C22 Covered

Been wanting to get little Still Time covered for the past month, but every time I tried it too cold, rainy, or windy.  Today was 8 degrees, dry, and no wind, so I headed to the club after work.

I recycled the shrink wrap from last year.

Last year, I had attached some plastic conduit pipes to the stantions, but Still Time doesn't have stantions anymore.  I fashioned up some 2x4s to hold the pipes up.  Rita helped me put the cover on, and tied it to the cradle with additional string.  Looks good; will have to tape a couple of small pieces on the front and back.

Without the shrink wrap, there is 3" of water in the bilge that I will have to vaccuum out before it has a chance to freeze.

Did a quick check of the CS34, and it was dry as a bone.

Whitby Yacht Club Awards Night

Year End awards night at the Whitby Yacht Club.  Full house with over 170 people attending, including Ian McAllister and Brian Townsend from PCYC.

Rita and I sat at a table with David and Tommy Sue, Rob and Katherine, and Ken Armes and his wife.
Diner was excellent!

I ended up winning the "Cruiser of the Year" for best ships log for what you see on these pages.

Cruiser of the Year presented by Shawn Brayman

Came as a surpise to me.

Other awards:

• 2nd overall PHRF division 1
• 1st singlehanded Summer Series
• 2nd singlehanded Winter Series
• 1st overall singlehanded 

Also got flags for all the series and cup races during the season.

1st overall singlehanded presented by George Poulias

The four piece band was excellent with the dance floor full the entire night.

It was a really great night!

CS34 Covered

After a couple of failed attemps by Rita and I to get the cover on in the COLD, I took advantage of:

Myself, Colin, and Dave took a little over an hour in T shirts to put the frame up and get the cover on.

Bow

Still Time on Sirius Radio

Listening to Sirius Satellite Radio the other day:



This song by our favourite Canadian artist is where we came up with the name for the boat.

http://www.ronsexsmith.com/music/songography/ron_lyrics.aspx?songid=9998107f-4771-45e8-83b2-84fac53c8cd1

CS34 Haul Out

Start of lift

Clearing H20

Bottom shot

Over to cradle

Lowering in cradle

Richard positioning the keel

Snugging up pads

Removing lifting straps

Winter home

Nice

C22 Haul Out

Start of lift

On way down

Positioning in cradle

Removing lifting straps

I mounted my GOPRO on the bow pullpit:

 http://youtu.be/o84osdk2XUY

KEWL

Reflections on the 2012 Season

Sitting on the CS34 the evening before haulout looking at my sailing blog.

Here are some stats:

• 1645 nautical miles
• 4.9 knots moving average
• 334 hours of sailing
• 13.91 days of sailing

81 times off the dock:

• once on Sumac (Viking 33)
• once on Moonlight Mistress (Hughes 38)
• 4 on Coug (Peterson 41)
• 7 on Smart Move (Beneteau 473 in BVIs)
• 14 on Santeria (Evelyn 24)
• 22 on the CS34
• 33 on the CS22 (one shake down trip)

In January, we bare boat chartered a Beneteau 473 for a week in the British Virgin Islands with Walter and Colleen from WYC.  This was our first experience in the Carribean, and we loved it!


Racing on Coug was awesome; I learned a lot from everyone.  We really had a good race in the Susan Hood.  The 300 was a great experience, except for sailing into that hole in Rochester.  Mike, Carson, Chris, and Mark were great to sail with.

• 2nd in our fleet in the Susan Hood  (8th of 65 overall)
• 4th in our fleet in the LO300 (28th of 45 overall)

Racing on Santeria was awesome.  I love sailing with Neil and Peter; the three of us are better sailors because of the experiences we had together.  Santeria WON the overall title in Newcastle against some 35 ft boats in the fleet.

I was out racing on the C22 2 or 3 times a week.  I love sailing this boat, I know how to get her going, I know she can handle anything that Lake Ontario can throw at her.  John and I really sailed her well this season.

• Summer Singlehanded Series: first
• Series One: fourth
• Series Two: second
• Series Three: second
• Series Four: second
• Centenial Bowl: first
• Mayor's Cup: fouth
• Fall Regatta: second
• Stonehaven: second
• Fall Singlehanded Series: second
• Frostbite Series: second

Plans for the C22:

• new jib cars
• new jib tracks
• new turnbuckles
• new spinnaker track/car
• new tiller

Having said all this, I may sell her in the spring.  Fleet ownership is tough, and I can get my racing fix on other boats.  Would like to do some more cruising on the weekends on the big boat.

Rita and I were out cruising a lot on the CS34.  We slept aboard her a lot during the summer, as the boat is closer to work.  She is comfortable, sails well, and we are starting to get used to her.  She was a great hotel in Port Credit and Hamilton. Cruising to the 1000 Islands was awesome inspite of the motor problems we had. However, we didn't sail her too much after August.  Rita commented that we should rename her to "Part Time"; this is the nature of busy lives and weather for a cruising boat.

Plans for the CS34:

• Garhauer Rigid Vang
• replace all plumbing hoses
• replace all scupper hoses
• electric head
• re-upholster salon cushions
• new instruments on cockpit bulkhead
• new binnacle angle guard
• mount instrument pod
• install new VHF and remote mike in pod

Have a lot of work to do in the next couple of weeks after the boats come out of the water.

C22 Last Sail

Got down to the club and got the CS34 all ready for haulout.  Levelled BOTH cradles.  Replace the carpet on the pad on the CS34.  Good thing, the carpet was rotted!

Got out on the water with the C22 a little after 3pm.  Winds were forecast to be 15 to 20 knots from the east with a temperature of 15 degress.  With the sun it felt warmer.  Little Still Time had a double reef in the main from last time out, so I hoisted the #3 and went out, coming out of the harbour under sail at 6.1 knots on a close reach.  Perfect amount of sail; little heal, very comfortable.

Autohelm kept me going straight whiltst I cleaned and organized below.  Winds diminished the further I went out, but didn't drop below 4 knots of boat speed.  Ended up going 5 miles out into the lake.  On the way back, found some light patches, and decided to shake out the reefs in the mainsail.  With full main, the boat powered up and speed picked up to almost 6 knots.  According the the GPS my max speed was 7.4 knots.

Richard and Kay on Jabberwocky

Leaving harbour entrance

Double reef in the main

What an awesome sail!

Panoramic shot with phone about 4 miles offshore
Click for full size

Nice shot

After shaking the reefs out of the main

Smokin along in comfort

 Put the boat in basin where it will be hauled out tomorrow.  Took some time and loosened all the turnbuckles, removed all the lines, and got Wenzle and Jack Dinsdale to help me drop the mast at the dock.  The three of us walked the mast to the rack.  THANKS GUYS!

There was a launch party upstairs at the club.  Great food, great people, great music.  Rita and I had fun.

Staying on the big boat tonight, as first lift starts at 7am.

Trip Odometer: 10.0 miles
Moving Avg: 4.8 knots
Moving Time: 02:03:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20121019.kmz

Haulout

Two more days until haulout!

I skipped the last singlehanded race to get my mast cleaned up.
Dave Irons/Rodgers helped me move it over to the racks.

Helped new member Colin take his mast down.

We all attended the haulout meeting at the club.
This year I will be driving a tow boat.

Tasks to complete before haulout on the CS34:

• cleanup boom on deck
• cleanup lines on deck
• remove BBQ
• remove dodger/bimini frame
• lube pads
• level cradle
• cradle keel wood
• mark lift points

Also going to remove the carpet off the pads and replace with rigid styrofoam.

 

Have to get the dingy out the water, cleaned up, folded up, and put in its bag. 

Will probably do this after haulout.

 

I am going to sail the C22 one more time tomorrow before taking down the mast on Friday night.

• remove sails
• remove boom
• remove mast
• lube pads
• stern line
• level cradle
• cradle keel wood
• mark lift points

 

Only 198 days until Launch in 2013!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CS34 Mast

Took the afternoon off work to take my mast down with Walter Pingle.
I was planning on doing it last in the week, but the weather and winds are forecast to be nasty all week.

Took the sails off and the boom
Flaked the genoa and put in car to take home.
Took the battens out of the main and rolled it and stored it below.

Did a pump out before heading the mast crane.
Walter and Roger Ryan helped out.

Took the windex, wind instrument, and VHF antenna off.

Mast is on the lawn to get the spreaders off and lines cleaned up before moving it to the mast racks.

C22 Whitby Frostbite Blowout

Winds were forecast for 15 knots with gusts over 20 from the west.
Spent some time on the dock putting in a double reef and hanking on the #3 jib (110%).
Singlehanded.

Got out past the breakwall, and was overwelmed with just this amount of sail.  Had to feather the tiller to luff up into the wind to keep the boat on its feet.  Did not really have any weather helm, as the main was eased to dump air.  Should have switched to the storm jib (75%), but there was NO WAY I was going on deck to change the head sail.

There were 6 boats out, and Beserk was registering 26 knots constant with gusts in the high 30s. 
We decided to abandon the races.

Too bad, really had the boat going.  On the way back in I was doing over 8 knots of speed on a beam reach, with max speed of 11.3 knots.  That is the fastest I have EVER had Still Time go!

Trip Odometer: 5.28 miles
Moving Avg: 6.5 knots!!!
Moving Time: 48:52:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20121006.kmz

C22 Whitby Single Handed

Got out on the water at 5pm.
Winds were 12 knots from the SE at the start.
Full main and light #1.
Course was shortened 7 short (triangle).

Four boats:

• Still Time
• Gruntled
• Cheeky Monkey
• Iris

Had a decent start, winds were puffing to 15 knots, almost rounding up.
About half way to the first mark, the wind completely died.
GPS was measuring 0.0 knots, no steerage, sails FLAPPING in the 2ft lumps.
Windex was doing circles!

There was a CS36 coming out of the harbour under full sail just cooking along, so I pointed the boat to get to the wind line as soon as possible.  I left Gruntled and Iris behind and chased Cheeky Monkey to the windward mark.  Wind had dropped down to the 5 to 6 knot range from the east.

Finished right with Gruntled about 3 mintues behind Cheeky Monkey.
Probably good for a 2nd place finish on corrected time.

Trip Odometer: 9.19 miles
Moving Avg: 3.9 knots
Moving Time: 02:22:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20121003.kmz

Joys of Fleet Ownership (cradle the cradles)

Last weekend, the club did a rough placement of the cradles.

Today I put the labels on the big boat's cradle, and re-labeled the little boat's cradle with a black sharpie.


CS34

C22

C22 Raymarine ST1000+

In June I picked up a used autohelm for $60 off of Kijiji.
I took a chance thinking even it it doesn't work, it would be good for spare parts.
A new unit is over $500.

I hooked it up to 12v, and the display lights up, but the ram would not move.

I opened up the unit and discovered that the stepper motor is rusted and siezed:

Old Autohelm 800 above
ST1000+ below

The ciruit board is different, but has the same connections for the stepper motor.
The stepper motor and ram mechanism are the same.

Will probably Frankenstein the two units together

C22 Whitby Frostbite Series Races 5&6

Beautiful, sunny and warm, with winds from the south 6-10 knots.
Full main and light #1.
Singlehanded.

I had taken my ailing autopilot apart and greased the internals, and it worked fine!

Race 1

Course was 6 short.

Got the boat going well, but so did everyone else.
Played around with barber hauling the genoa sheets inward when close hauled.
This would have the same effect as installing inward genoa tracks.
Still Time definately pointed higher in these lighter winds, as the sails were fuller.
It allowed me to move the cars forward, pulling the leach tight so the genoa matched the shape of the main.  Installing these tracks would cost a couple hundred dollars, for about a 3" difference in jib sheeting.  I think barber hauling is a good solution instead of cluttering the deck with jib tracks/cars and having to move the sheets to outboard/inboard cars.

Came in last about 5 mintues behind everyone else.  However, in corrected time, 2nd of four boats.  The Catalina 25 Iris was first and the two Tartans were behind us in corrected time.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120930-1.kmz

Race 2

Couse was 6 short.

Got off to a great start, and beat the other three boats to the windward mark.
At the mark, I was concentrating on setting the sails for the next leg, and accidentally hit the mark.  Immediately did a 720 for a penalty (should have only done a 360!).

Winds were dying on the 2nd leg to less than 4 knots, so they shortened the course to a triangle.  On the 3rd leg, the winds were down to less than 2 knots, and I got knocked about 45 degrees away from the finish.

NOTE TO SELF: if you need to take a penalty turn, don't take it when the winds are up; take it later in the race when you absolutely have to.

Finished, but well behind all the other boat other than IRIS who finished after me.  Good enough for a 3rd.

The other racers were amazed that we persisted and finished!

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120929-2.kmz


Trip Odometer: 14.30 knots
Moving Avg: 3.5 knots
Moving Time: 04:03:00

C22 Whitby Single Handed

Got out on the water at 5:30pm, for the 6pm start, we had 6 boats.

North wind, 10 knots, full main and light #1.
Course was 1 short.

Got the boat going really well, right with Cheeky Monkey the entire race.  The Shark pulled ahead a little on the downwind leg.

Finished 5th, 3 minutes behind Cheeky Monkey who was 3 mintues behind Gruntled.
Probably catch some on handicap.

Good race.

Trip Odometer: 9.42 miles
Moving Avg: 4.5 knots
Moving Time: 02:05:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120926.kmz

C22 Whitby Frostbite Series Races 3&4

Got to the boat at around 10:30am, and gave her a good bath with a bucket, soap, and scrub brush.  Man she was filthy on the outside!  She has been neglected this year.

Took crew from the bank.  Karen is new to sailing, but has been out one or twice with Peter on Sumac.

Winds were howling at 15 knots with gusts over 25!  Put the old main on with a reef and the #3.

Karen was keen, and learned a lot as we practiced a couple of tacks before the race.  Before the start, I noticed that my power chord was dragging about 15 ft into the water of the bow.  I had to go forward to get it.  Karen took the tiller and steered us straight, as I went forward.  A huge wave broke over the bow with me on the pulpit putting the power chord in its place.  I was ALMOST thrown overboard.  I had both hands on the pulpit, and both legs up to my hips were overboard in the water.  I should have had a tether on, but I don't think it would have prevented me from going over.

First Race

We started at 8 because a couple of boats were late getting out.

8-4-6-8-4-8 was the course.

Boat was overwealmed in the puffs, but powered up nicely to pound through the waves.  Thought about putting a 2nd reef in, the winds and waves were too much.  Put the companionway board in. 
The main was also too bagged at the foot, but I couldn't do anything about it.

We finished last about 10 minutes behind everyone.


Second Race

8-4-6-8-9-8 was the course.

The winds were slightly diminished, but the waves were getting bigger.
I hove to at the start line, and hooked up the outhaul on the first reef to flatten the bottom on the sail.

We were late to cross the start line, but the flattened main made the boat sail much better.  After about 5 mins, the outhaul line line popped out of its jam cleet, and we were back to a baggy main.  Karen tried to tighten it, but the jam cleat broke off the boom.

There were many times we were heeled over so much that water was coming in the cockpit, filling the coaming boxes.  We were BOTH soaked.

Some of the waves were 8 to 10 ft!

Trip Odometer: 20.2 miles
Moving Avg: 5.6 knots
Moving Time: 03:37:00

Google Earth Track 1: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120922-1.kmz
Google Earth Track 1: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120922-2.kmz

Looking at the GPS, our maximum speed was 11.2 knots surfing down a wave!

It was fun, we came last, and I was sore!
Got the sails off and folded, and I went below.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH WATER!
The bilge was full, took about 10 mins to vaccuum out.
The carpets were soaked.

When heeled over on a starboard tack with water coming over the cockput coamings exposes the cowl vents for the port fuel locker.  Water was rushing in these vents.  There was probably a foot of water in the port aft sail locker.  Everything was soaked!  Still Time was sitting way aft on her lines a the dock.

Port locker water

I have a 2 gallon shopvac.  Took 6 gallons out of the bilge and 30 gallons out of the port locker.  One gallon of water weighs approximately 8 lbs., so I had almost 300 lbs of water inside the boat!

CS34 Leaky Lewars Update

We had major rain on Friday night, and the port that I did did not leak at all.

Took the time and replaced all the o-rings on the rest of the ports in the cabin.

Used a hose, and did not see any leaks!

Sampling of 22 year old o-rings

All of the o-rings were dry and compressed.  Some of them were shredded, and many of them were split.

Great fix!

C22 Whitby Single Handed

Winds were from the SW 12 knots with gusts to 16.  Old main with reef and heavy #1.

Course was a triangle (4-6-8-9).

Way too much head sail, could not point to well because I could not tension the luff on the genoa.

Came last, but was fun!

Trip Odometer: 9.12 miles
Moving Avg: 5.0 knots
Moving Time: 01:49:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120919.kmz

C22 Whitby Frostbite Series Races 1&2

Races 1 & 2 from the 8 race Frostbite series.  Disappointed we only had 5 boats out, with 2 in my class.

Winds were light and variable from the NW; full main and light #1; singlehanded.

Start was delayed because of no wind. 

First Race

When we did start the first race, but made it just a windward/leeward two legs. 
Had to work very hard to find the puffs of wind.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120915-1.kmz

Second Race

Wind had swung around 180 to the south, course was set to 5 short, and shortened to a triangle

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120915-2.kmz



Finished both races fairly close to the Iris, but probably took them on PHRF.

Trip Odometer: 12.00 miles
Moving Avg: 3.1 knots
Moving Time: 04:51:00

C34 Leaky Lewmars

My 1990 CS34 has 14 opening Lewmar portlights.  When it rains with any force, all the ports are leaking at the hatch dogs.  The hatch dogs attach to the lenses on the port and force the lenses to seal against a gasket.

Google search told me to clean the rubber gaskets and work some petroleum jelly to make them more subtle.  This didn't work.

Last weekend, we had major rains, and I had to put buckets, cups, pans, underneath most of the ports to keep the cushions dry.  Something needs to be done.

I found a vendor from Seattle WA, called New Found Metals.  They have really nice stainless steel opening ports.  Would be a nice upgrade for Still Time.  However, when I priced them out, it would come to $7k for the 14 ports!  Plus, they didn't have a size for the nine smaller ports, and I would have to cut the openings larger.

Another Google search referred me to Catalina Direct:

http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=1856&ParentCat=380

Hmmm... a trip the local plumbing supply store for some O-Rings and silicone grease.



The larger ports have 4 dogs on the bottom glass,
while the smaller have 2 of them



Here is a closeup of the dog



Shows how the dog is attached

Had to remove a plastic retainer to expose the screws

Dog removed

The dogs are supposed to ride on the o-ring, and not rub on the lens.  The old o-rings are compressed and or broken, allowing the dogs to rub on the lens.  If I were a 21 year old o-ring, I would be the same!


Used a small screwdriver to remove the o-ring



This o-ring was split!

Used silicone lubricant on the o-ring

I did the one window that leaks the most.  All the of o-rings were flat or broken.  When I removed the dog from the glass, there was water in the hole.

The o-rings and silicone grease cost under $20.

Time will tell; there's Still Time...

UPDATE: we had MAJOR rains yesterday, and not one drop of water from the port I replaced the o-rings on!

C22 Whitby Fall Singlehanded

First race of the Fall Singlehanded series.

Got down to the boat a little early and got the boat rigged up.  Battery was dead, so no autohelm; I rigged up a tiller tamer for the race.

Winds were 12-16 knots with from the SSW.  I went out with the old main with a reef and the heavy #1.  Course was shortened 4 short (triangle).

A little too much sail going upwind, but the winds were supposed to drop, and you can use the extra sail area on the reaching/downwind leg.

We had 5 boats: 

• Still Time
• Berserk
• Iris
• Cheeky Monkey
• Justintime

Everyone converged at the windward mark.

Everyone pulled ahead of me on the reaching/downwind legs.  Need to do something different!

Came last, but not too far behind the fleet.  On a 40 minute race, everyone crossed the line within four mintues.  The magic of PHRF will tell.

Trip Odometer: 8.58 miles
Moving Avg: 5.3 knots
Moving Time: 01:37:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120912.kmz

C22 Whitby Fall Regatta

Started putting my sails up at around 10am.  I wanted to change my 120lb Honda 8hp four stroke outboard for my 35lb Merc 60 two stroke outboard.  I took Still Time out of the slip, and backed her in so the outboard was sticking over the dock, allowing me to lift the Honda off easily.  Well, the old Merc did NOT fit on the outboard mount!  Had to scramble to get the Honda back on.  I loosely tightened the mounts, and motor shifted, and ALMOST fell in the water!  If I wasn't straddling the dock and boat, it most certainly would have!  Rushed out to the start, radioing the committe boat saying that I had "engine troubles" and that I would be a 2 minutes late.  They delayed the start.

Winds were light 5 to 6 knots from the NW, full main and light #1, single handed.

Course was 2 short.

First Race

Start was not that great, as I was late crossing the line.
Had to majorly duck starboard tack Sumac near the first mark.
Winds were dying towards the end.

Came in second accross the line to Cheeky Monkey.

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120909-1.kmz

Second Race

Had a great start on starboard going right to the windward mark.
Winds were dying and shifting for everyone going to the mark.
Had to duck starboard tack Eclipse heading to the mark.
Cheeky Monkey and I were the first boats past this mark.

On the third leg, I went out to get some wind and was definately in the lead of the fleet.
But alas, the extra speed I got did not make up for the extra distance travelled.

Winds were VERY shifty, sometimes as much as 180 degrees.
On the fourth leg, a wind shift caused me to do an accidental 360!

Came in second accross the line to Cheeky Monkey, may have caught him on corrected time.
Update: 24 seconds in corrected time behind Cheeky Monkey!  That 360 was costly!

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120909-2.kmz

They didn't have a third race, as it was after 2:30pm curfew for the BBQ.

Coming back in, the light winds were perfect for flying the spinnaker.
As I was getting it ready, Chris from Iris came by dropped off his daughter Christina, as she wanted to learn how to fly one.  Pretty good trade: a beer for a crew member to fly the spinnaker.  It was fun!

Trip Odometer: 11.70 miles
Moving Avg: 2.8 knots
Moving Time: 04:09:00

C22 Whitby Stonehaven Cup Race

Was supposed to be the Whitby Fall Regatta today (3 races), but the weather was NASTY for around the cans racing.  Winds were to be 15-20 knots with gusts to 40 from the NNW, and major rain.

Race comittee decided to run the medium distance race: Ajax weather buoy, FBYC mark 7, and back to Whitby.  They would run the fall regattta tomorrow.

I took some time at the dock to double reef the old main, as I haven't hoisted that sail in a while.
Also hoisted the #3 jib, as I was single handed.

At the start, there was only about 5 knots of breeze out there.  Only two boats in my division: the other was the Catalina 25 Iris.  We were both over early, and had to double back.  It took me about 10 minutes to get re-started.  Grrrr!  Too bad, would have been a great start.  I watched all the spinnaker boats hoist spinnackers at the start, and here I was with a double reef and small jib.

On the way back to the start, I dropped the #3 and hoisted the heavy #1.  I got through the start going along really well, and I see all the spinnaker boats broaching all over the place, while all the whitesail boats are heeled over 45 degrees.  Winds had picked right up!  WAY UP!!!

I had WAY too much head sail up, but didn't dare go foreward single handed to do a swap back.  There was too much wind and waves to use the autohelm.  I was able to feather the tiller, and head up past close hauled in the puffs to keep the boat in its feet.

I was staying with a CS30 owned by Mark Ashworth, when I saw them fall off the wind and furl in their headsail quickly. Actually, they started coming towards me.  I was on a starboard tack, but started to duck the as they were crossing my bow.  They had lost steerage, and were out of control scrambling to get the emergency tiller hooked up.  I guess it was another Mark I had to round!

Rounded the Ajax weather buoy, and tacked to 4 to 5 ft waves, and much more breeze.  There were scallops on the head sail: the halyard needed to be tensioned.  I ran the haylard down to the windward primary winch and as I pulled it in, the turning block pulled out of the deck, making the scallops worst.  I tried to heave too, but there was too much pressure on the sail to tension the halyard.  I really need to get the cabintop winches installed, and better turning blocks.

Going towards the FBYC mark 7, it rained really hard, and wind picked up further. 
It was a lot of work to keep the boat from rounding up.

Rounded the FBYC mark, and the winds died a lot, probably down to 8 knots.  Thinking the winds wouldy would build again, I poled out wing on wing using the spinnaker pole, as the whisker pole would have snapped.

The winds started building again, and I did not go below 7 knots the entire way back to Whitby.  At one point I hit 10.4 knots surfing a wave.  Finshed the race doing 9.5 knots!

This fast downwind leg was good enough for me to win my division.

We had a great BBQ with free Mount Gay Rum.

Trip Odometer: 22.90 miles
Moving Avg: 5.5 knots
Moving Time: 04:08:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120908.kmz

C22 Whitby Last Wednesday Race

I got down to the club fairly early to vacuumed the bilge out, and scrub the rudder and hull with a long handled brush.  It was amazing all the slim!  Also took anything out of the boat to lighten it (DOCK SALE).

Winds were from the south 5-8 knots, course was 6 short, but was shortened to a triangle; full main and light #1.

John and I watched the first start: Silver Shaddow, JustinTime, and Road trip started on a port tack on the non favoured end, and got a HUGE advantage.  We did the same, but didn't get to the line right at the gun, so we had to duck starboard tack Gruntled before actually crossing the line.

Going out on a port tack had an advantage with more wind, but the winds were flukey. There were dead spots all over the place, and we found ourselves tacking to get the wind lines.   We were definately in the lead.

Coming towards first windward mark on a starboard tack, we had a boat from the other division cross our bow and lee bow us.  In their wind shaddow, our sails were flapping, so we tacked away. 

At the mark we were watching all other boats miss the mark and have to throw is several tacks to get around it.  What was happening is there was wind about 25t in the air coming from one direction, and the wind lower coming from another direction.  Hard to set a sail, very flukey and gusty.

Seeing these boats missing mark caused us overshoot our layline to the mark, and we lost a LOT of ground.   By the time we got to the mark, Cheeky Monkey, Knotty Girl, and Iris had passed us.  Even though we had more speed, we travelled WAY too far.  I calculated that we sailed an extra 0.4 miles that we didn't have to.  It is better to sail to the mark, and deal with any wind shifts as they happen, throwing in extra tracks if required.

The next two legs we gained some of the ground back, and crossed the line 5th of 6 boats, not too far behind Iris and Eclipse.  The winds were dying.

We came 4th in corrected time FOUR SECONDS behind the Catalina 25 Iris sailed by Chris.

Good enough for a 3rd place flag for series 4!

Trip Odometer: 9.78 miles
Moving Avg: 3.7 knots
Moving Time: 02:40:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120905.kmz

CS34 Slip

After coming back from cruising the 1000 islands, we had forgotten to get out dock lines out, and Rita was scrambling to get them out as we were going into our slip.   Driving into out slip, we bottomed out into the soft silt.  On the plus side, we didn't need the dock liines!

We had to the boat out last weekend, and had to gun the motor out of the slip.

I guess this week, the water levels have dropped even more.

This morning I used the head and noticed the telltale signs that I needed a pumpout.  It was hard to pump and very stinky coming out of the holding tank vent on the transom.  I started up the motor, disconnected the shore power, and dock lines, and went to leave the slip.  It took me about 10 minutes of gunning the motor and rocking the boat back and forth to get out!

Coming back from the pumpout, I decided to go into another slip and check out what is happening in my old one:

Someone on Facebook said it looks like a stingray!

The head of the stingray is where the keel was rocking back and forth for the past week. 
The tail of the stringray is the keel ploughing through the mud to get out of the slip.

Got my boat hook out and discovered that there is less than 4 ft of water on my slip.  Still Time's keel is 4 1/2 ft in the water.  All the available slips on the dock 8 has similiar issues.  The powerboats near shore on dock 8 are in 2 ft of water!

Still Time is now in an available slip 710N on dock 7, directly accross from the old slip.  French Vanilla is immediately off our bow.

CS34 NAVPOD

I purchased a used NAVPOD off of Kijiji for $80.  The guy I bought it off of was from Collingwood, and he had a friend drop it off at RCYC with Carson Woods.  Turns out Carson designed his house.  Small world!

This unit new is over $400. 

I have just placed the unit on the binnacle to see how it will look.  Next step is to buy an angled binnacle guard to mount it. 

The face has been cut for a 12" chartplotter and four ST60 instruments.  I plan on getting a piece of starboard and place it over the face to give a nice look. 

Plans are to mount:

• Raymarine E7 chartplotter
• Raymarine i7 instrument
• Raymarine i70 autopilot
• Standard Horizon VHF remote

C22 Whitby Race Night

Got down to the club after 5pm, and the wind was howling.  Peter was saying it was 15 knots, with gusts in the mid 20s from the SW.

John came with the teenage daughter Madeline.  She did great!

WindFinder was saying the winds were going to lighten as the night went on, so we went out with just the main, and tried out the boat in the wind and waves.  We hoisted the #1, and the boat was powered up, but not overwelmed.

Course was 4 medium, as expected.

We practiced a couple of tacks with Madeline so she could understand what was happening before the start.

We had a good start, but the waves would kill our speed every 4th or 5th wave.  At the windward mark, we had to duck several starboard tack boats and lost a bunch of time.  We could have tacked in front of them before the mark, but didn't want any troubles.

The winds sure lightened and the waves took over.  Very surprised they didn't shorted the race; 3 hours on the water is too long as it is getting darker sooner.  We finished just before the 2 hour race curfew.  We were 4th to finish and may have caught one of the boats in front on corrected time.

There was an AWESOME sunset, and the moon was almost full; very bright.

Best of all Madeline didn't feed the fish!

Update: we came in 4th of 5 boats

Kinda pissed that we had to majorly duck a Catalina 25 Iris who finished before us and was taking down their sails.  UPDATE: Chris said this week that his tiller had broken off the rudder near the end of the race!

Trip Odometer: 13.30 miles
Moving Avg: 4.4 knots
Moving Time: 02:59:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120829.kmz

Newcastle on Santeria

Final Tuesday race in Newcastle: Neil, Peter, and I.

WindS were blowing 15 knots with gusts over 20 from the NW, so course was 6 legs (N-W-S-N-W-S-N). 

We spent some time at the dock tightening stays,and hooking up reefing lines in the main.

We went out with just main to get a feel for the wind/waves/puffs.  We were NOT being overpowed, but were watching our competition Wind Dancer and Cajun with reefs in their mains and furled genoas, so we decided to go with the #2 (135%) vs the #1 (155%).  PERFECT amount of sail.  We were able to drop the traveller on the main in the puffs and keep the boat on its feet.

Wind Dancer pulled ahead right from the start, but we kept with them.

We were done the first three legs in 28 minutes.

On the 3rd leg, the bolt holding the tiller on the rudder managed to spin off and we lost control of the rudder.  We quickly balanced the sails so the rudder was not required, and had to use a set of vice grips on the bolt and lash it to the rudder with some line. We lost a bit of time, but kept our boat speed close the 6 knots the entire time.

After the 2nd upwind leg, the winds were diminishing, so we did a sail change to the #1.  Took a couple on minutes, and we lost 1 knot of speed while we dropped the #2, hanked on the #1, and hoisted it.  It was done quickly and smoothly.

We finished well back of Wind Dancer, but were proud of how we sailed.

Trip Odometer: 10.2 miles
Moving Avg: 6.1 knots
Moving Time: 02:03:04

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120828.kmz

Newcastle on Santeria

Sunday race series and Neil did not want to be single handing.

10 knot winds from the south, a little lumpy, but more than enough wind to overcome the waves. 
Full main and #1.

Only four boats out, course was an olympic triangle (N-S-W-N-S-N).

We had a GREAT start, while all the other boats had a BAD start. 

We kept our boat speed up over 6 knots the entire race.

Wind Dancer caught us on the 2nd last leg, and we hung on their stern the rest of the way, finishing 15 seconds behind them.  We won the race on corrected time.

Trip Odometer: 9.98 miles
Moving Avg: 4.5 knots (this included taking finish times for the other boats)
Moving Time: 02:14:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120826.kmz

CS34 Dinner with Dave and Mannon

My grade school friend Dave and his girlfriend Mannon had not been on the boat yet, so we invited them for dinner and a sail.

They came by around 7pm, after dropping their daughter Maria off at a teen dance.

We immediately left the dock and headed for a mooring ball by the clubhouse.  Dave took the wheel going out the channel and liked it.  There was only a couple knots of wind, not enough to sail, but it had been blowing all day from the SE, so it was a little wavy.  The moon was very bright.

Once on the the mooring ball, we BBQed some steaks, and had wonderful dinner.

When we were done after 9pm, we decided to go sailing another day, as they had to pickup Maria at 10pm in Oshawa, so were motored around the Whitby Harbour.  Coming back to the club, I went on the wrong side of a port/green marker, and got stuck in the mud.  Took about a minute to get off.

Here is where we got stuck:



I went on the wrong side of the MX7 buoy

 It was a fun night.

Trip Odometer: 3.05 miles
Moving Avg: 3.5 knots
Moving Time: 00:52:25
Stopped Time: 03:10:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2012/20120824.kmz