The first weekend of haul out started pretty slowly. There were lots of boats hauling out at QCYC for the first time, so it sometimes took a while to get the boat positioned well in its cradle. One little oops, where thankfully nothing major damaged, delayed us even further. Just couldn't seem to get much momentum going. We had been so excited to see Prime Interest on the board early on the first day, but the boat which was slotted to come out just ahead of us was one of those which needed to modify their cradle. Oh well. We got hauled pretty early on the second weekend, and had lots of time to wash the boat. The next day we got the cover on and the engine winterized, so the big jobs are all taken care of.
We were lucky to have great guests visit us this weekend. On Friday evening, Saul and Angela came to the club, and after a drink aboard, we enjoyed the Corn & Weenie Roast and watched the pigs being prepared for Saturday's Pig Roast. Patrice and Steve came on Saturday, and we went out to enjoy the Air Show of the CNE. When we returned, we enjoyed a great spread which Patrice provided - baguette, salami, cheese, olives and tomatoes!
On Sunday, Joanne and Keith came with their children Kayla, Fiona and Liam. Since they arrived just after the tender left the city, I asked Ed to come to the city side to pick us up - first time single-handing! We again enjoyed the Air Show, and as we motored back, I was sitting up at the bow with the kids. Ed turned to head into the waves created by a power boat, and the four of us got drenched as a wave came over the bow. Great fun.
Ed and I were hoping to have some guests aboard this weekend, but as that didn't work out, were were just planning to go out for a day sail. Since the weather forecast was excellent for both Saturday and Sunday, we made a last minute decision to head over to Bronte. Along the way, I called Andrew, and we were glad that he and Deb could join us for dinner. Later, we dropped by Blue Wing and enjoyed a visit with Ian and Shauna. We saw what appeared to be a stuffed dog on a dock when we entered Bronte Outer Harbour Marina - strange. It turns out that these decoys are effective at discouraging Canada geese from taking over the docks.
We had some friends aboard today for a wonderful sailing day. I know Susan and Michael from the curling club, and it turns out that Susan also works at Scotiabank. Derek & Hayley, also from the curling club, were able to join us. After our sail, as we were enjoying a refreshment in the cockpit, we saw both Allure and Silver Fox II set out on their adventures, and joined in tooting our horn to send them safely on their way. Tapas left the following day, and we are now following each boat's blog, as they make their way south.
Sue and Tina came to Toronto from Belleville to join us in the Women Skippers Race. Unfortunately, it was raining with high winds and big waves, so we made the decision to stay at the dock and enjoy a visit, rather than brave the elements. As we sat in the cockpit, we saw a small boat coming in without its mast. We quickly realized that the situation was not good. Knot J.A.F.S. was still in the harbour when the rudder broke off, which caused the boat to lose control, and the forestay parted, and the mast came down. Fortunately, neither Heather nor her crew, Dana, were hurt. Dana managed to get the boat back into the lagoon, steering with the outboard. After we helped them dock, Ed made a cup of tea for Heather, and Katie kept her company, then Ed, Tina and I helped Dana undo the shrouds, remove the boom and mast from the boat, and get the sail off. Once Dana and Ed moored the boat in its usual spot, we had some lunch, and a drink to calm nerves. We listened to VHF 69 to hear a number of boats retiring from the race, including two other boats which lost their rudders. We also heard a mayday on VHF 16, and three men were removed from a boat awash at the western gap. We were glad that we hadn't ventured out, and enjoyed good company for the afternoon, before heading to the clubhouse for Ribfest dinner.
This morning before we left HYC, I ran into Robin from Hidden Agenda. We first met them in Belleville. She and Mark arrived yesterday after making the long trip from Cobourg. We chatted about next stops, and I encouraged her to stop at QCYC. On leaving HYC, I was at the helm when the engine suddenly stopped. I was able to restart it, and slip into and dock, where we checked that the water was flowing. We likely got a bunch of weeds wrapped around the prop. When we made it back home, there was a visiting boat in our slip. They had been at the haul out slip, but someone wanted to put in their mast, and the work was not complete by the time we got back. No harm - we pulled into CityView 4, since Saudades had just gone out for a sail. We got a different view of the club than we usually enjoy. As we walked around the club, we was that Hidden Agenda did get a spot at QCYC.
Another calm day with flat water. Motored all the way to Scarborough Bluffs. It was a short trip, so along the way, we took some time to measure the deviation on our compass. This helps determine the difference between a true course (as plotted on a chart) and the magnetic course (that you steer at the helm). We did this by steering courses from 010 degrees through 360 degrees - basically making a large circle. At each 10 degree mark, Ed would hold the compass course for a couple of minutes, and I would record our true course based on GPS reading. When we approached the Bluffs area, we called the Catherdral Bluffs Yacht Club, but they were unsure whether they'd have space. Instead, Ed and I went to Highland Yacht Club. Lovely little club, with great wifi. David and Linda on Dalina were docked here, but left a short time after we arrived. We called home to warn the girls we'd be home soon, and then QCYC to make sure our slip would be available tomorrow. We gave the boat a good scrub, so that she'd be beautiful upon her return to QCYC.
After an early morning trip to the nearby bakery for bread fresh out of the oven, we headed out, bound for Whitby. It was calm and flat, so we had a quick motor for most of the morning, with about an hour of sailing just before we got to Whitby. By the time we got there, the winds were whipping up, and the waves were 2-3 feet. At dinner the previous night, Keith had commented on how few people have actually tried using their emergency tiller, so while we were motoring this morning, we did try it. Nothing like calm conditions to try out emergency procedures. We'd hate to be doing it for the first time when it was an emergency. In Whitby, we took a walk to the nearby Tim Horton's - our first Tim's of the trip. This was a quiet evening for reading and a movie.
Today started out a little foggy, with calm water in the Bay of Quinte. We motored through the Murray Canal, and through Presqu'ile Bay. We did get a couple of hours of sailing in, but the wind was again coming from the direction we wanted to go, and was picking up a lot. By the time we started the engine, the wind was getting close to 20 knots with 3 foot waves. In Cobourg, we looked for QCYC burgees, as this is a popular stop for both eastbound and westbound boats. We found Elan, and as we were on our way to say hello, Eric from Alpha Omega came in to dock with his family. We joined Madelaine and Keith for dinner at Oasis, a popular local restaurant. Tomorrow we are heading off in opposite directions. Wednesday is race night here, and we stopped by the Cobourg Yacht Club after dinner to day hello to Tony Pitts, who sails Abigail III. Tony is a past commodore from QCYC, and moved out here a few years ago.
Another great sail today - from Picton to Belleville. We only motored through the Telegraph Narrows. Today we met Mark and Robin from Mimico Cruising Club. Robin is the granddaughter of Harold S. Robbins - who our tender is named after. They have been following us around the lake and recognized the boat. After dinner we had a visit with Tina and Susan, who left QCYC when they moved here. While we were enjoying a drink, Robert and Teresa from Blue Streak came by on their dinghy with their children Sarah and Peter. We all enjoyed a visit in the lovely Bay of Quinte Yach Club clubhouse.
We had a great sail from Kingston all the way to Picton Bay. We stopped at the Picton Bay Marina to get fuel, and stayed the night on the wall, since they had space. We took a walk to the Prince Edward Yacht Club, where we admired their mast crane. The new QCYC mast crane is a similar design. PEYC had a great feature - a steering wheel to use rather than a crank handle for raising and lowering a mast.
We had a great sail on Saturday, almost all the way to Kingston. We turned the engine on when we passed Wolfe Island, and needed to head into the wind. We didn't have a reservation in Kingston, and all the marinas were full. We pulled in to the 'day docks' just as a large power boat was leaving, so we had a good spot on the end of a row of docks. Good thing, as the docks are very short - less than 20 feet. Despite the name, we were allowed to stay for 2 nights, although had no power or water available. I was hoping to see my friend Pat from university, who lives near Kingston, but she had company for the weeked.
We spent Sunday doing a little shopping, and Ed got some new toys for the boat - an antenna for the TV, and a booster for wi-fi, which he then spent a lot of the day trying to get working. We did walk over to the Kingston Yacht CLlb, and enjoyed a beer in their lounge, while watching our first bit of the summer Olympics in London.
We woke Friday morning to strong winds pushing us onto the dock, but the forecast looked good, so we waited a couple of hours, and headed out with the wind again coming from the direction we wanted to go. We did motorsail for a while, and made good time to Sackets Harbour, arriving under sunny skies, just after Solitude. Danno and Tina had made reservations at a local restaurant, and invited us to join them for dinner. After cocktails aboard Solitude, we made our way down the main street to Tin Pan Galley. The restaurant was set in a lovely garden, with live music, and a long line up to get in. Fortunately, the reservaton meant we were seated right away. Ice cream at the local ice cream shop finished off a great evening.
We arrived in Oswego on Wednesday, and got one of the last spots available at the Oswego International Marina, now run by Wright's Landing Marina. It's Harbourfest this weekend, with a regatta at Oswego Yacht Club. On a walk through town, we crossed the bridge, and got to see a power boat locking through lock #8.
The forecast for Thursday was for severe thunderstorms coming in the afternoon, along with damaging winds and large hail, so we planned to stay until Friday, rather than move on to Sacket's Harbour on Thursday. Solitude arrived just before we did on Wednesday, and we enjoyed a visit aboard their boat before heading off to the midway in the evening,where Hannah and Danno braved some of the rides. We took our chances with our arteries, and shared a funnel cake - huge, dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon, and topped with apples.
As I sit here in the clubhouse on Thursday, enjoying a $2 beer, the sun is shining, and the severe weather seems to have passed both north of us (through Sacket's Harbour) and south of us. Not complaining.
As we were leaving Rochster, someone called out to Ed. Turns out it was someone he knows from work. Dan on Solitude was also heading towards Sodus Bay, and arrived at the Sodus Bay Yacht Club about the same time we did. This was my first time docking the boat outside of our home club, and in all the excitement, I didn't check the Sodus Bay chart, and hit ground before we got to the club. No harm done - just embarassing. After dinner, Dan, Tina and Hannah, along with Watson (named after the IBM computer on Jeopardy) came by for a visit. Danno is a Waterloo BMath 1984, so he was there when Ed and I were, and now works for IBM, with big banks as clients. Tina works at TD. What a small world. Solitude is also heading eastbound, so maybe we'll run into them again on this trip.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed a lovely stay in Sodus while the winds howled. Quiescence, from National Yacht Club came in and moored beside us. After dinner we had a nice visit with Kim and Cathy, who are on their way back to Toronto after almost a month of cruising. We've seen the boat at QCYC in the past, and will look out for them this fall.
Ed and I started out on our first sailing vacation without the girls. We left Toronto at about 4:40 in the afternoon on Friday, for an overnight sail to Rochester. Friday had been very windy, and although the wind was calmer by the time we left, the waves were still a little uncomfortable, and coming from the direction we were heading. We arrived in Rochester after 17 hours on the water - a new record for us. We did actually sail for several hours, and the conditions were really good after the first couple of hours. After lunch and a nap, it was off to visit Kathy, Ajay and Sarah in Webster. We spent the night there, and after brunch, returned to RYC to enjoy an afternoon by the pool.
We joined about 35 other boats from QCYC in a cruise to Niagara on the Lake Sailing Club for the July long weekend. Ed, Katie and I set out on the Friday, with a brisk SW wind, and had a quick sail to NOTL. Emily and Gurhari came by car the next day. The weather was great, and we enjoyed good company. There was lots of hype about the town basically being in gridlock because of a Tragically Hip concert on the Saturday night, but it was not that big a deal. The next day, Canada Day, was busier in town. We got to enjoy the great fireworks from Fort George. The trip back was not quite as quick, and we motored for the last half of the trip. Great weekend. We even got to enjoy a short trip to Niagara Falls (and the Fallsview Casino for me) courtesy of Gurhari.
On Saturday, Ed stopped by the boat to start up the engine, and otherwise make sure the boat is ready to launch. Unfortunately, he discovered that a visitor had made it's way into the boat, via the lazarette and an opening from the engine compartment into the main cabin, which we had forgotten to close up when we took off the winter cover. The racoon drank some bilge water, ate some hot chocolate powder, and left little chocolatey footprints, but didn't appear to have damaged anything. When Ed checked the lazarette to see whether the racoon was still on board, he found....a baby racoon. A search of the boat uncovered another baby in a small storage area in the v-berth. Using some tea towels, Ed made a bed for the babies in a bucket (photo), and left them in the cockpit for mom to find - after closing up any openings into the interior of the boat. When he checked the boat a couple of days later, babies were gone, and all is now ready for launch!
The crews of Prime Interest and Horton traded in their snow boots for sunglasses for a one week charter in St Martin. We picked up Sail Amour, a Jeanneau 39, at the Sunsail base in Oyster Pond, and spent the week sailing around St. Martin. A couple of years ago, we discovered the wonderful marina at the Radisson Resort at Anse Marcel, and we returned there each afternoon after our day sails.
We also got to spend some time with Andrew's sister Caroline, her husband Paul, and their three energetic boys, Ethan, Noah and Matthew, who are enjoying an extended Caribbean cruise aboard Legend, a Bavaria 50 (www.alegendaryadventure.com).
The first weekend of haul out started pretty slowly. There were lots of boats hauling out at QCYC for the first time, so it sometimes took a while to get the boat positioned well in its cradle. One little oops, where thankfully nothing major damaged, delayed us even further. Just couldn't seem to get much momentum going. We had been so excited to see Prime Interest on the board early on the first day, but the boat which was slotted to come out just ahead of us was one of those which needed to modify their cradle. Oh well. We got hauled pretty early on the second weekend, and had lots of time to wash the boat. The next day we got the cover on and the engine winterized, so the big jobs are all taken care of.
