Nice race day.
Scarlett helmed and docked.
Port start at the pin - which was good.
Winds were oscillating.
We seemed to have finished second to last, competing closely with Geninis. We veered off to give her space since she seemed to be new to racing. We would have done better if we did not give her the space.
Great supper together.
Scarlett drove me home so I could leave my car as a locker for Sunday's flea market
After the commissioning day events, Jason, Mike and Kelly were supposed to party but they still needed to show up so set out to anchor for the night.
I motored to Valois Bay and anchored east of the lighthouse. I was not hungry enough I had the extra Barvette instead of the pork chop. I had downloaded some Netflix but ended up going to bed early.
The next morning was nice, but the planes seemed very low.
I did a zero carbon departure to the gut, going around the south cardinal and sailed to Baie-D'Urfé and then back to the club.
It was supposed to rain hard on Monday, so I gave Bellum a good wash and filled her water tanks.
I was heading home and Jason offered me a beer - who could resist.
I biked home, stopping at Arkavan for some stuff and came home and decided not to go see the cine club to see "Do the Right Think".
Make my pork chop and update my log.
Monday's sailing with Rachel was cancelled - weather not permitting.
I slept at the dock after the FFR.
I got up and tidy up the boat, went for a pump out and cleaned the mast head senders.
Ola and Misha came. Violetta, and Roger joined us at 11.
We had a nice sail with both sails, as we never covered the main the night before. Siled to Baie-D'Urfé and back. Got back by 3PM
Commissioning Day was at 5.
Jason, Mike and Kelly were supposed to party but nobody showed up. I set sail to Valois Bay.
First FFR.
I finished my Drone course and met Rachel at Guy Metro.
Rachel's first real race. Other races were very slow and seemed like something other than a race.
Chiheb's first race ever. He helmed
Daniil and Nathan were pickups at the lawn. Nathon was from Polytech.
We had an okay start - not bad. We were at the port end with Esmerelda
Had problems finding the windward mark. We veered way off course and lost time. Chiheb was not focused on steering for speed.
We finished second to last.
Had a BBQ of Bevette and salads and Nutella shells.
Had a fabulous moon rise at 10:15. One of the best I have ever seen.
We got back to the club and the doors were locked and my card did not work.
Last night, I thought of going to the boat. Good thing I did not. It looked good, but there was a TCC out west from NDG. The forecast was fine. NOT.
Today, Maud cancelled, so I took advantage to do the 25-year OSS
The race was cancelled due to too much wind or motor problems. Depends on who you ask.
On Monday evening, I biked to the club, audited the VHF course, slept aboard and worked on stuff and took photos of the club improvements. A storm warning came up but it was mostly light rain.
I invited Sven and PAT to race. Sven did not respond to my text, PAT cancels. This was expected as the invitation was last minute and subject to confirmation. So it was just Scarlett and me.
Winds picked up once we were past the Gut. The boat sailed well.
Scarlett helmed. The layline was crowded, lots of collision avoidance with Chaos, Adlib, sharks before tacking to the layline for the start. We were one minute late. Once we crossed on starboard, the fleet tacked and we avoided Adlib and had to hail Starboard to Tocade. She hesitated but avoided us. I was letting him know don't f*** with wong.
The winds dies after the start. The second start was postponed. They never started. The race was cancelled due to lack of wind and pending staorm coming in. Chaos and other boats further west apparently did not hear the many cancellation calls. We thought they were just racing for fun.
We had a nice sail to the Gut, when I decided to start the motor seeing the dark threatening clouds. We got into the harbour in light drizzle of heavy droplets.
Scarlett drove me home.
I did my last FFR presentation on Friday night, moving the duties to Emma and Gerard.
On Saturday morning, I lounged a little and tidied up the boat and locker.
Chiheb, Marie, Natalia, and Bulent came at about 1:30 and we set sail in 14 knots of fairly steady winds. We sailed to 5:30, anchored, BBQ some hamburgers, lounged and sailed back arriving at the dock at about 20:50.
The shad flys were out.
Bellum's first race of the season.
I biked to the club arriving at 4:40. No winds.
Scarlett and Norm came out. Guylaine cancelled at the last minute (again).
It still looked windless. We motored out to the race area, Norm helmed. We drifted around and the race was postponed for about 30 minutes. Just as RC was about to cancel, the wind picked up and RC set a short course with one windward mark and one start.
I had already opened a beer, expecting not to race.
We decided to do a port start which worked except that we were about 40 seconds late at the pin. Chaos went through early - about 40 seconds and never returned. Complaining on the VHF but she never returned.
We decided to sail back to the club to a cold supper. The staff was concerned. The bar was closed but we were able to improvise.
Should have gone with Norm's suggestion for BBQ aboard.
Norm had to send MLM to pick up C. I thought we could finish everything before 9 easily.
I ran the race on the starter battery and the battery did not last the evening. Had to switch to the House battery to get the Yanmar started.
On Friday, I decided to go home after the meet the flag night and I missed the aurora borealis on the lake.
On Saturday, I rode down to the club in the late afternoon hoping to catch some. Jessica just cancelled as I was riding to the club.
It was a little chilly. I opened the "turtle behind the companionway to clean it and test the Autohelm wind instruments I borrowed from Boathouse. They worked fine. I reassembled the turtle, washed down the debris from the turtle and about 7 motored down the channel to anchor at Valois Bay.
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| Aurora Borealis |
The depth sounder was still acting up. It works if I knock the transducer. But it was not very reliable.
Made myself a Barvette steak and went to bed early. Slept in. the next morning. It was drizzling with 7 knots from the east. After lingering around, I hauled anchor without the engine. The windlass made loud clunks as the bronze plunger hit the stripper and cam key.
I sailed in a run to before the gut and decided to tack and return. Tacked through the channel back to the club and motored back into the harbour.
I sent a message to Chiheb that I was going home. He was at PCYC rigging a boat. They were going to go sailing but had problems with the Genoa Halyard.
At the dock, I tightened the Allen key screws on the stripper and cam key. That resolved it. Will need to loctite it later. I also disassembled the washdown switch which had failed over the winter. (Addison)
I biked to the club on Thursday for the Tactics and rules seminar by Peter Hall and Joe Jospe. I stayed on board afterwards. It was cold.
The next day I worked on tidying up the boat. I tighened the stuffing box. At 4PM, the sun came out and there was a light east wind so I took off on a run to Grand Anse, anchored.
Still got this hacking caugh.
Saturday moring, I pulled anchor with the motor on at 8:15. Winds were from the East. I sailed close haul to the sandbars.
Saw a stuffed bear floating on the water. About 4 foot long.
I texted John at PCYC to see if he needed help. He was not too sure of the timing but it was going to be soon so I docked at PCYC and helped John with his mast and Bruce docking. It was crane day at PCYC.
Came back to the Royal under motor, washed the boat as it was supposed to rain Sunday. Lingered around and then bike to the Queen Elizabeth to try to fix my caugh, but made appointment for Monday.
Motor run fine. Some soot especiall on starting.
Brian and I departed the Royal ona great adventure Follow BELLUM at https://bellumicwbah.blogspot.com/
