1990 Canadian Sailcraft CS34 Shoal Draft
Sail #8268

1982 Catalina 22 Fin Keel
Sail #10506

1994 MUMM 36 ACE
Sail # 29206

Sunday, June 22, 2014

CS34 Toronto Islands

Woke up at around 8am with a sore head!

Had breakfast on the CBYC patio:

Very nice!
We headed out around 11am and toured around the CBYC basin:

Touring CBYC basin
It was neat to see the 25 or so floating homes they have there:



Some are on MLS:

http://beta.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?PropertyId=14469596

Motored along shore in about 30ft of water, passing the beaches area near Ashbridges Bay.  There were several large sailing regattas offshore from Toronto Island.

We went into the eastern gap:

Route in Toronto Harbour
We toured just offshore on the North shore of Toronto Harbour, then around Hanlan's wall down to the water treatment plant there.  Coming back we watched the start of a Dragon Boat race.  AMAZING.  Next we toured around RCYC.

We popped in to National to see our raceboat ACE

Still Time on the left
ACE on the diagonal
It was getting close to 3pm, so we decided to anchor over off Hanlan's Point.  Tons of boats anchored there.  Through binoculars we could see the naked people on the busy beach.

Went to start the BBQ and BOTH propane tanks were empty!  D'oh, what are the chances?

We motored back around the Island and home, getting in around 8:30pm.


Trip Odometer: 47.6 miles
Moving Average: 5.7 knots
Moving Time: 08:22:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140622.kmz

Saturday, June 21, 2014

CS34 Whitby Commodore's Cruise

Whitby's Commodore's Cruise to Cathedral Bluffs Yacht Club (CBYC) with over FOURTY boats making the trip.

I got to the boat at 8am to get her hull and topsides a scrub; man she was filthy!

Our friends Chris and Meryl from Port Hope came along.

We loaded the boat, went for a pumpout, and headed out.

No wind to speak of, so we motored the entire way following the shoreline. 
New autopilot and remote worked GREAT! 

We popped into Frenchman's Bay to check out the work they have done on the harbour; the entrance is much improve.  Going across the bay to FBYC, we had to stopped and backup to get the weeds off of our keel.  We could only 2 knots a full throttle!

We were one of the last boats to get to CBYC, and when I called in on the VHF, they assigned us a slip on the north wall.  Well it turns out we were parking in Coug's old slip!

Coug's old slip

Clubhouse in the background

The party on the lawn of the clubhouse was fun.  Burn your own BBQ and potluck was great!

Chris, Meryl, Bogart, and Rita
A good time was had by all.

Trip Odometer: 19.5 miles
Moving Average: 4.7 knots
Moving Time: 04:10

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140621.kmz

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

C22 Whitby Race Night NOT

Melissa and I out for a night out on the water.

Winds were forecast for 6-12 knots from the SE, so full main and #1.

Got out on the water and NO WIND.

The committee boat delayed for 15 minutes and then cancelled.

Trip Odometer: 4.13 miles
Moving Average: 3.4 knots
Moving Time: 01:12:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140618.kmz

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Whitby Thunderstorms

Working on the boat down below in the cabins, when MAJOR thunderstorms came through.

The top of the mast was pitching back and forth about 6ft.

Instruments recorded the maximum wind speed:


Good thing I didn't go out!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Blow the Guy

Teaching my 27 year old daughter Melissa to sail, and today for father's day we got the opportunity to fly the symmetric spinnaker.   We had great time flying the chute in very light winds.

I was explaining the spinnaker sheets and guys, pole uphaul and downhaul. 
Girls have sheets and guys have a pole.

Coming near the harbour, it was time to douse the spinnaker, so I explained that I had to "blow the guy" to take the spinnaker down.

She laughed and said "as long as it is not in the cockpit".

FUNNY



C22 Whitby Centennial Bowl on Father's Day

Melissa came out to race with her Dad in the medium distance race.  This race counts toward overall standings, and we were the only boat in our class that came out.  There were 14 boats out for the race.

Winds were forecast to be VERY light at 3-4 knots from the SE.  We didn't want to go 6 miles to the Ajax weather buoy and back because it would take 5 or 6 hours to complete in the light winds.  The race committee set a temporary mark 2 miles upwind and all 14 boats started in one start.

Full racing main and #1.

Winds were 6-7 knots at the start, and with Melissa on the helm, we got the boat going over 5 knots most of the time upwind.  I showed her a lot about sail trim and sailing the boat to the tell tales.  She did really well.

Getting near the windward mark, the winds were dying, and I knew we would be out a LONG time coming back 2 1/2 miles with only 4 knots of wind, so, I decided to rig the spinnaker up for the DOWNWIND leg back home.  We were last to the windward mark, not too far behind Aftica and a C&C 29 from Frenchman's Bay.

After rounding the mark, I dropped the #1 and hoisted the spinnaker.  I taught Melissa how the fly it and she did well.  We kept the boat moving between 3 and 4 knots the entire way back with the wind lightening near the finish.   We passed the C&C 29 and almost Aftica at the finish.

AWESOME

By flying the spinnaker, we scored an DNS in our division for purpose of overall season points, and placed last in the spinnaker division, but I was glad we got to fly it.  Melissa thought it was kewl, and we would have been out there a LONG time.

When we finished, the committee boat gave us the gun for being the first (and only) boat to cross the finish line in division 1.

Thanks Melissa, I had a great Father's Day!


Trip Odometer: 11.1 miles
Moving Average: 3.3 knots
Moving Time: 03:24:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140615.kmz


Saturday, June 14, 2014

C22 Whitby Yacht Club Open Regatta

Whitby Yacht Club was having their Open Regatta.  Boats were invited from all nearby clubs to participate, however, there were no other boats who attended.  The first two races counted as race 1&2 on series two.  The next two races were scored as spare races for races cancelled during the season for lack of wind.  This worked well because in previous years we only have 7-8 races out for the Open Regatta.  Keen races wanted to improve their points in the series AND overall.

WYC had 17 boat in the four classes.  All races were short courses.  Four boats in our class.

Chris came out to crew with me.  I played hockey with him for several years, and met up with him again last year as he was taking sailing lessons at our sailing school.  I had him out of the boat once last year, and once this year.  I put Chris on the helm to teach him.

Winds were forecast for 10 knots from the NW with gusts to 16, and diminish as the day went on.  We went out with full racing main and #2. 

Race 1

Out on the race course there was much more wind than expected.  We got out too late to change sails, so we tried the first race and were completely overpowered upwind.  At one point we had water coming over the coming and half filling the heeled cockpit.  We rounded up several times doing a 360.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140614-1.kmz

We came third across the line and in corrected time.  Too much canvas to race effectively.  Four and a half minutes behind the Sharks.

Race 2

After the first race, we dropped and roughly rolled the racing main, and put up the old main with a double reef in BOUNCY seas.  We were late getting the start line for the start by about 2 minutes.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140614-2.kmz

Boat was manageable, doing well upwind.

We came last across the line and in corrected time.  Bad start and slow reaching legs.  A full twelve minutes behind the Sharks.

Race 3

After our bad start, we wanted to have a good one in the next race.  We started on starboard tack luffing up so we didn't go over over early.  We had boats ALL around us.  Before the start we had Cheeky Monkey to windward of us, and several Viking 28s and C&C 29s below us.  30 seconds before the start, we were sheeting in to point to the line, and had a Viking 28 squeeze between the other boats and us, hitting us on the port side.  Chris naturally reacted and headed up to avoid, but the jib backwinded and we fell off hitting Cheeky Monkey with our bow.   There was nothing we could do.  The rules of racing say that we had to keep clear of the boats below us, however, the boats coming up below us have to avoid collusion when coming up.  They were yelling at us to go up, but we couldn't as we were close hauled.  We should have protested getting hit by the Viking, but we were glad to get out other there without any damage to our boat or others.

In the downwind leg we shook out the reefs in the main.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140614-3.kmz

We came third across the line and in corrected time.  Bad start, as we didn't cross the line for three minutes.  6 minutes behind the Sharks.

Race 4

Last race, we wanted to have a good start, but stay OUT of the dustup near the committee boat.  We went for a mid line start, and crossed right at the gun.

Winds were lightening, so I swapped out the #2 for the #1, and lost some time.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140614-4.kmz

A full 12 minutes behind the Sharks.


It was a fun regatta, and in the four races, we got a flag for 3rd place out of four boats.  Chris learned a lot over the course of the day.  The Sharks are fast boats, and sailed by skippers and crews that have a lot more experience that me.  I am amazed how they always seem to take the shortest route to the windward mark.  I can keep up with them upwind with boat speed and pointing, but they are beating me on starts, tactics, knowing when to tack to the get to the mark the fastest.  The Sharks also have more sail controls like a wider traveler and jib cunninghams that make adjusting the boat in varying conditions faster and easier.


Trip Odometer: 24.1 miles
Moving Average: 4.1 knots
Moving Time: 05:51:00

Friday, June 13, 2014

CS34 Friday the 13th Full Moon Cruise

Got out on the water just before dark with Commodore Berry.

Wind was howling from the NW in the low 20s, with gusts as high as 30 knots.

Put a double reef in the main, and unfurled all of the 130% jib.

Smoking along at 7 knots on a beam reach with very little heel.
Got a little wavy toward the Ajax weather buoy.

Autopilot functioned perfectly.
Autopilot wireless remote functioned perfectly.

Coming back, almost close hauled we had our speed at 7.2 knots for the longest of time.


The moon was spectacular!

Sailing with Sumac

What a great night on the water!

Trip Odometer: 12.4 miles
Moving Average: 5.2 knots
Maximum Speed: 8.0 knots
Moving Time: 02:22:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140613.kmz



CS34 Autopilot Wireless Remote

The new Raymarine Evolution EV-100 autopilot is performing well on the boat.

It keeps a very good course, as proven in our Friday moonlight cruise.  I told the autopilot to track to the Ajax weather buoy (6 miles), and in the dark, we would have hit it if when we got there.

Really like the wind vane mode: you set your sails for the point of sail and the autopilot will steer the boat to keep the same wind angle.

Icing on the cake would be a remote control for it.  The wireless remote would allow you to engage/disengage and alter course from anywhere on the boat.

The offering from Raymarine are expensive at $500 and close to $1,000 for the more advanced model.

I found a company in Australia who makes a 3rd part wireless remote for $200.

Decided to give it a try.

http://www.madmanmarine.com/shop/4576847477/AP-WRC2-Remote-Control/6352361

It was a simple 3 wire install and it works great!



The waterproof FOB could be worn on a lifejacket, and has a range of about 200ft, so I could be used to turn the boat around in a single handed man overboard situation

Madman is a great company to deal with.  There was a question on if the unit would work in the new Evolution autopilot, and the owner Neil assured me it would.  I did have to buy an expensive Raymarine cable to convert SeaTalk1 to SeaTalkNG.  You would need the same cable for the Raymarine wireless remotes.


C22 Whitby Single Handed

Three boats: the two Sharks skippered by the father/son Cam and Jason Berry.

Winds were constant 15 knots from the SE.
Course was set to 7 short.

Went out with a double reef and #2.
Perfect amount of sail.

I am now convinced that the racing main should only be used in less than 10 knots of breeze.

Was able to keep up with the Sharks upwind, but lost ground on the downwind lets.

Found out what was the matter with the autohelm: the battery was dead!

Fog was very thick making finding the marks difficult.

Waves were a factor upwind.

I tacked too soon on the last upwind leg and had to throw two more tacks in.

Finish 3rd (OK last), but not too far behind. 

Great night on the water!

Trip Odometer:  7.49 miles
Moving Average: 4.8 knots
Moving Time: 01:33:00

Max Speed: 7.3 knots!

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140612.kmz


Thursday, June 12, 2014

C22 Whitby Race Night

Just John and I tonight.

Windfinder was predicting 8-10 knots from the SE and diminishing after 7pm.
Full racing main and #2.
Course was set to 7 long.

Once out on the water, there was much more wind.  We could see whitecaps meaning there was at least 12-15 knots of wind out there.  With the prediction that the winds would diminish, we decided to ride it out.

Come race time, I was contemplating going with a the old main with a reef or two and the #3.  However, the thought of changing out the bolt rope main in 20+ knots of wind with very wavy seas did not appeal to me.

Upwind we were overpowered.  We just dropped the traveler and sheet and John did a good job of feathering the tiller to keep the boat on its feet pretty much using the foresail alone.  Anytime we tried to bring the main in, we would start to round up.

Downwind wing on wing, we did fairly well, but we dared not put a pole out on the genoa.  Too much wind and waves to risk being up on the foredeck.  Brian from FlyBuoy had his whisker pole fold in half when his genoa backwinded.

We had several boats withdraw, including Road Trip! who had their traveler break.

We came last way behind the Sharks by over 10 minutes.  Those Sharks like the heavy weather.

We did the best we could with our over canvased situation. 

For our efforts we took a 3rd of 5 boats in corrected time in our class.


Trip Odometer: 11.6 miles
Moving Average: 5.4 knots
Moving Time: 02:09:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140611.kmz

Friday, June 6, 2014

Clarington Rib Fest

Decided to take a break from boating this Friday and attend the Clarington Rib Fest.

It was located at the local sports complex about 4km from Rita's house.  Parking can be a little crazy, so we got our bikes out and took the back roads and trails to the event.

Probably about half way there going down a hill, I went to jump the curb to get on the bike trail, AND MY WHEEL CAME OFF!  Over the handlebars I went road rash everywhere.
  • both hands
  • foot
  • knee
  • shoulder
  • face
Cop was driving by stopped as I bled on the sidewalk.  Cop drove me back to Rita's place and she drove her bike back.  We picked up the disabled bike on the way to hospital.

At emergency for almost 3 hours.


Ripped my favourite shirt.

The doctor used crazy glue instead of stitches to seal the wounds on my face.

Rita went to the Rib Fest and brought back some ribs for us to enjoy in the waiting room.

Could have been worst I guess.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140606.kmz

Thursday, June 5, 2014

C22 Whitby Singled Handed

LOTS of wind tonight!

At the dock it was registering 19 knots from the NW with gusts to 25.

I rigged up a double reef and #3 and left the dock.

Two boats: Still Time and Cheeky Monkey.
Course was set for 2 medium.

Coming out of the harbour, there was less wind, so I dropped the #3 and hoisted the #2.  Was challenging as the autohelm is not holding a course!  I sailed around for a while and decided to shake out the double reef for a single.

Had a bad start, as I going to go over the line early, so I had to throw in a 360, but wrapped the jib sheet on the drum!  We were neck and neck at the windward mark.

Winds were dropping, so I decided to shake out the single reef for full mainsail. 
Friggan autohelm is useless!
Had to move the outhaul from the reef point to the clew of the main; what a nightmare!  Turning all over the place and did a couple of 360s.  That is NOT racing!  I should have just left the reef in.

At the leeward mark, got the jib sheet wrapped around the winch handle and couldn't undo it.  Dead in the water with the jib backwinded.  TERRIBLE.

Wind started picking up again, and boat was being overwhelmed with the full baggy main.

Finished 6 minutes behind the Shark.

Frustrating race, but It was good to be sailing with some wind on a nice night.

Trip Odometer: 10.70 miles
Moving Average: 4.3 knots
Moving Time: 02:30:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140605.kmz

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

C22 Whitby Race Night

Winds were forecast for 12 knots with gusts to the 20s from the NW at race time.

Melissa could not make it, so I recruited Chris who I used to play hockey with who had taken sailing lessons last year the WYC.  Chris crewed with us once last year too.

We rigged up a double reef and #2.

Once out on the water, the winds were less, as we didn't see any white caps on the water (so less then 12 knots), so we shook the double reef out.

Single reef was the Perfect amount of sail.

Course was set to 1 medium.
We had 5 boats in division 1.

We had a not so great start on starboard tack mid line, but were in everybody's dirt, so we tacked quickly to port.  We went a little too far out and lost ground to the two Sharks and the T-Bird.

We were a little overwhelmed in the puffs; just dumped the mainsheet to keep the boat from rounding up.

We finished in 4th place way behind the Sharks and T-Bird.

Trip Odometer: 11.1 miles
Moving Average: 4.6 knots
Moving Time: 02:24:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140604.kmz

Monday, June 2, 2014

MUMM36 Susan Hood Trophy Race

Mark, Peter, and I met and the club and drove to National where we met Kris, Mike, Michael, Carson, and Jenny getting the boat ready.  Leon was meeting us at Port Credit.

We hoisted Kris up the mast to install our new "wireless" VHF antenna.

Peter got busy wiring the VHF in the cabin, I installed jacklines for clipping off, and everyone else got the boat packed with gear.

We motored over to PCYC.

We are in IRC 1 division with 6 other boats.

We had eight people on the boat:
  • Me
  • Kris
  • Mike
  • Micheal
  • Jenny
  • Peter
  • Mark
  • Leon
Weatherman Ron Bianchi predicted light winds with little to no shore breezes on the south shore.

At the start, the water was flat with a NW wind about 6 knots.  We kept near all boats in our start all the way to the Burlington mark sailing on a very close reach.

Friday night sunset
We purposely stayed north of the rhumb line to catch some shore breezes, plus the wind was forecast to swing to the N meaning we could possibly fly a spinnaker to the mark, which we did. We passed the Burlington mark at 12:33am gybing under spinnaker around it.

After the Burlington mark, the north wind of about 3-4 knots put us on a broad reach towards Niagara.  On the new boat, the polars showed that this point of sail with that little wind was the slowest for the MUMM 36; and it showed!  We stayed with the fleet for several hours, but the waves started to build, and we found it very difficult to keep the spinnaker drawing and ANY boat speed, so we reached up at little to keep the boat moving.  Plus we didn't want to go into shore like the weatherman Ron had said.

In the middle of the lake in the dark, winds started dropping.  We had gotten away the overall north wind and any south shore breezes and into a wind transition zone.  Winds were variable, and shifting over 90 degrees all over the place.  I took the helm for while, and it seemed like we were going in circles!  For over an hour we had ZERO boat speed!  Meanwhile we watched half of the fleet a mile or two to the south of us zooming by with wind and boat speed!

Uggghhhh

In hoisting a spinnaker on the foredeck, I lost my hat overboard, and we couldn't get it.  This meant I was baking in the sun for rest the of the day!

Winds picked up slightly to 5 knots as we hobbled to Niagara, and we started gaining on the fleet.  At the Niagara mark, we counted 60 boats ahead of us!  The point of sail to the finish was a close reach, so we couldn't fly a spinnaker in the light winds.  We found that we could sail at the speed of the wind with everyone on the low side, include several down below near the keel on the low side.

At the helm on a tight reach at a blazing 2.5 knots of boat speed in 2.5 knots of wind!

It was this leg that we caught a lot of the compressed fleet; we alternated between genoa and spinnaker as the winds shifted slightly.  In the end we found the genoa worked the best.


Near the finish

At the finish we counted 45 boats behind us.


Boats at the finish line after we were done
We were very proud of how we sailed the new boat in these conditions.

We finish 2nd in our division, but last (9th) in corrected time in the IRC fleet of 15 boats (5 had abandoned the race).

http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=966

Our fatal mistake we going into the middle of the lake between Burlington and Niagara.

Wish we could have seen the GPS tracks of the other boats, but there isn't mandatory tracking for the Susan Hood.

In delivering the boat back to National, winds had picked up to 15 knots from the NE;
WHERE WAS THAT DURING THE RACE?
Oh well, that is sailboat racing for you!

Trip Odometer: 84.6 miles
Moving Average: 3.5
Moving Time: 24:26:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2014/20140531.kmz