Redline return

Saturday was a sewing day for the new Bimini and other stuff.

On Saturday evening MLM was to drive me to Galop to help Norm bring Redline back to Montreal so that he could handle the flood from Hurricane Debbie.  The club had a tree that fell on the power lines to Forbe.

Just before leaving, I realized that Shipwright would not have power when they were starting work, so I rapidly moved Bellum to the service dock before leaving for Gallop.

The trip was uneventful.  It was cold.  We anchored at Coteau Landing, a first for Norm.  We raced back through Beaharnois locks Monday morning to get back for 3PM.

Shipwright had started removing the wet core

I stayed at the club to do a maintenance class with Ricard.

For some reason, the dry locker had filled with an inch of rotten water.  I cleaned the locker.

Wet sail with Catherine

Catherine messaged me asking to race on Thursday evening.  I wasn't planning to race without a crew, especially with some rain.  I was expecting 50 mm of rain tomorrow.  Since I was at the club and Eric had asked to sail, I agreed.  We agreed to meet at 4PM.

Daniel asked if we needed a crew, but he couldn't make it at 4PM.

Catherine had met with Helene last night and took Matchmaker out with Gerrard.  I was supposed to help, but Gerrard was available, so I was relieved.  She loved the boat and agreed to buy it next year, as she would be travelling for most of the next seven weeks and the estate was not settled.

The winds were picking up during the afternoon, but were supposed to calm down, so I took the chance to leave the 150 headsail on.  

We hoisted the main as we left the club and sailed out to the main lake, unfurling the headsail in its furled state.  Catherine struggled to maintain a steady course and prevent the boat from drifting off course when we were trying to reach our destination. She eventually got it, but she could not helm the race.

Winds picked up to about 20 knots at the start and increased to 25 knots as we began.  I abandoned the race, but I had to cross the start line to navigate around the RC and head back.  We gybed and furled the head sail 70 % and sailed back in a fair amount of rain.  We got back to the club without incident.

The forecast was supposed to be calm with a small percentage of rain in the late evening.

I tidied up the boat and drove home in the rain. 

The race was cancelled about 30 minutes into the race.

Eric, granny and family

At 8:30, Eric sent me a message about sailing after two weeks of influenza.  

Catherine had also texted me asking to race

I was going to work on the bimini but decided to take them out since I was going to be gone the next week and granny would be back to England by then.

He arrived at 10 and I gave the dinghy tow and transducer to Shipwright and we sailed with an east wind to the gut and tacked around in great winds.  We returned through the gut, dropped the anchor swam and returned to the club where I installed the primary anchors for the bimini and rechecked the bimini fittings.  Put the bimini back in the locker as it was supposed to rain 50mm tomorrow.

Two days with Brian and one day with Jessica

Brian came up from Vermont to get to know each other.  

Brian was an enthusiastic candidate for helping me take BELLUM to the Bahamas.  He had limited sailing experience and was an active hobbyist boat builder building a foldable dinghy and a 29-foot catamaran at home.

I was late because I had some last-minute insurance questionnaire to fill in the morning, and the construction people were pumping out an outhouse outside our garage entrance. I rushed to do some groceries at Arkavan and called the club to let Brian in.

I got to the club and had lunch with Brian and at about 2:30, I was eager to set sail.  We sailed to the Gut, and had great conversations, Brian is quite chattative. He learnt and handled the boat well, more than adequate for the canals.  He basically wants to get the boat to Chasepeake/Deleware.

We decided to do the Tuesday race. We did reasonably.

Did a zero-emission anchoring at Dowkers, had a BBQ in the dark.  Chatted to 1:30.

Got up the next morning, chatted, coffee and cereal.  

Since the winds were light I asked Jessica to meet at PCYC so we did not have to go back to the Royal, 

Jessica lost her husband last year and needed help with getting her C&C 25.  I had helped her winterize it last year. We tried to get together several times in the previous 14 months and finally got together.

We sailed in a slow run to PCYC and arrived at 12:30 and Jessica also arrived early and met us on the patio. 

We set sail and went through a similar day as with Brian the previous day but in light winds.

We got back to the club at about 4,  We tested and fitted the bimini with three persons and put the slit for the backstay.

Brian and I drove Jessica to pick up her car at PCYC and we returned to the Royal.  Chatted until the Mercier traffic cleared out and he departed.

I spent the night at the dock. Zig Zag went out for a sunset sail and returned.  Sylvie was at the club with the kids.  Had a shower at the club and some whisky with Mikey and went to bed.

Natalia

I did Yoga and tested the Dinghy Tow on the boat.  

The single-handed race was postponed until after the AQVA.

Natalia came sailing with pork chops and we sailed in pretty good winds to Dowkers.  I chose Dowkers for the protection.  

There were no winds Sunday, so we motored back

Tested the Bimini fitting with Natalia.  

Drove to Kingston to bring MLM and CP back the next day.  I took the bus from St. Anne back home.

FFR - NOT

The FFR was cancelled.  

Most crew had cancelled and I was a bit raced out.

Luc was out before the race.  I went out single-handed intending to stay overnight.  I made the radio call for the race cancellation and Luc called me on cell to ask me why.  There was reasonably good winds.

I sailed to BYC and sailed back and decided to return to the club to listen to Peter K and Richard F play.

Went to bed 

Etchell !

 I had an eye doctor appointment at 4:15.  I biked to the club to drop my luggage and to Dubuc just in time for my appointment.  We were in a heat wave.

After the appointment, I met up with Joseph and Traven(sp) and we briefed, rigged and raced.  Start was almost a minute late.  We were not to gybe the SPI, but we did many times.

Boat had some rigging issues due to the new mast.

It could be a fun boat.