Sailpast 2009

I had a good time at Sailpast 2009. I find this a bit weird since it is mainly an opportunity to socialize. Emi and I did get in about 90 mins. of sailing, but most of the time was spent at the club, beer in (left!) hand. A surprisely pleasant way to spend a late spring afternoon.

A cold and nasty day

The forecast for Wednesday night wasn't good. Thunderstorms. I thought there was a good chance that we wouldn't go out; if we did, we would be drifting in light wind and rain. I took the opportunity pre launch to get some sails mended. By 17:30 there was a good wind from the east and little or no rain.

The RC went a long way south and I expected that we would be using Gibraltar Buoy as a windward mark. However the windward mark was set just north of the Gibraltar Point. (Very good mark setting!) We had an OK start but were blocked by Candlelight and Flawed Logic on the north side of the course. At the windward mark I provided a bit of navigation assistance to a new skipper unfamiliar with the course. We had a problem with the first leeward mark douse. The combination of pole down, free flying the chute, mark rounding, and gybe resulted in some tangled lines. It took us a while to get sorted and by then we were too far behind. The winds got very light. We finished, just as the rain restarted!

It was a long trip back to theclub. We were late for the results. The RC hailed me as they were leaving the club, to let me know that we got a third.

ABYC Open 2009

The first J 24 regatta of the season was at ABYC on the east side of Toronto Harbour. Emi and I sailed the boat over Friday afternoon. Beautiful day; we sailed most of the way but had to motor in the last 20 mins..

Saturday winds were from the east and very light. On the first race, we had a poor start and generally a bad race. This was our second worst finish for the event; we left the worst result for the last race!

The crew, (Adrian on foredeck, Claudiu mast, Emi assistant pit and Jaimie as tactician and pit) had not sailed together this season and it showed. Our second and third races were noticeably better. Our crew skills improved but we were still only able to get a couple of 9 (out of 15) to finish Day 1. Day 2 winds were also very light from the south. Our second race was the best result with a 7th place finish. Our last race was terrible. The light wind conditions on the start made it impossible to navigate. We fouled another boat and did 720 turns so very poor start. (Results)

I was pleased to get the 7th place finish. It may not sound like much of a victory but getting into the top half of the fleet is very difficult to do. We had a great regatta and it was very enjoyable to be sailing in a fleet at such a skill level. This is a team effort and it was great sailing with such a good crew (especially Jamie who is clearly a very good racer).

W1

The Wednesday series started last night. Grand National also made it to the start line. Allan has taken over as RO and Kim was in the mark boat. The wind was S at 12 knots. There were 4 starts with our group starting last. Jack Rabbit didn't compete.

We had a good start except for some confusion about the time. A couple of boats held back and we wondered if we mis timed the start. There was no Individual Recall flag and our timers were in agreement. We didn't go back.

Over the course of the race I convinced myself that we must have been over early. The hold back boats were good racers and I assumed that they would be right. By convincing myself of this I put myself into a foul mood which not only was wrong it wasn't helpful! A lesson for me is that if I have confidence in timing, I should go with that, and not worry about other possibilities.

We are a bit out of practise. David is now mast man and has to familiarize himself with new geography. At one point he had to be hauled back after almost falling over board! The spinnaker hoist did not go well and ended up with a large tear. We went wing on wing while Charles with help from Emi and David did a repair. (After the race Charles told me he suffers from seasickness and was not happy about going below. He did a grat job in spite of his legitimate anxiety.) The repair was completed but only after we went slightly off course. Notorious wasn't expecting us on Starboard and we had to get out of the way. No protest but they did their turns. Very nice to see that.

The second downwind leg went much better. The chute went up and the repair held. I think that getting the repair done was a sort of 'victory'; it was certainly good to see that we were able to react positively to a problem.

I found out that, the hold out boats from the start thought they were in a fifth, non existent start.

We ended up getting a second. This put me in a much better mood!

Spring RTI 2009

The first race of the season is the Spring round the Island. Centre Island protects Toronto Harbour from Lake Ontario. It takes about two hours to sail around; a nice daysail. The race this year was very well organized. The skippers, who registered early, got a bit of swag. The cruisers were encouraged and given a separate start i e last. "Don't worry about the start; keep clear of the other boats and start after everyone else." The efforts of the Race Committee paid off with a good turnout.

The day was a good spring day. Sunny, temp around 14, with a WSW wind at about 12 knots. Course: start at Dufferin buoy, south east to Gibraltar buoy, east to the eastern Harbour entrance buoy, through the Eastern Gap and finish just east of the Western Gap. David, Myrna, Emi and Adrian were crew. This was Myrna's introduction to racing.

We were third start. We were well set up a minute to go but I started too early and allowed boats to get below me. We were over early. (I am going to have to learn to be cool at the starts!) Repeat: "It is OK". The course was basically a series of reaches. The race was a follow the leader type; so with the bad start we were doomed. We did fly the chute briefly when we headed north from the eastern Harbour buoy. We were able to catch up to the white sailors.

It was a fun race and it was good to see most of the club on the water.

First 2009 Sail: May 13

It certainly didn't feel like summer but it was still great to be on the water again. The weekly series doesn't start until next week but, with the mast up, why waste a Wednesday? This was a shakedown event for boat and crew.

Chris is on sick leave; Janet will do foredeck. David wants to learn about spinnakers and so will fill the mastman position. Emi is the new addition and will replace David on pit. Charles and I retain our roles as tactician and helm.

I had thought of doing an around the island however I got a feeling from the crew that this was too ambitious for a first sail. We ended up heading south and tried to do a mark rounding at Gibraltar. The chute didn't cooperate. No damage done. We were a bit out of practise; hopefully we did enough to activate dormant muscle memories.

Mast Step 2009

Mast is up! The crew decided to do the mast stepping on Wednesday rather than Sunday. I was a bit concerned as David and I were the only ones to make it on time. We were able to help Harrier and Kokomo step their masts before Emi and Charles arrived.

It was a bit chilly and the threatened rain did not start until after supper. A good breeze from the east didn't have an impact on the project. I was my usual hesitant self about what to do; but as things progressed I became more confident. For the last 3 years I haven't needed to step the mast. Even with tasks that I have repeated every year, I am amazed at how much I forget. I think this was the first year that I managed to thread the main sheet without having to redo it a few times.

So looking forward to the practise event next Wednesday.