Maude was not feeling well and canceled. Emma was eager and available.
We departed the dock at 17:15 and ran to the race area in an east wind with the whisker pole.
Nice sail.
Great start but we messed the pole on the downwind leg that thought us down to the gybe mark which was way out of our course and we lost any position because we ended up doing a triangle instead of our sausage. Sylvie was really frustrated. This was her first time setting the pole. First time I saw her frustrated and the first time she was not smiling.
The winds changed on the second circuit being a broad reach so no pole.
Saturday I had my adjustments with Azar at 9:30. It was raining so I drove there. Did some groceries on the way back home.
Drove to the club and picked up a Magma Kettle BBQ on the way.
I switched out the winter duvet for the new summer comforter that I had sewn over the winter. Quite nice.
Commissioning day was a nice sunny day, speeches, national anthem, canon and lobster for $100. I motored out to the Gut and sailed to the sandbars and did a zero-emission anchoring, had sausages and asparagus. Went to bed early and the anchor alarm came on at 4:15 AM. We had dragged about 180 feet in 10-knot winds. I started the engine and reseated the anchor and went back to bed. It wasn't so cold.
Got up very late and handled some phone calls from Gerry and Patrick. I pulled the anchor without the engine but I drifted too close to shallow waters so I motored out of these.
Nice morning sail to Dowkers, which was very crowded, to the outside of Grand Anse and saw a swimmer diving. The water temperature is up to 18C. I tied to sail through the zig-zag channel, but it was too close to the wind, so I ran back to the gut and the club.
Helped Norm put up bimini, Ed and Kelly with Loos gauge, and Mark with his bimini and rigging.
Lingered around the club on Sunday, never went out - at six thirty it got a little cool. Had a night cap with Mike and a bagel for supper.
Lingered around Monday, problems with the club inside doors were all locked.
There were lots of rain and storms all day so not many racers showed up, But at about 5 it became sunny so Obsessive Scientist, Bellum and Don't Panic came out.
I had Sammy and Emma as crew.
RC needed water pumps so I lent him my spare pumps.
RC had no radio and was late setting up the course.
Winds were light and died and we were drifting backwards.
Race was cancelled and we motored back to the club for supper.
I was able to get Peter to come out with Sylvie and there were no winds. Richard was telling us that we were division 3 and we had been racing division 1. Division 1 allowed white sail and the course was sausages.
There was no wind. The wind did pick up a bit but died so we came back.
After visiting Quetzal, I slept aboard at anchor in Allen Hill bay. Good sleep. Woke up late 8 ish and it was cold and damp with the forecasted south winds. I decided to return to the club -did an excellent docking in South winds. Nobody was there to witness it.
Then as forecasted it got sunny so I washed the deck and searched for crew. Sylvie as always was very eager to go.
I was not going to race to work on my TAL project, but the ladies were very eager to go, so we planned to go. I guess the sailing would a good distraction from TAL
Winds during the day were reported to be 30 knots but would go down to 17 knots, gusting 22.
We set off with David's J. With one reef, we sailed to the gut and had a shaky start, missing the new one-minute starting requirements or be scored DNS.
The crew was quite rusty. I had sailed a few times already. Maud was not comfortable with the helm and wanted me to do the start. Tacks and main sheet handling were very rough. It was a little hard to trim. Winds were highly shifty... sometimes 40 degrees.
We raced for about 35 minutes and sailed back to the harbour by 8PM. No services at the club so I biked back home.
I hung around the club Thursday and went out for an anchorage just outside the club in very light winds. Brian was impressed with my navigation, but the water was high. I was close enough to have access to club wifi.
The next morning, I had a very nice sail in 15 knots of winds, sailing towards Grand Anse and back in time to help Redline launch.
Friday night I slept aboard.
On Saturday did the Bill 96 demonstration. Came back to the club to bring Air Conditioners back and Diana and Gordon from the airport.
Chris was at the club installing new Ronstan blocks on main sheets.
After launching Flow Control and final cleaning on the boat inside and the deck and loading up the galley, at 5PM I decided to head out. It was 23 degrees and sailed out in a southeast wind. The wind died a mile after the gut and I slowly sailed to the sandbars and dropped the anchor.
Supper was Duck Confit and white rice. Listed to a Bill 96 webcast, got bored with the legal eagle stuff and went to sleep at 9, getting up about 8 in rather cool conditions.
I had drained 70 Amps from the AGM but she still started the engine.
About 10:30, winds were nice from the east and I sailed around the lake back to the club tacking around the lighthouse.
I hung around until 5 and decided to cycle back when I met Marie and she reminded me of the Coaching meeting that I had forgotten about. I stayed for the meeting and Rod gave me a lift home so I could leave the car and bike at the club.
On Thursday night, we had the competitor's meeting at the club and had supper with Norm and Chris. I decided to sleep aboard with the new Novafoam mattress topper. Very nice. The temperature was about 3 C but the electric heater, it was comfortable.
Friday morning, I made a decision to stay at my dock rather than move to 75,
I helped Sylvie launch Obsessive Scientist. Changed house battery to AGM and rewired some electrical with a fuse block for the always on house battery and installed a new DC-DC charger for the Telecom batteries. Helped Ed and Kelly launch and then finished final wiring and cleaning.
At 5, there was a light south wind so I decided to do a quick sail. Sailed single handed to Pointe Claire church and a close haul back. Met Chaos on the lake. Jim was also single handing Chaos.
It was going to be 3 and very windy overnight, so I did not anchor.
I had problems with the fuller not wanting to furl. The rachet block was threaded backwards.
