Darla, Shedon and Jade

Darla called me, telling me the weather was nice.  She wanted to take her son and GF sailing.

I had to deliver cheques to Leslie, so on a hot day I picked up my bike from Rachel, and rode to Rona to return plumbing hardware, I was going to take the EXO, but I decided to bike the 25 KM to Leslie in 40 degree with humidex.  

Came back to the club at 5 and there was no wind, so we motored to the sandbars and swam and had a 7-layer dip and Ranch dip with chips and double lime Buds.

After some swimming and the wind picked up at sunset, we hauled anchor and had a nice sail back.

The race was cancelled due to lack of wind.

Sailing with Andreanne - cancelled

We were supposed to take Andreanne and her parents out. We cancelled Monday due to lack of wind.  We tried again on the weekend, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Sunday SH to Dowkers and anchor at Sandbars

sunset

sunrise

Sunday I set sail after Kobus and Marcelle sailing at 4 and had a nice sail one one tack to Dowkers and then anchored at the Sandbars.  Kelley and Mike were sailing too.

The winds forecast for the night and Monday was dead. Monday morning was windlass so I cancelled with Andreanne and came back to the club, delivered the delayed tax papers to Leslie, did Boathouse, Access got a new fuse holder for the DC-DC converter that overheated.

Biked to Rachel for supper and pick up Honda.

Sail with Kobus and Marcelle

Kobus and Marcelle came out for a 3-hour sail from 11 to 2 ish.

Just the 150-head sail.

Windmill Point with Scarlett

 The race started an hour late, so we could have some wind. The start was 11:30.  

Cheheb was not feeling well.  I was hoping to do the SPI.  So it was just Scarlett and I.

5 hours of racing on a 17-mile course

Missed the sandbars with Mike, Laura and Jason.

FFR with Scarlett, Rachel, Catherine avec BBQ

We started by changing the head sail from No 1 to No 3 and raced the FFR.  Winds were supposed to be dropping and the winds were supposed to be dead for tomorrow's Windmill Point race.  The SPI was bought aboard for the Windmill Point race.

At first, the winds seemed strong for the No 1 was too big, but it calmed down and the sail performed well.  We had to use the double-handle winch handle.

After the race, we sailed around ending up anchoring at Allen Point.  Bavette and grilled veggies.

Came back to the harbour about 11:20 and Rachel took my Honda home.

Wild and windy - Scarlett, Marie-France and Julie

Winds were up to 26 knots

We were able to find a lull in the harbour to change to sail #3 while at the dock

We motored through the gut and a little further and raised a reefed main and deployed the No 3

We mistimed the start by one minute and finished poorly.  Marie-France and Julie had only sailed once since COVID and they have only been on Bellum once before.  The winches were challenging compared to what was on Therapy

I used the new Insta360 to video my patent-pending docking system.

Chris met me at the dock.  He was having supper at the club.

Supper at the club

While running the Yanmar, I did an engine inspection and discovered the hose from water pump to the engine thermostat was loose and leaking  the next day I retighten the clamp and checked all the other hoses  

S3 R4 with Catherine and Scarlett

With Scarlett on vacation, we met at 4PM and set sail from the club channel.  Cathine helmed the boat to the race area and Scarlett took over.  

Nice easy winds.  Great Sunset.  Burgers at the club.

Would have been perfect for SPI

Single handed to Grande Anse - Full Moon

At about 6, I left the club single-handed tacking in a west wind around the shallows between the lighthouse and the gut and a single tack to Grand Anse.

Zero carbon anchored in the middle of the bay.  Tired, had a drink, and cooked the leftover pork chop.  Nice sunset, a fabulous full moon.  Lots of chat on messenger with Kelly Jason Mike about the day.

The next morning  I chatted with Leslie on SMS and phone calls about the WPW file and IG fund.  

At 11, I did a zero-carbon departure in a broad beam reach back to the club.  

Went home to pick up the new water detectors, Insta 360 and new HP computer

Came home to find a solvent smell that has been there since Friday.

was windy

Nautical Meet UP

I packed up the dinghy and towed her to Valois Bay for a meet-up.

Dingy worked okay.  Torqeedo was fine.

After anchoring, I tested its holding, the dinghy painter got caught in the propeller shaft.  I was able to unwrap it and safe the rope.  The shaft does not seem as "light" to turn by hand as previously.

Meet Up was not so interesting.  

I returned to the club to leave the dinghy behind.  The dinghy got swapped - floor board broke.  Some more tabs became undone.

I hung around the club, chatting with Sylvie and Denise and picked up the Dingy Tow from Nick and Heather.  They refused to accept the 80 for their help.

First Overnight Race - SINGLE HANDED

I missed the Maud race so I decided to do the Overnight race - Single Handed.  I intended to resign since I was not physically prepared to do this race.

Race was basically from AD14 to AD30 back and forth from 8:30 to 6AM.  

We saw the sunset, rain, clouds, and a bit of an almost full moon for about 15 minutes before ducking behind clouds.  We had several rain cells ... drizzle to light.  Wind shifts of 180 degrees.  

At 1AM, I abandoned, since I was quite distance behind Slow Dancer II.  I anchored in Valois Bay near the GUT.  I left the VHF on 77, but did not hear any traffic.

Sunday morning I hauled anchor and motored to the club sheer legs and checked the main sail sheaves which were fine.

Chaos won by a long shot

Maud Cup - NOT

 In the morning it was honking 16-19 steady.  I had cancelled Yoga.  

Bought the No. 3 for the boat but the winds were from the stern so I did not change the sail and decided to cancel my participation. 

I went to help Chaos change head sail but he decided to cancel too.  Seems his smallest sail is a 145.

Apparently, 5 boats raced. Lasted just over an hour.

It was honking.

Fixed the broken screw on the windlass, fixed the cleat clew on the sail foot and Paul from Coast Guard Aux did a boat inspection and I passed with flying colours.

Inspection sticker 2024

FFR fun race with Cheheb and Scarlett - BBQ sunset, moon rise, night sailing

 Rachel was not feeling well, Ming had other plans so it was just Scarlett, Cheheb and me.

It was windy from the west and we decided to sail - tacking all the way.  Cheheb was helming and brought us too far south between shallows and we had to back out.  Then we were going to be late for the start so we motor sailed to the start line.  One minute late, but we raced well coming in about fifth out of 25 boats.

Would have been good if we used the early arrival to change head sails.

We anchored at the eastern end of the sandbars and BBQ some pork chops.  then did some night sailing returning to the club at midnight - to find the door locked and keys not working, but the sliding doors worked.

The windlass rope guard snapped a hex screw.  

Thursday crazy race with Scarlett and Catherine. S4 R3

Crazy winds on Thursday.  Scarlett and Catherine boldly went out with a reef on the main and job.

Scarlett helmed from departure from the dock to return to the dock.

We had an excellent start.  Slow Dancer and Ad-Lib had a fight with Ad-lib apparently barging.

On the second circuit, we shook out the reef.

3 days bliss at Soulanges

I did my Yoga at 9 ish.  Tidy up the boat and at 1PM, I left the harbour, turned off the motor and tacked to the gut, then towards Grand Anse and with a west wind I decided to do the windmill point channel and head west.  Though of dropping in on Beauanhois club but there was still wind and I ended up tacking to Point des Cascade at 6PM.  That is 5 hours sailing and 10 minutes motoring. Wind instruments stopped working on the sail.  I tried to clean the depth sounder transducer.

It was crowded and I picked a nice hole to drop the anchor and stayed two nights and three days ... studied the Chesapeake Bay area.  It was hot, over 30 C.  Winds were still good.  Sunday I decided to stay.  No dinghy, I was stuck aboard.  

Monday morning I weighed anchor at 10:30 with another boat who motored towards Beauhanois Club.  I sailed back in a dead run through the seaway taking a shortcut before the zig-aag channel on a beam reach arriving at the club at 12:40.  I docked at the sheer legs and reseated the masthead anemometer and that solved the wind instrument issues.  However, I had forgotten to check the main sail sheave which had been giving me problems.

Had a beer with Norm and MLM and drove home.

FFR 8 Chiheb, Scarlett, Natlaie and Claire and Allan

Nice evening but not much wind.  Not much wind, but the last three Friday races were cancelled so everyone was eager to go out. Nine boats sailed.

Winds were light at the start. We did not reach the start line for 25 minutes.  Only Chaos and maybe another boat had a decent start.

Once we past the start, the winds picked up and we had good speed.  

Once finished, we dropped anchor and had snacks and a BBQ.  Got back to the club later than expected 10:40.  

S2 R2 - Scarlett and I

I biked to the club on Monday afternoon with lots of groceries.  

The house batteries were not fully charged from last week's hiatus 

I departed the dock at 4 and sailed from the club channel to Grand Anse when the winds died and I motored the last mile in and anchored

Supper was a lousy steak that could have been better but I had the smoked pork chops from Price Chopper's.

Nice sunset.  The next morning I organized my work stuff and at 2PM, I pulled anchor and rain to PCYC where I met up with the PCYC racers. Chewed the fat.  Mark was a standby crew if Louise could not make it.  She did show up.  

I made a friendly standard bet with Chiheb if they would beat us.

Scarlett showed up at 5:45 and we raced a very active race. It was a tight start.  Scarlett helmed.  She did very well.  

The start was fast, we had an excellent start, playing with an Eschell at the start and Tocade on the first windward mark.

Winds picked up at 7 and died slowly during the race.

Tocade

Wind instruments acted up a little but the windex was well aligned with Maud and Norm's help at the Strathcona. Winds were high at the beginning of the race.  We raced well passing Genesis just before the first windward mark.  Never looked back. We won the bet by 5 seconds.

It was a good race.  Great Crew.

11 out of 20