Saturday, August 29, 2015

Guests aboard

With a cool spring, vacations, and various family responsibilities, we haven't had many guests aboard this season.  With only a few weeks left to the season, it was time to remedy that.

Saul and Simona, friends of Ed's from work, came for a sail on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  There was a pretty brisk breeze, but our first-time sailors did well.  Maybe we've even convinced them to take up sailing.

A few days later, Marysia, Lucie and Alienor came out for a sail after work.  Alienor was here visiting from France for a few weeks.  She was staying with Jack & Chrissy, and although they couldn't come sailing with Alienor, they came out a few days later with Jacob and Lilah.  


The kids were pretty excited, but with no wind, it turned into a motor around the island.  "Captain Ed" helped the mini-captains stay focused for their turns at the wheel.  It's hard to concentrate when you have to choose between steering and having snacks :-)

Saturday, August 08, 2015

No flag this year

The weather for the Women Skippers Race had been forecast to be sunny and warm.  Instead, we got a little sprinkle of rain in the morning, and a brisk wind.  With no guests aboard this year, it was just me and Ed.  I didn't get a very good start.  I don't like to be in the fray at the start line, but I ended up so far back, that I was having to dodge the smaller boats from the second start.  Then, just before we got to the channel, a small boat was just in front of me, and I had to tack to get out of their way.  We got close to the pack at the turn around mark, but finished well back of the fleet.  With our boat's rating, I think I'll have to wait for another year when there aren't so many racers, to have a chance at another flag.

Friday, August 07, 2015

Sistership

On Friday, I was sitting in the cockpit having my dinner, when I noticed a C&C Landfall 38 in the lagoon.  I noticed it because there was no water coming out of their exhaust, just smoke. (See Sunrise, Sunset entry from a couple of weeks ago.)  They looked like they were looking for a spot to dock, and I assumed it was because of the exhaust problem.  Our boat neighbours were just leaving for the weekend, so the visiting boat docked next to us.  Steve and his son Cam, from Ashbridges Bay Yacht Club, had just stopped by QCYC for dinner at our restaurant.  They didn't seem too worried about the exhaust.  By the time they were back from dinner, Ed had arrived, and gave them a tour of our boat, and went aboard theirs.  As seems to happen a lot in the boating community, we had mutual friends.  Steve is an instructor at Humber, and knows Andrew.  We'll have to visit ABYC some time.

Monday, August 03, 2015

Home

We left Frenchman's Bay after a great long weekend.  The wind was forecast to be on the nose, and quite brisk, so we left by 9:00 and motored home.  It was surprisingly cold on the water, but warm once we made it back to our dock.  Several QCYC boats sailed back, and by the time they arrived, we were enjoying dinner on the balcony.

Sunday, August 02, 2015

Frenchman's Bay



We finished our cruising vacation this year at Frenchman's Bay in Pickering.  What a gem!  We've never been here, because the water levels have sometimes been an issue in the Bay.  This year, though, QCYC arranged a cruise to Frenchman's Bay Yacht Club.  The city of Pickering completed a new entrance channel to the bay this spring, and FBYC has dredged the approach channel to their club.
With only 8 miles to go from Whitby to Frenchman's Bay, we arrived very early in the afternoon, and were able to help other arriving QCYC boats dock in the windy bay.  Halszka, the cruise organizer, had planned a pot luck happy hour once everyone had arrived.  Later, a group of us went across the bay to the Waterfront Restaurant for dinner.  One group opted to take their dinghy, but the rest of us arrived by taxi.
Sunday was a breezy day, and the kite boarders were out on the lake.  We walked out to the beach. Except for the windmill and power plant, we could have been on Georgian Bay.  

Later a line of storms blew through.  The sky got dark, and the rain poured for a little while - just as Ed was barbequing dinner.  The weather wasn't quite as bad as in Toronto. but still pretty dramatic.