Non race race

It was the sort of night that nothing happened but everything happened. The rain had cleared by 16:00 but there was wind. Normally I wouldn't go out in wind gusting over 25 knots. Races are different. The wind was gusting up to 35 knots. I had a consultation with the crew: Jamie, Janet, and Melissa.

I felt comfortable that we could handle the situation. It would be uncomfortable and the conditions would be challenging. I have a high regard of Jamie's abilities and I felt he would have no problem. I think I am honest with my crew assessments and I believed that Janet and Melissa would be OK. I wanted to be clear that it was up to each crew member to decide if it was too much. The crew should not be pressured into going. We decided to go.

We had the boat on the hook when the RC went into AP. Rather than launch or put the boat back we decided to leave it pending clarification from the PRO. I told Richard we would launch if he wanted to go. He decided to launch so we put the boat in the water. It was a bit difficult using the crane in the high wind. I almost lost the windex. Almost. We tied the bow to the dinhy dock. The RC decided to head out. I couldn't get the motor to run so we sailed off the dock. I wanted to use the western most exit. As a result we threaded our way through the yachts anchored in the outer basin.


Grand National was about a mile and a half south of Ontario Place. As we rounded the Ontario Place point and entered Humber Bay, the gusts became more intense. The wind was from the north north west and was pretty intense in the open waters of the Bay. The shackle on the jib gave way. Jamie went forward to control the sail. A bit of a rough ride. I tried to sort of feather the boat and keep things a bit depowered. The boat was more or less headed directly into the waves. Jamie got things sorted and we headed back.

The westerly wind direction meant we had to do a few gybes. In these conditions you don't want to be headed directly downwind for fear of an accidental gybe. However a broad reach meant we were not able to sail the most direct course to the club. It was a bit of a challenge. The boom swinging across the boat can be intimidating. There was no problem; we handled the challenging situation.

The docking was the next problem. The quay was on a leeshore. My intention was to sail into the harbour and head up into the wind just as we came to the dinghy dock. (The dinghy dock is about 90 degrees to quay.) The boat was going too fast and I didn't get the boat headed up as I planned. We avoided any mishap but it was not my best docking. We got lots of help from other drysailers who decided not to go out after all (including Richard!).

It was a non race but not a non event.