ACE Susan Hood Trophy Race Delivery

Took the Friday off from work, as lots of prep to do, left for National around 11am.

Crew for the race:

• Mike (driver)
• Kris (driver)
• Me (bow)
• Jenny (runners)
• Michael (pit)
• Peter (jib)
• Mark (jib)
• Nathan (runners)

We met Michael and Nathan in Port Credit for the race.

We spent the afternoon getting the boat prepped:

• install life ring
• install jack lines
• install heaving line
• install line bags
• load food and drinks
• load and store gear
• fitting new oversized spinnaker pole
• cleaning and organizing below

Mike had left the boat plugged in overnight to charge the house battery and I was amazed how the de-humidifier had removed two gallons of water from the interior of the boat.

We left the dock a National a little after 4pm, arriving at 5:30pm

Toronto behind us

Winds were 10 knots from the SE, perfect for us to try the new spinnaker and pole.  We hoisted it as soon as we cleared the harbour.

The girth of the chute is carried very high

Oversized (longer) pole

Kris flying the new chute



On the way we discovered that the boat speed was not registering on the instruments.  Boat speed is calculated with a paddle wheel through the hull.  We still had the GPS that would give us speed over ground.  It is nice to have this as you can tell how much current you are sailing against or with.  Plus, the instruments can calculate the true wind from math from the apparent wind and boat speed.

Mark and I removed the transducer that holds the paddle wheel, and quickly put in the plug.  Only about a liter of water got into the boat.

One of the six paddles on the transducer had broken off.  The transducer works by counting using electromagnetism the paddles passing the inside of the transducer.  The paddle would stop spinning at the missing paddle.

I called FOG marine (Mason's The Store), and they said they may have one, but they close at 6pm.  As soon as I jumped off the boat, I found Jim Blaney from Whitby Yacht Club who was racing on WYC's Sandpiper skipped by Les Abrams.  He drove me into Port Credit.

Unfortunately, the replacement paddles they had were FOUR blade and would not work.

Too bad, ohh, well, I bought a new pair of sailing gloves.

Thanks Jim!