Tuesday, August 29, 2017

QCYC staff sail


Jacqui resurrected a past tradition this year, when the commodore and vice-commodore take the club office and maintenance staff out for a sail at the end of the season.  We picked a weeknight just before some of the younger staff head back to school.  Abby, Nick and Brian came out with us on Prime Interest, and Laura and Morgan were aboard Wild Jasmine.  We had enough wind to get a good sail, but not so much to scare the newbies.  

Back at the club, Jacqui and Eriks barbecued some burgers, and we toasted the season with a sip of bubbly. 

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Mini Cruise

Since we couldn't go cruising this season, we took the opportunity of a good weather forecast to visit another club for the weekend.  With light winds on Saturday and strong winds from the east expected on Sunday, we headed east to the Scarborough Bluffs, so that we could have a downwind sail home.

We arrived at the Highland Yacht Club in the early afternoon.  It was one of those beautiful days without a cloud in the sky, and the air was clear and fresh.  We walked through the park, and down to the beach.  People were actually in the water, but I poked my toes in, and brrr... it was chilly.

On Sunday we had a rocky start to our trip home.  The wind was light, but the waves were on a terrible angle.  It got better as the wind picked up, and we were able to take a better line relative to the waves, and we had a pretty quick trip home.



 

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

How much water was there?

The Lake Ontario daily average water levels at Toronto are now back to about where they were the weekend we were launching boats back in April.  So how bad was this flood, really?  Pretty bad.  Water in the Toronto area was at an all-time high, since such records have been kept.

Southern Ontario had a lot of rain this spring and summer, as has the whole Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin.  Montreal had suffered flooding in May, so the flood gates in Cornwall were unable to release more water from Lake Ontario until that subsided. 

The first chart shows the average daily water level from launch day, until mid August.  The horizontal line shows the water level on May 7, when water first started seeping into the clubhouse.  When we were first laying sandbags on May 6, I never would have believed we'd have so much water, for such a sustained period of time.  It was the first time I've experienced flood conditions, and not eager to see it happen again.

There has been much speculation about whether this will be a once-every-20-years type of event, or whether we should expect significant water level variability much more frequently.  Only time will tell, but we did reach an all time high water level in May and June.  The chart below shows the previous record years for both high and low water.


We have yet to fully assess the impact of the water on our building and yard, as the ground is still mucky and wet in some areas even thought the water has receded.  Our members have pulled together to do the work that needed doing, we carried on with some great social events, and we appear to have weathered this event pretty well.  Let's just hope we don't have to endure it again any time soon.

Photos of the flood can be seen at the link on the right.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Women Skippers Race weekend

I didn't think I'd be able to race this year, as we didn't have the mast in until the end of July.  A couple of friends had offered to take me along as crew, but I was happy to decline, and skipper my own boat.  Tina and Susan had planned to come for the race, but realized that they had a conflict.  I did get one extra crew member in Julien, but as I was the only woman on board, I was at the helm for the whole race.  After a very slow start, we had a great sail to the Dufferin mark and back, and Julien enjoyed his first race.  
Genia, Julien, Ed

We ended up 12th out of 17 boats, and fourth in our division.  I have to work on that start, as it's hard to make up the time with a poor start.

In a moment of weakness, I had offered to help with the barbecue after the race.  It almost didn't happen, because when I went to pick up the sausages, the deli didn't have a record of my order!  They had a fresh batch of sausages in the cooker, and I came back a couple of hours later once the sausages were cool enough to pack.  The barbeque went well, and we were actually able to sit on the lawn.

Hayley, Derek
Sunday we again took advantage of great conditions and had Derek and Hayley out for a sail.  We caught them between visits to their cottage in New Brunswick.  Another perfect sail.

Sunday, August 06, 2017

August long weekend

On August 5, almost exactly three months after we laid the first sandbags, we could finally start the cleanup.  Although there is still a little water in the yard, most of the grounds are dry.  We had a great turnout for the work party on Saturday morning and were able to remove the temporary walkways, and move all the sandbags from around the clubhouse.  We filled in ruts and low spots on the lawn with sand, and stacked some sandbags in case they're needed in the yard later in the season.  There are a few sections near the seawall where the sandbags are still in place to fill in sink holes, but otherwise, the place is looking great. 

Lynn, Ed, Ken
On Sunday, we invited Ken and Lynn out for a sail.  They've been spending the summer in Canada, with Silverheels III left in Martinique for the hurricane season.  We had another beautiful day with nice conditions for a leisurely sail. There's nothing like good company, sunshine, and a nice breeze.