fuel pump closes at 19h00.  We were there at 17h30 and the pumps were closed and the sign said it closes at 17h00... Grrrr.

So with fumes we tacked from the club to Beaconsfield, passing Flirtation in the channel and Fugu on her way back.  Flirtation was under motor and squeezed us (under sail close to the green mark). Grr

We passed Tallisman in the main lake. At Beaconsfield we gybed and came back.  The wind dies so we motored to the bay beside the club to spend the night.

Supper was a fillet of pork with garlic, mayonnaise and rosemary.

Nice evening. 

No Wednesday race

I went to the club by bike to pick up the car that I had left there.

No wind.  No race.  Did not go out.  I told Jimmy there was no wind and he decided not to come.

Had drinks with Elizabeth, Scott, Ted ...

Love labour day weekends

Daniele had to go to the clinic to get her shoulder checked out. We swapped cars so she could park in Westmount.

I went to the club early to install a new main halyard and fold the 150 genoa into the new sausage bag and helped Norm install the newly repaired main sail and the wi-fi antenna.

Daniele showed up about six and was very hungry and did not really want to go out.  She almost immediately noticed the new halyard.  The halyard was thinner but the same colour scheme. And it worked much better than the larger halyard that the previous owner installed.

I convinced her and we had a great sail to Grande Anse.  6+ knots in a crimson sunset and had a nice big T-bone (steak).  Redline was there, Flirtation without an anchor light.  We had a hard time seeing another power boat without an anchor light.

She was very happy that we went out that night.  The night was super calm.

Next morning Redline left for Soulange and we follow in the early afternoon. We tied up to Redline and Tara showed up later about cocktail hour.  We were enjoying Norms infamous margaritas.  We all had supper in Redline when Zig-Zag showed up and tied up to Bellum.  Redline had steak, Tara had steak and we had a flattened Portuguese chicken.


Sunday Reline left for supper with Louise.  Later Zig-Zag left and we we hung around.Tara had supper aboard Bellum.  We dined inside because the sun had set (beautifully) and  the cockpit started dewing up.

 Monday Tara left earlier, we napped and swam and then headed back.  My house battery was dead from refrigeration and wash-down activities.  (I washed Bellum on Sunday morning).

We motored back and had a real great Schewan dinner at Cuisine Szechuan

Wednesday race - NOT

A thunderstorm came in at 5 and passed through at 5:45.

Heading out after the storm

Went out with Jimmy and Ted yesterday.  

We tried Cygnus, but the battery was dead so we took Bellum out.  

Ted was insisting there was not enough crew, so we just put up the main, crossed the start line, sailed a bit and came back. 

Winds were generally less than 10 knots.  It was a very short race.  44 minutes.  

The furler was not installed and there was no time to install it.

Rain came in after we docked.

Single handed persuit race - windless

After the Sperry Challenge, I set out on my first single handed race with Bellum.

It was completely windless.  Came back to the club, cleaned up the boat, helped Norm put up a wi-fi antenna without the cable because the connectors were both female.

Sperry Challenge - McAuslan Cup

Norm and Daniele raced the Sperry Challenge - McAuslan Cup

Winds were very light.  We had the 150.

I had read Patrick's email too fast and raced the shorter Martin 16 course.  Once we went around the closer mark (SL 42) we noticed the rest of the fleet were going for the further SL 44 mark, we made our way there.  But with the winds dying, we fell further back

At SL 44, we interfered with Bijou, a Mega and touched the buoy and did a 360.

Our position was 13th out of 23 boats.

Super were beef kebabs with the
Ben Racine Band.

Friday Fun race

Just Daniele and I raced the Friday fun race with the 150.

Winds were light so it was good with the 150.  Daniele helmed the race, Lousy start, we were not near the line for the start.

The course was a Gold cup.  Dissidence and Bellum went for the jib mark instead of the upwind mark.  That costs us the race.


We went to the sandbars and had Salmon and beer.  Did not feel like opening a bottle of wine.

We discovered we lost the sail bag for the 150.  She went overboard, probably before the race started.

The night was supposed to be light winds, but it was quite rocky.  We came in in the morning and went to boathouse with Norm for their spring sale.

Wedneday race - Norm and JImmy

Best race this year. We came in second

I helmed and Jimmy and Norm handled the sheets.  Used the 150 genny.

We were not making the second windward mark, but by keeping our speed up, we stalled the sail and used momentum to get to the mark.  Pretty cool.

Brought Redline from Kingston to Dorval

Norm, chris and I (les boys trip) bought Redline back from Kingston.

Downriver

We hastily prepared for departure at 1500 from the club.

We waited until 19:45 to get into Cote St Catherine locks alone.  I really enjoy locking with Danièle, a real pro. Got to Longueuil in the dark at 22:15.


Beautiful view of Montreal from Longueuil.




 Follow our downriver trip

Photos from trip

Track of the trip on Google Map

Daniele's blog en français

Daniele's blog translated to English

 

Patrick's seminar on sailing downriver that inspired us

Sailing and supper with the Flarhities

Patrick and Sylvie joined us for an nice afternoon sailing and salmon BBQ.

Upwind to Dowkers and ran back.

We anchored and noticed a storm was approaching us so we pulled anchor and BBQ at the club. No rain came.  Wind was veering from west to north east.  Dorval changed runways 180 degrees.

A Great Time