All snugged down for the winter

The last few weeks have been busy with the less glamourous parts of boat ownership - pulling masts, getting the yard ready for boat storage, hauling boats, winterizing engines and putting up winter covers.  We have a few small jobs left, but basically, the boat is ready for the long winter slumber.  Only 6 months until launch!

Pig Roast 2016

Cathi and Rich came out for a sail today.  We've talked about getting together for a long time, and finally managed to do it.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, with a nice wind.  We opted to sail with the headsail only, partly so that we could get a better view of planes in the Air Show.  We caught the end of the show with the Snow Birds.  The best part is when they fly right over us!

We made it back in time for Pig Roast.  With a shortage of picnic tables, we carried one over from near our boat, and invited Andrew, Gwen and their friend Rose to join us.  

Cruising to BPYC

QCYC's second cruise of the season was to Bluffer's Park Yacht Club.  We've been to the Bluffs before, but never to this club.
We left on Saturday morning expecting to motor the short distance to Scarborough, but found enough wind to sail (slowly) for a couple of hours.  At some point, though, the engine came back on so we could get through the last couple of miles.

We were met by a couple of members who helped us tie up, then found us a slip rather than leaving us on the visitor's wall.  One fellow, on Hayat, had been at QCYC docked near us a couple of weeks ago.  We recognized him by his distinctive Dutch accent - just like listening to Ed's dad.  He showed us around the lovely club, and stayed around to help others coming in throughout the afternoon.

The crowd got together in the air conditioned clubhouse for appetizers, and then took the party outside as the weather cooled off.  It was JC's birthday, so cake was the order of the day.  With so many great apps, we didn't even bother with dinner, but enjoyed visiting with friends.

Ed and I were off for another commitment on Sunday afternoon, so headed back home just as the others were gathering for breakfast.  We did motor on the way home, but I think those who left later probably had a good sail back. 

Famous visitors in Toronto

We've had some high profile visitors in Toronto recently.  
The Picton Castle, subject of the Tall Ship Chronicles, has been docked near Cherry Street for the last couple of weeks.

Today when we were getting ready to go for a sail with Mary and Vincent, we noticed that the Picton Castle's tender was docked right beside us! Unfortunately, we weren't there to meet the crew.

The King of Norway is also in town aboard his yacht KS Norge.  Apparently he is here to race his 8 meter sailboat, which was delivered aboard the big boat.  

Battle of the banks

On Wednesday, Ed invited some friends from work for a sail.  Doug and John had come out for a sail last season, but it was Mary Beth's first outing.  We had a good south wind, and were able to make good speed with only the headsail.

We had invited Mary and her husband Vincent for Saturday, but the weather had been quite stormy, so we changed plans to Sunday.  Mary retired from Scotiabank last year and has been busy cruising and travelling, so we were glad they were able to find some time to come sailing this summer.

2016 Women Skippers Race

Ed, Genia, Louise, Moira

We picked up a couple of last minute crew for this year's WSR.  Moira and Louise were great crew, and very patient with me.  The weather was beautiful, and the wind started a little more brisk than I would like, but ended very fluky when heading back north through the eastern gap.  I almost gave up and started to engine, but waited out the calm spot and finished the race.

Coming back into the lagoon, a bunch of water taxis were lined up to drop off passengers near the ferry dock.  One taxi didn't look before heading toward the wall, and cut me off.  I went into reverse, Ed hollered at the taxi, and a collision was avoided.  Very unnerving, though.

QCYC cruises to Youngstown

We were again able to finish our vacation by joining a QCYC weekend cruise.  This year, Paul organized a cruise to the US, and had even arranged both US and Canadian customs officers give a seminar at the club earlier in the season.

Ed and I had a short trip from Wilson, most of it under power, as we had little wind.  By the time we got to the Niagara river, though, the wind had picked up.  We knew that the forecast was for high winds and were glad to be at Youngstown early.  It also gave us a chance to pick up some supplies for the arriving cruisers.

Paul, Kim, Will, Bev, Ken, Deanna,
Stephanie, Chris, Steve, Dawn, Ed, Genia

The QCYC group started showing up in the early afternoon, and we were there along with harbourmaster Walter to help them dock.  It had been a very difficult crossing, with high winds, big waves, sea sickness and ripped sails, and two boats had turned back part way into the trip.  Then to add insult to injury, a couple of boats were turned back by border security.  Apparently Youngstown is not a port of entry for those travelling without a Canadian passport.  The rules are very confusing.  Once everyone was settled, we got together for appetizers, cards and bocce, then dinner on the bbq.   

Sunday morning was rainy, but the afternoon was beautiful.  Ed and I took the free 'Discover Niagara' shuttle into Niagara Falls and spent some time at the casino, and went to see the falls on the American side.  A quick swim and dinner at the Youngstown Yacht Club rounded out the weekend.  We had a great sail back to Toronto on Monday, and only had to motor for the last few miles when the wind died down.  Nice to be home.

  

Cheeseburger in Paradise

We spent a quiet evening in Oak Orchard at the Lake Breeze Marina, and had our usual great breakfast at the cafe before heading out to Wilson, NY.  We stayed at Bootlegger's Cove Marina, where we were last year, and wandered over to the Wilson Island Yacht Club to see whether anything was going on this weekend.

Too bad we were leaving Saturday morning, because this was the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" weekend, with great food and live music throughout the weekend.  Lots of Canadian boats, mostly power, arrived for the event. 

We joined in for Friday night's Beef on Weck dinner, and met Dave Jordan and Marilyn Wilson.  It turns out that Marilyn owns the Wilson Village Launderette which opened last year, after Wilson being without public laundry facilities for years.  The Launderette is a beautiful little place, and Marilyn has now included a gallery where local artists can showcase and sell their work.  Dave is also friends with Walter - the harbourmaster at Youngstown, where we're heading next.

Hitching a ride

upside down bumble bee

Sometimes little visitors hitch a ride on the boat.  Wednesday, we were heading from Rochester to Oak Orchard, when I captured these little guys using the 'microscope' setting on my camera.  It's great for taking really close up shots.  

We only sailed for about an hour before the wind petered out and what was there, was right on the nose. I couldn't capture a shot of the butterfly following us for several minutes (and passing us) as we motored into the wind at six knots.  Those little creatures are amazing! 

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

After a nice visit with our friends in Rochester, we spent a rainy Monday doing chores - laundry and more groceries (i.e. beer).  Tuesday was again windy from the west, so we decided to stay another day and walk across the bridge to Charlotte.  We went early in the day, before the worst of the heat, which is a good thing, because we didn't bring water, and none of the shops were open yet.

We had heard that there was a new marina on the west side of the Genesee River, and found the City of Rochester Marina's manager to chat about the place.  It's a beautiful facility built out of a parking lot, behind the fast ferry terminal.  As the fast ferry was short-lived, and the building is not in use, the marina office will be moving in there.  It's very convenient to the beach (closed today because of high winds and lots of algae in the water), carousel, and several restaurants.  Could be a good option if RYC or Shumway are unavailable, and makes for a nice change of pace to be on that side of the river.

On our walk back, we came across a couple of interesting signs - one in a shop (we're definitely not in Toronto), and another on the entrance to a the Lake Ontario State Parkway.  

Dan & Marietta from Point Breeze YC told us the parkway had been built during the cold war, as a way to evacuate people from Rochester in case of attack by the Russians.  The road ends near Oak Orchard and is lightly used, so is poorly maintained, which means it gets even less use.

In the afternoon, I went for a swim at the RYC pool, and met Diana and Marty from Mimico Cruising Club.  We had them over for a visit after dinner.  As Diana was signing the guest register, so noticed that she knows our last visitors - Cara & Colette.

Wonderful Webster

enjoying Webster

Another favourite part of our cruising vacation, and the only thing we've done every single year, is our visit with Kathy, Ajay and Sara.  This year, Ajay picked us up in Sodus Bay because the strong west winds prevented us from sailing to Rochester on Friday or Saturday. Tania, David and Jessica also made the trip from Toronto.
We enjoyed the Webster Jazz festival before heading back to Kathy and Ajay's place for a great dinner and a bonfire.  The kids were catching fireflies, and Kathy brought out the makings for s'mores!

Sunday morning, Kathy kindly got up early and drove us back to Sodus Bay, so that we could bring the boat to Rochester with a favourable east wind.  The morning started quite calm, but within a couple of hours we were downwind sailing, and by the time we had to bring the sails down, the waves were getting pretty big.  We got a great spot at the Rochester Yacht Club near the clubhouse, and had just enough time to pick up a few groceries before the the crowd came over.

RYC diving board

The pool at RYC is a great place to hang out on a warm summer day, and this year, Sara had another new skill - jumping off the diving board.  Not to be outdone, Jessica, David, Ajay and Kathy all took turns too. 

Sittin' on the dock of the (Sodus) Bay (Yacht Club)

We arrived at the Sodus Bay Yacht Club on Tuesday evening, planning to stay until Friday.  As Friday approached, the wind forecast was not very favourable.  We could have gone west on Thursday, but we had dinner reservations at the Bay Street Inn for Thursday evening, and Sodus is such a nice place to be, that we decided to travel on Saturday instead.  On Friday, the forecast was still not great, but by then, Saturday's forecast was even worse.  One more day on the dock won't kill us.  Several of the east-bound boats headed out on Saturday, but we were glad we didn't, as the wind was pretty strong from the west.

Cara & Colette

We've met so many great people here these last few days - Dan and Marietta on DAMAS from Point Breeze Yacht Club, William and Dianna on Alohalani from Oakville Yacht Squadron, Cara and Colette on Her Ladyship from Etobicoke Yacht Club (Colette is the commodore this year), and Carol from SBYC, who told us about her Edmonton connection.

Because we've been here so long, we've also had the opportunity to eat at lots of restaurants around town - Captain Jack's, the Bay Street Inn, and on Friday, at the SBYC dining room where we had deep fried Twinkie desserts!  I worked them off with a run the next morning, though. 

Thursday, we joined a group of women who get together to play Mah-Jong at the club every week.  A couple of the ladies have taught the game, and very graciously let us join a table of newbies.  Laurie, another new player at our table, built the hardest hand on the score card in her very first game!  I think we may have found ourselves a new pastime.

I've added a photo link to a Sodus Bay album because this place is just lovely.

Bound for Sodus Bay

With 66 nautical miles to cover to get to Sodus Bay, we left early in the morning, just before sunrise.  Monday's winds had died down, but the waves, although not very big, were almost on the beam, making for a rocky ride.  We motored for about 7 hours, when we realized we were seeing white caps on the water.  That means there must be wind, although it didn't seem that windy because the wind was coming from behind us.  

We raised sails, and were actually sailing faster than we had been motoring, hitting 7.2 knots a few times.  The waves, in the meantime, were getting bigger, and it made for an exciting ride.  I finally had us reef the sails, and the ride became much more manageable (or slow, depending on your perspective). 


Almost 12 hours after we left, we arrived at the Sodus Bay Yacht Club.  There was no Officer of the Day on duty, so we pulled into an empty slip and went into town to check in with US Customs on the videophone.  Back at the boat, we snugged down the boat and had a well earned refreshment before heading over to Captain Jack's for dinner and our first Yuengling Black & Tan of the trip.   

Cobourg

We left Whitby on Sunday with no wind, and motored for the first few hours until the wind filled in a bit, and we were close enough to Cobourg that sailing was actually an option.  The beach was packed with people, as it was a pretty warm day, although it had been cool on the water.

The forecast was for high winds on Monday, so we planned to stay put.  Good thing.  Overnight, the wind really picked up, and the boat was rocking like crazy.  

The Lake Ontario 300 race was going this weekend, so we were keeping tabs on the six QCYC boats in the race.  All our boats were on the 'short' course to Scotch Bonnet. On Monday, three boats retired from the race.  I'm guessing that at least a couple of them had something break, as they were most of the way through the race by that point.  Cobourg was also the last stop for five other boats doing the Main Duck course which retired.  Some of them looked like serious racing craft with full crews, so it really must have been uncomfortable out there.  

Later in the afternoon, who came into the marina but Ted on Comus.  Ted turned 92 in May, and still single-hands his boat - even in the kind of weather we had on Monday!

Port Whitby Marina

We started our cruising vacation today in light winds.  It had been quite breezy when we were having breakfast, but by the time we left, there was nothing.  We motored east for a couple of hours, then raised the spinnaker until the true wind was over 8 knots and I started to worry that it might pick up even more.  We dropped the spinnaker, but the wind didn't increase.  Better safe than sorry.

When we arrived at Port Whitby Marina, we saw another QCYC boat docked near us.  We arranged to barbeque dinner with Paul and Kim from Initram - just needed to get to the grocery store for something to cook....

We got a couple of steaks, Paul and Kim provided the veggies, and we had dessert aboard Prime Interest with lattes, thanks to our Nespresso.  Very civilized.

It can't be all fun and games

Wayne, Laurence, Philly, John, Ed and I hard at work

Monday was a work party day.  I've been wanting to replace the decking on the south balcony, as the old decking was getting quite warped, and worn looking.  The south balcony is fully exposed to the elements, and really takes a beating.  I opted for composite decking material.  It's a little expensive, but should last forever!

A great crew of volunteers showed up before 9:00am and we worked right through until about 5:30pm, when everyone was pretty tired. 
It was a hot day, and the job was taking longer than I expected.  By the time we quit for the day, we were about 3/4 done, and almost out of clips to hold down the deck boards.  After dinner, I headed back to the hardware store to pick up more clips (What do you mean you don't have 4 boxes - please check your inventory on-line!), and delivered them to the tender on Tuesday morning, when Laurence and Wayne finished to job.

Claire comes to visit

We had more guests aboard on Sunday, with Joe and Lynn from the curling club, my sister Mary, and cousin Claire visiting from France for the summer.  Claire is my cousin Pierre's granddaughter.  I remember her father Olivier had been here for a visit when I was a teenager.

We had a good breeze, so went out with a reefed main, and had a great sail.  Snacks in the cockpit rounded out a nice visit.  Marysia and Claire waited until dark before catching the city ferry, so that Claire could get a view of the city lights over the water.  We sure do enjoy a great view from QCYC.

Andrew and the boys

On Saturday, Andrew, Rod and Ken arrived aboard Wild at Heart.  They are thinking about doing a charter in the Caribbean, so Andrew took the opportunity to take Rod and Ken out for some sailing lessons.  Andrew used to be an instructor for the Humber College sailing program.

Just as we were getting together to enjoy some pre-dinner refreshments, a few drops of rain fell, then wind picked up, and we made it down below just before the rain really came down.

Thankfully, it was short lived, and we borrowed Chris' barbeque to prepare some steaks and ribs for dinner.  The boys reciprocated with breakfast of toasted baquette, smoked salmon and aged cheese, as we watched the start of the Wimbledon final between Milos Raonic and Andy Murray.  

Commodore's Ball 2016

After 10 years at QCYC, we finally made it to the Commodore's Ball!  This is the club's only formal event, and is generally held in the winter.  As new members, we didn't really know much about the event.  Then, once we heard about it and decided we'd like to attend, we've never been able to, due to vacations, and twice because of family weddings falling on the same day. 
This year the club doesn't have an Entertainment chair on the board, so there was no one to organize the event in the winter.  Once the season got going though, volunteers stepped up to plan a summer event.

Deanna, Wendy, Geri. Genia, Jacqui

Toronto had been in under an extreme heat alert for a few days, so there was some concern about how 'formal' the dress would be if the Great Hall was uncomfortably warm (no air conditioning).  We got really lucky!.  Some showers passed through earlier in the day, and there was a nice breeze by the time we had to get dressed up.  
The theme was 'black and white', even down to the menu  and the band .
Commodore Ron Mazza welcomed everyone and after a great dinner (arugula with black and white bean salad, black angus steak, white potatoes, black and white tuxedo chocolate mousse cake), we enjoyed dancing to the The Black Pearls.

Tall Ships

We had a great sail today with Rachel and Dylan.   I used to work with Rachel's father, and at Perry's retirement, we talked about getting out on the water.  It was a beautiful day, and not quite as breezy as yesterday, when Ed and I took the boat just past the Ward's Island ferry dock, and headed right back to our dock.


We had a good breeze today, and started with a reef in the main, and a partially furled headsail.  Much more comfortable than our last outing in brisk wind.

Rachel and Dylan do some sailing on Perry's 17 foot sailboat, on a small lake near Guelph.  This was a bit of a change, and they did great!  As we were returning to the club, I thought we could motor past the tall ships mooring at the harbourfront, but there they all were in a row setting sail out of the harbour.  We got a great view of a few of them before they headed out the western gap to their next destination.

Canada Day 2016

With a poor forecast for this afternoon, we were in no hurry to get to the yacht club.  We were just arriving at the pier when we heard the Algonquin Queen II leaving the dock.  Since we had an hour to wait, I took the opportunity to get some groceries for the weekend.
About half an hour before the tender was due, the sky got quite dark as a thunderstorm rolled through.  We ducked under an awning which turned out to provide very little protection.  When the tender arrived, we were already wet, so the walk to the boat through the pouring rain made no difference.  No sooner did we leave the dock than the rain stopped.  On the plus side, the wind picked up, which let us fly our big flag .

I opted to do a load of laundry to get the wet things in our bags dry again.  While we were having a warming cup of tea, Tom brought his boat over to fix the windex on his boat.  Rather than bring the mast down, I offered to go up.  Easy with the help of the mast crane.  I hope the repair holds.

First guests of the 2016 season

Last season we didn't really have a lot of guests aboard, as the spring was cool and we we didn't really start sailing until mid June.  This year looks much more promising. 

On Sunday, Hayley, Derek, Rod, Jennifer & Greg came out for a sail.  It was a warm day in the city but once we made it past the Leslie St. Spit, the wind really picked up, and we had a brisk sail out to Humber Bay and back, hitting a top speed of over 7 kts. 

I think we have to work on setting our sails more appropriately when the wind gets into the high teens, as I get uncomfortable when the boat heels excessively, and it's difficult to steer with too much pressure on the sails.  We also start to take on water in the cockpit when the discharge from the scupper drain is underwater due to the heel, because the hoses are plumbed backwards.  That's one of those bothersome things we've talked about fixing since we got the boat.  Maybe this year...

Flying new colours

Last year, we used our spinnaker for the first time while cruising.  Although it's a symmetrical spinnaker which should be flown with a spinnaker pole (sounds complicated), we used it as an asymmetrical, by attaching one corner to the headsail.  Over the winter, Ed acquired a real asymmetrical spinnaker - somewhat larger than the last one, and with a different colour scheme.

With a flat lake and light wind on Saturday, we thought we'd try it out.  We wisely tried raising it at the dock before we left.  This spinnaker came with a snuffer - a sort of sock that slides over the sail to make it easier to raise and drop the sail.

We experimented a little to find how best to fly the sail, and discovered we could easily fly it on a beam reach, and somewhat downwind, but to go far downwind, we had to drop the main.  It'll be fun to take this sail along with us on our annual cruise.

2016 season starts early

While our first sail last year wasn't until mid June, an unseasonably warm couple of weeks has allowed us to sail a couple of times already!

Sailpast was a beautiful warm day, with enough breeze that it was actually possible to sail, without feeling out of control.  Ed and I went out onto the Lake the following day, and had a great sail.  We planned to go out on Victoria Day as well, but our depth sounder alarm was sounding incessantly, even though we were in our mooring with 13.5 feet below the hull.  Technical support was not very helpful - "try unplugging things until the alarm goes off....."

The alarm wasn't sounding today, so with a hot, humid day in the city, we set off for another sail.  What a difference out on the lake.  We had a good breeze, and I actually had to put a sweater on before we made it back.  As soon as we headed back into the eastern gap, the heat returned.  Not complaining!