I am on a boat weekend

Mike created an I am on a boat weekend at Soulange.  In the end, only Zig-Zag and Bellum went.  We left late (3PM) because of an impending storm and we ended up going to Dowkers.  Maud was with me.

We left the club and sailed with just the headsail towards Dowkers.  Some cumulus clouds were north of us and it looked like they were going to pass behind us.  Zig Zag and Gaucho was behind us and I decided Dowkers was too crowded so I went for Dowkers South.  I anchored and Zig Zag tied up on starboard.  Gaucho never showed up.

Nice late evening, enjoying Quebec Rum and Black Label.  We shared our salmon with their ribs.  We had lots of food, ... as usual.'

Got to bed well after midnight.  We got up at 7 and lounged around.  We had veggi-pattie sandwich and mango, avocado, tomato salad and Zig Zag crew shared an egg and croissant breakfast.  We swam, most of the day in 22-degree water that felt like 16.   The winds picked up all day and eventually, we were rocking too much and I decided to break up the raft-up and we sailed back doing several circuits.

Got to the club at 7 and did a Pump Out and docked the boat.

I cancelled the fireworks with Shana due to concerns about the 26-knot gusts and because I was tired with only 4 hours sleep.

Maud rode back on her bike and I tidied up the boat a little and rode the E-Bike back, stopping in at Dorval Centennial Park Canada Day Festivities.

Wind forecast

The anchorage

Nice to have bimini when it rains

The party peoople

Sandwiches and Eggs and Salad

Nager

26-knot gusts for fireworks

Friday Race cancelled

I drove to the boat to tidy and prepare the boat for the Friday Fun race.  It was left a mess from the last long weekend and dry everything from the Thursday night squall.  I bought two full propane tanks filled at Gamma.

As I was about to leave the boat, the sky opened up and rained.  I quickly closed the boat again and went to the clubhouse. 

Jimmy was there with Patrick and Michel.  We had a beer.  The rain stopped but it looked like another system was coming in.  So we cancelled the race.  No rain came.  We were a little gunshy from Thursday nights line squall.

Adam showed up and I gave him a tour of the boat. 

I came home at about 9ish.

Squall on J70

I had a hearing at the Regie and did not think I did so well.

I needed to go to the club to wind down.

I did not have any confirmed crew. Crew bank did not come up with anything.  Liam sent out an email to the adult sailors with no results.  Tony sent out an email looking for crew, so I tried that out and got aboard with Scott and David.

Sailed out, did very well and then the squall came in.

Lots of fun. Had a great time.

I had left the hatches open on Bellum and she got drenched.

Scott gave us a lift back to town with Lara.

Fireworks with Shana, Florian, Demetres and Cindy

Shana, Florian and Demetris joined us at 7PM for a nice sail to PCYC to watch the fireworks just outside Pointe Claire.

A great time was had by all.

Difficult docking at night when the retrieval line was dropped at the last minute.  I had to back up and come back in.  When I backed up, I had to fend Seal Cove.

The next morning looked very rainy and I grabbed a bus, leaving the electric bike at the club.

Photos from Cindy

Easy Sunday / Monday

On Sunday morning, I made eggs and sausages.

I inflated the dinghy.

Then I biked to Lachine to meet Cindy to try some 420 sailing at Lachine Voile Meetup.  It was too windy for her and she was not in any socializing mood.  I biked back to the club as Cindy walked to the club.

It was very windy

We lounged around and at 7, the wind calmed down and was still from North, North West.  Cindy did not want to eat in the dark so we pulled into the bay near Pointe Allan.  We enjoyed the sunset and cooked some sausages since the steak I planned froze.  The 5 LB tank was empty.  We had a bottle of propane that just headed the Hurka and Italian sausages.

A nice evening.

Next day we just sat around, swam a bit.  We lost the propane bottle overboard with the new blue regulator overboard.  Thankfully I had the old regulator

Later we went back to the harbour to BBQ the previously frozen steak using a new bottle of propane with the old regulator.  The regulator worked very well, maybe too hot.

We waited for Shana and friends for the fireworks.



Very restful.

Lord Strathcona edition 2019

Nathalie, Fabrice and Kevin from the crewbank came to boldly race the Lord Strathcona race.

Liam, Dillen on Slow Dancer II was messing with us, blocking us, killing their own position to block us.  Note Slow Dancer was White Sail and we were PHRF.  We did not foul Slow Dancer with our spinnaker problems.

We blew Slow Dancer away heading to Beauharnois as she tried hugging the Ile Perrot shoreline.  I think it added distance and the island blocked the North winds.  The current was about one knot in the seaway toward Bea B

Spinnaker foul-up big time in the windmill point channel.  A hard recovery.  Fabrice had problems participating due to language issues.

Three boats did not keep LAC B to port and were disqualified.

After the race, I visited Gaucho and Slow Dancer.

I stayed at the club overnight, having a nice steak with potatoes.

Friday Fun Race with Jimmy and family

I showed up at the club late on Friday after preparing the Ponderay quote.  I was pretty tired and planned to vegetate at the boat for the long weekend.

Jimmy was there with Patrick, Melanie and Naomie.  They wanted me to come aboard so I did and we had a good race.  Gave a few tips to Patrick.

After the race, the family went off for supper and I dropped in on Gaucho for some snacks and drinks. Audrey, Scott and a friend b.... were there.

Mike came by later and we had a Jony Black aboard Zig-Zag. 

I slept aboard.

Thursday crew training

Weather was rainy in the afternoon. Looked like the worst was going to be at 5. 

Nathalie could not available for Thursday so it was only Fabrice and Kevin and we were all going to go by bike.  I offered to cancel, but they were eager so I offered to drive them to the club and back. 

It was drizzly and windy as we left the dock at 5.  Motored to the gut and did a tack and the crew was not ready to race in this weather with.  It was a mess.  The wind picked up so we reefed the main.  The wind did not die down till 7'ish. 

We sailed around the lake tacking and gybing.  Kevin helped a lot with Fabrice in communications and learning the terms in both languages. 

We close-hauled through the gut and back to the harbour, docked and drove back home.

SPI training for Strathcona

The crew Fabrice, Kevin, Nathalie and Maud showed up between 4:45 and 5:15. 

There was really no winds.  We set up the spinnaker at the dock to show the concepts. 

Then we went out to the gut and haphazardly set the spinnaker and drifted back to the gut.

We motored out, south of the gut.  Whatever winds were shifty, or the current was counteracting what little winds there was.

We crossed way south of the gut.  First time ever.  Water dept went down to 79 feet.

Maud helmed a lot.

Had a beer at the dock.  Then Mikey invited me to try his spice rum, but he had no ginger beer, which I had on Bellum.  Polished off the remaining Jameson.

I slept aboard and biked to work the next morning.

Sail past with Cindy and Jimmy

Boat Decoration

Sail past on Father's day at the club

We decorated the boat.

Cindy and Jimmy joined us for the annual Sail Past.  Nice weather, it was supposed to be windless, but it started out nice for a sail out to Pointe Claire on just the jib.  We turned around and broad reached to salute from the Commodore.   Had to do at least three 360's to keep formation.

Hor'deurves aboard at the dock and finished Jimmy's Glenfiddich.

Cindy and I planned a COD supper at the dock or anchor.  Chris has no reservation for pasta and Audrey went home.  So we took Chris aboard for supper.

The Russians

Vladimir and I have been wanting to take his friend Alexis sailing for a while.  Finally, Friday was the day.  Friday Fun Race was the night.

I met Alexis at the clubhouse, Vlad rode in shortly afterwards.  Ed from the club joined us.  Jimmy and Patrick cancelled. 

It has been windy and rainy in the afternoon.  A shark went out.  We went out.  The race was cancelled due to winds.

We motored to the but and put out a reef and the full jib.  Alexis motored out and did a few tacks.  We tacked out to Baie d'urfe and butterflied back.  As we docked, the Russians were eager to leave.  I put the boat away and brought Vlad's bike back on my bike rack.

First Tuesday race with Norm, Maud and Maryse

Finally, we get a Tuesday race in.  Last four weeks, it was cold and windy.

Winds were very strong during the day.  The earlier forecast from the weekend said it was going to be cold again, but in the end, it was about 18C.  And the winds were forecast to decline as it did.

Engine alarm came on as we left the harbour.  Water strainer was not fully closed.  Fixed and we resumed to the race course.

We decided to race PHRF-2 so that we could practise the spinnaker next week for the Lord Strathcona race the next week.  We did not have a spinnaker with us, but we could have flown it on the last leg as winds were light.

Before the start, we had an incident with Wind Whistler, a Kirby 25.  Maryse had announced it's proximity - twice but I did not hear until she appeared behind the Jib.  I told her she should have raised her voice the second time.  Raised her voice a LOT.

We were maybe a minute behind the start due to a timing issue but we kept out of the fleet.

The crew did well. We kept up to the fleet, but naturally, we lost on the downwind legs without the spinnaker.  We were the last boat to come in, RC patiently waited for us.  Al was on RC.  A very nice evening of sailing.

Docking incident - catch line caught on the stanchion, bending it a little.

Nice evening, Norm and I stayed for supper and Maud and Maryse left after the race.

After the race ...

Friday with Cindy

I was tired and took Thursday to Sunday off.  Went to the club on Thursday for CPS graduation supper. I won a wet-dry bulb temperature.

Friday, Cindy joined me for a nice day of sailing from 1:30 to 4:30 with just the headsail.

Later Jimmy and I took Naomie out for a windy Friday Fun Race.

Saturday and Sunday I
stayed around the club wiring the PI and lights in the V-berth, cabinets in head and galley and cockpit lockers.

Saturday night, Jimmy, Audrey, Pierre F, Mike, Jason, Scott and many others went to Ricks street party.

Tuesday race cancelled for Bellum

Too cold - too windy, lost two crews Norm and Maud. 

Winds 15 gust 30. temperature 11 C

Adam is not familiar with boat.

Chris is available. 

So I cancelled.

First Friday Fun Race - Norm, Chris, Shelley

First Friday Fun race. 

Chris helmed.  We turned too early and had to slow down before the line so as not to be early.  And we were on the pin side of the line.

Decent winds.

Raced behind Ghost Owl and Chaos, but ahead of everyone else.

This race determines our handicap for the season. 

It was too cold for beer, so we polished off my Jameson.  Jason and Alex helped us at the dock -with Mr. Jameson that is.

Shelley went home and Chris, Norm and I had supper at the club and I stayed aboard for the night.

Next day Chris showed up and we put up the mast on Gaucho and I put up the sails on Naomie.