Haul Out

Well, October and November was pretty poor sailing.  Diesel course took up two weekends, but for the most part, the weather was poor.

David asked me to come haul out a couple hours earlier.  Norm came and helped.  Removed the North Sail.  Winterized the engine on the slings and did the plumbing in less than an hour in the yard.  The new plumbing to T the raw water intake was great.

No sailing

The last half of October and early November looks pretty gloomy.  Taking the Diesel Course did not help much either.


But it is confirmed we came in third in Windmill Point and 5th in FFR

Late October sailing with Jimmy

I got to the club via BMW.  Jimmy wanted to get a pump out.  We pumped her out. 

Norm helped put the new mainsail up.

Redline wanted to fuel up and pump out so we did that.  Left her at the dock near the fuel dock for early morning haul out.

Then Jimmy and I went out for an easy sail with just the new main. 

The foot looked short but it was correct.  10 feet 10 inches and Bellum E was supposed to 11 feet.

She had a nice shape.  Got to get a new batton for the top pocket.

We got back.  I tidy the boat, packed the car had bar menu supper and came to the office to log the trip and then to the locker to store the sails.

No Frostbite for Bellum

Daniele was sick.  Peter and Norm were not keen with the strong wind forecast.  John was available to assemble the new IKEA furniture on Sunday.  So we did not race. 

Unfortunately for us, the winds looked pretty idea and the rain did not seem to come until late.  They had three races.

Pas de deux and not Frostbite

Saturday morning, we got up early and rushed to the club to rig the boat for the PCYC Pas de deux race.  We packed the boat with the sheets and food and the 155.

Turns out Chris was there to sail with Audrey, but they were not racing.

We took off with a light south-east wind. Daniele helmed.  It rained and we were drenched.  Daniele did not want to stay at anchor even though the sun was supposed to come out in an hour or so.

Came in 17 out of 26.  The sun came out and we could not dry the sail very well at the dock.

Next morning was supposed to be windy 22 Gusting to 38.  It was. Norm cancelled due to a bad back, Nigel was undecided.  Eventually, the race was cancelled.

We packed up and went shopping for foul weather gear and teak furniture.

Celebrated Thanksgiving in 20 mm of rain all through Monday and Daniele's.

Couse was "2"

Thanksgiving was wet, very wet.

Frostbite No 1

Norm, Daniele, Peter and I got together for the first Frostbite.

Winds were decent.  The furling sail was off so we tried the RACING No 2 for the first time.

Daniele helmed (very well).  We did very well.

There were three races although NOR originally said Maximum of 2 races.

Second in White Sail

Second in White Sail

Second in White Sail

Cancel Wednesday sail with Daniele

Daniele had a doctor's appointment at 1PM at the Glen.  We planned to go sailing afterwards.

The weather had been fantastic for 17 days, hot and no rain, but this was about to end.  And she was not feeling well and there was a storm watch and I had a conference call at 4PM.

So we cancelled.  Winds go strong and a strong rainstorm came in about 6.

Norm picked up the repaired genoa from Boathouse for us.

Awesome end of September weekend

Daniele and I headed to the club for supper and sleep aboard at dock.

We did the groceries (Hamburgers) and were walking down the dock. Norm was waiting for his family to head out.

Daniele and I were envious.  We cancelled our reservations at the club and headed out to the sandbars.  Sailing for about 1/2 hour and then motor.

Awesome sunset.  We were in a heat wave and there have been two weeks of great sunsets.

The burgers were great.

Next morning, the boat was full of bugs.  We cleaned her out and then napped.  We left about 3 and sailed about 10 nautical miles and settled at Grand Anse, enjoying our butted noodles and fried onions.  Next morning there were no bugs.  We hung around until the afternoon.  We had planned to be home to make lunches for the next week.  But the sailing was so good, we just stayed out.  It was hot and sunny.

Sun Rise at Ile Perrot

We buzzed Redline at the sandbars.  Sailed some more.  The leech line on the genoa was worn out.

We eventually docked and packed the genoa and clothing.  Audrey came by and invited us to enjoy the sunset with some vino tinto.

We had decided to stay at the club for Sunday Roast Beef.  And then drove home.  Very nice weekend.

Each night we did not finish the wine and we left three opened bottles on the boat.

Hugh Kennedy night race

Norm, Chris and I took on the last Wednesday night race - the Hugh Kennedy race.

I helmed.  We started downwind with an east wind.  Great start. We headed to the downwind mark and returned closed haul to a mark near the church and then through the Gut to finish at AS15. Only Limonchello came in behind us but we owed her some time.

Club did not know there was a race so there was no BBQ and we went to Burger Town for some nice burgers.

Too bad I still have to spend my MMA for September.

Very nice race in the dark.  Downwind start has interesting dynamics.

le weekend

Dan picked me up at the office after the Super Mega Continental and we slept in the harbour.  I had done the groceries so we did could leave in the morning.

Harvey and Irma had passed died out, Josee was coming and Marie was formed.  We had a large high that very warm and good weather but not much wind.

The boat was very buggy and had to be cleaned.

We left about 2 and had a nice slow sail up the channel with just the Jib.  At the Gut, winds picked up and we put up the main and sailed to the end of the lake and tried to sail towards St Annes and go around Dowkers, but the wind was too close.  We sailed back and tied up with Norm at the sandbars and has a nice sunset and supper aboard Redline.

After supper, we anchored behind Redline and the next morning the boat was buggy and very little winds.  I got up early and rinsed the boat.

Jeff showed up.  We took the Kayaks for a nice paddle to one of the Danger rocks at the seaway and back to leave one Kayak with Redline.  We eventually pulled the anchor and slowly sailed all the way to the breakwater before starting the engine and Daniele did a perfect docking.

Washed the boat and went to Ikea to look for bedroom furniture again.

Wednesday afternoon on Redline

Chris and I showed up 13h45 just in time for the precise departure for an afternoon sailing on Redline

I biked, Chris drove me back home.

The new sail was not too nice in Norm and my eyes, but Chris did not see anything wrong with it.  We measured it and it was about a 125 instead of a 135.  Originally it was a 145.

Nice sail sharing the like with a CC33 and Tartan 40.  We tacked up the lake as far as we could go and then ran back, anchoring at the sandbars.

Supper was preceded by Somosas and pistachios and beer and a swim in 19 degree waters. Supper was Arkavan souvlaki chicken breast with M&M baked potatoes.  Good selection of beer from Bellum.  We skipped dessert.

Easy sail with Peter and Claude

Finally, we got Peter and Claude back aboard after trying in July when weather was iffy and then Claude got sick

Motored to the gut and put up the sails.  Slow and easy sail, mostly tacked with the auto-pilot to the end of the lake and then a run back.

Peter bought Japanese and Mexican beer and snacks.

We tied up and went to Brasserie Manoir to reminisce old days.  Peter promised to call Ralf.

Windmill Point

After Fred's wedding on Saturday, Daniele and I got to the club at 8:30 to get the boat ready for the Windmill Point race.

Norm and Peter arrived, got a little familiarization and left the harbour at 9:45.

Peter was very knowledgeable with winds on the lake and the marks.  Daniele helmed expertly.  Peter determined the oscillation of the winds and we learnt not to chase the lulls but take advantage of puffs.

Decompression had problems finding SL33 but RC saved the day by finding it and escorting Decompression to the next mark SL44.  Both marks were where they were supposed to be.

We came in fourth out of 7 behind Decompression, Gaucho and Ghost Owl.

UPDATE:  Our adjusted position is 3rd.  Podium?

Chaos

Norm cancelled cos he had a web conference with CPS
Jimmy cancelled - customer coming in late

I went to the club to remove the head sail and get the Subie back.

I went out with Chaos and we went out late and there was no winds.  We came back

Anchorage party

There was going to be no racing this Friday due to the "party" at Hudson Yacht Club so I declared an anchorage party.

Redline, Gaucho, Scott and Bellum participated.  Jimmy and Tilda were supposed to come but Tilda was doing tomatoes so she cancelled.  Jimmy was not interested in coming with us or Gaucho.  Jimmy was in a strange may be angry mood.

Redline had spent Friday night at Grande Anse.

Winds were to be very light on Saturday and raining on Sunday with an East wind.  Not too good. But there was wind at 11'ish when we went out and had a nice sail to the middle of the lake near Baie d'urfie when the winds died.  We mostly napped and drifted around watching Gaucho try flying a spinnaker in zero winds.

There was not enough winds to get to Redline and we decided to raft up with Redline at Allan Point.  Had a cocktail and came back to supper at the dock.  Gaucho had gone back to dock for their supper.

We slept aboard and the next morning it poured.  We went to measure my apartment for new furniture and then went to Daniele's for supper of pasta with garlic, tomatoes, capers and olives.

Nice evening sailing with a lifetime friend

Earlier winds were forecasted to 3 knots but then the forecast was for 10 knots.  So I met Chris at his dentist and we rushed out the club, getting there at 5:45. Jumped aboard and race the Wednesday evening race.

As we were heading out, some white ball bearings fell out into the cockpit !  Probably from the traveler car.  NOT sure.

We had a reasonable start, running down the line until the horn blew.  We tacked immediately to get out of Talisman and Chaos's dirt but in the end they probably had a better layline after they tacked later in the course. On both our windward marks we got knocked and had to use momentum to get around the mark.  On the first round, touched and did our 360.

We came in 5 out 5.  Then we went out for a night sail.  Came back in time for the BBQ but agreed to go to Ye Old Orchard for wings and fish and chips.

Winds were 10 knots

Anchored for the night

We went out to anchor after the Sperry Party. We did not stay for supper.  We baptized the Rocna Vulcan.

We had spaghetti at the anchor, enjoying the sunset.

There were no winds.

In fact, Sunday was supposed to be 1 knot of winds so Mark cancelled the corporate meeting we had planned on Bellum for Sunday.

New Rocna Vulcan

Someone shot this of Bellum at anchor on Sunday morning

We went to Laval to look at furniture for the apartment and then MEC to buy some bike parts.  Then I biked to Chris' to pick up my car and then to the apartment to check out the repairs and make my bed so I could sleep at home for the first time in a month.

Afterwards, I went out for supper with Mark at La Taj for Indian food.

Sperry Challenge

Daniele and I were going to race the Sperry Challenge together.

Jimmy and Tilde asked to join us.

The Sperry Challenge is a charity race to enabling handicap people to  sailing.

Daniele helmed the whole race.  I did the timing and the headsail, Jimmy managed the main.

I put up the 155 main since the forecast called very light winds.

Winds were about 7 knots as we were heading to the start area.

Our start was 4 minutes. We had a slightly messy start as a few boats before us were late.  I think the wind may have shifted. We skimmed by RC.

The boat pointed very well as were closest to the layline to the BC 43 mark. The winds were very shifty but we sped past most of the fleet until we got behind Tara II and Borlean when the winds died.

We were still going upwind and against the current.  We just had to make it past the mark to take an advantage of the current to bring us back.

I made the decision to tack when the mark was within reach.  There were objections but I insisted we take risks.  We were almost 4th or 5th and if we did not take risks, we would fall behind and if we were successful with the risk we could have a podium position. Only Jimmy agreed with me. 

We were making the mark when the wind shifted and we struggled to avoid the mark. We touched and wind our 360.  We did not lose any position doing the 360 but Ghost Owl did pass us.  In fact that was the only boat that passed us in this race. We pasted most other boats.

Our final position was 6 out of 19.  One of Bellum's better races.

We went back to the club had a beer and Jimmy and Tilde left.  We changed the head sail which took a lot of time and then joined the party.  In the end, we did not stay and we went out the bay for spaghetti.

Wind instruments worked better after despidering

Friday fun race on Naomi

Winds were supposed to be light.  I had no crew for the Friday fun race.  Jimmy need crew and I told him okay.  Tilda was with him too.

The race was short.  30 minutes.

Collateral damage

On the way back was a run.  I took some photos with the 70-210.  As I handed the camera to Tilde, the boat jibed and the main sheet tossed the camera across the cockpit smashing the hood and filter. The filter is jammed to the lens.










But we won the race