Coburg

At dinner after the Wednesday race, Chris asked me to sail with him over to Coburg in his C&C36. It was short notice; I would have to be up by 6. The trip would be over ten hours. Did I have anything planned? Hmm. I decided to go. I set the alarm for 6 but actually woke up at 6:23, as per usual. I had packed the night before and after a quick shower, I loaded up the car. At 6:50, as I walked over to Starbucks, I called Chris to say that I wouldn't make 7:00. We left the dock at 7:22.

The winds were light from the southwest. According to sailflow it would be about 10 knots from the southwest by noon. We got the sails up and motor sailed south of Centre Island and the Spit. There were few other boats. However they did seem to be sailing. We decided to try hoisting the chute.

Chris has a sock for his spinnaker. We got the sock out, hoisted it, and set the sheets. The chute got twisted and wouldn't launch. After a few tries (3?) we eventually got it up and it filled. Motor sailing we were doing 5 knots but with the chute our speed went up to 7 knots. Very pleasant. The auto helm was put on and Chris did his project, installing the cockpit table. After three attempts, he got it right; just in time for lunch. If I had a complaint it would be the provisioning; lunch was an apple and chips!

We had a great day. The wind died just south west of Port Hope. We doused and sat on the bow. Chris was somewhat concerned about Peter's Rock. There is a cardinal buoy to mark the location and we easily missed it. We arrived in Coburg about 19:15. Chris docked to get fuel and I grabbed a cab to catch the 19:48 train back to Toronto. The train was about 12 minutes late. I was in lots of time. People in Coburg are perhaps too friendly(?).

So that was a 12 hour sail? We spent a lot of time talking about sailing. I enjoyed hearing about Chris's adventures and his boat owning experiences. It is good to be on other people's boats (even if you would never buy one like it!). The spinnaker was a good experience and I think a bit of a learning one for both Chris and myself. I really liked being on the water.