CS34 Dinner with the Westovers

After getting in from Oakville at 4pm, meeting Rita at the dock, it was time to prepare for hosting Melissa, James, John and Joanne Westover for dinner.

We had set this date up at the wedding in June.

My phone and VHF warned of severe thunderstorm for the area.  Had a quick look on the weather radar and determined that it would be over after 6pm.  At around 5pm, a NASTY cloud front came in from the NE, and pelted us with major rain, hail, lightening, and winds.  Max wind recorded by the wind instrument was 35 knots.

Joanne called asking if we were still on.

Everyone showed up a little at 6pm, and we had appetizers and it was sunny and beautiful.

Joanne, John, and James

We motored out into the lake, but there was only 2 knots of wind.
We took a mooring ball by the beach, but found it was too bouncy for cooking dinner.
We went back in the harbour and dropped anchor.

Dinner was great: BBQed kabobs with potatoes and salad.
We ate down below in the cabin

Boys

Girls

Butter Tart for dessert (no raisins!)

We got the stand up paddle board off the deck and James and Melissa went out for a little paddle individually then they went out together:

The sunset at anchor was AWESOME

It was such a nice night, that we motored out into the lake for a bit:

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Not enough wind to sail.  It did fill in on the way back to 7 knots, but we just motored.

Thanks for a great night!

Trip Odometer: 7.96 miles
Avg Speed; 4.3 knots
Max Speed: 7.9 knots
Moving Time: 01:51:00
Stopped Time: 01:26:00

CS34 Oakville to Whitby

After saying goodbye to dockmaster Larry, I headed out at around 9:30am.

Bridge over Lakeshore under construction

The flooding was apparent going out the channel; this is a public parkette that is flooded over:

See you later Oakville Club:

Can't wait until next year!

Got out of the channel and put the main up, and unfurled the jib.
Winds were slightly aft of the beam at 9 knots, but could only do about 4 knots sailing, so I furled the jib in and hoisted the spinnaker:

Without the motor I was doing between 5 and 6 knots, keeping up with a motoring Hunter that left the harbour with me.

Sailed most of the way to Toronto (18 miles)

Toronto Skyline

Past the Leslie Spit, the winds dropped below 7 knots, so I motor sailed with main and spin trying to keep my boat speed over 6 knots.

In the meantime, I swabbed the deck for a couple of hours.

Winds diminshed to four knots past Pickering and down came the spin.

Arrived at Whitby at 4pm.

Trip Odometer: 42.22 miles
Avg Speed: 6.2 knots
Max Speed: 8.8 knots
Moving Time: 06:46:00

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2017 RBC Canadian Open

The 2017 RBC Canadian Open was a blast this year!

I got there on Tuesday night and had a great slip on the east side of the river by the club.

Buddy Neil who I have marshalled with for 9 years now came down by car on Wed for the Pro AM.

Just a short walk to the club in the morning to have a shower.

Across the river were two BEAUTIFUL sailboats:

Jolina and My Fair Lady

Jolina is a Saber 456 (my favourite boat).

My Fair Lady is a Trip 45 that raced in the Whitby 50 a couple of years ago against ACE.

We beat them.

Both of the boats were immaculate!

KEWL shot of Still Time at the dock:

The ProAM was great, and we slept on the boat well on Wed night.

There was a night south breeze coming up the habour to keep us cool.

I met Ron Maclean (HNIC) in the the change room (member at The Oakville Club)

Thu was the start of the action on Thu AM on the 16th tee blocks:

16th tee before the action started

We got to Glen Abby a little after 8am, and worked the morning shift.

Having the afternoon off was great as we drank black russians in the rain

... and did it rain;  the afternoon shift got taken off the course because of thunder and didn;t get off the course until 9pm!

On Friday morning I had to move the boat across the river to another slip:

Because the bridge was out on Lakeshore for rebuild, we just drove over to the club for a shower before heading out to the course.

Didn't take a lot of pictures once the action started, but here is a picture of Vijay Singh:

On Sunday, my least favourite golfer Charlie Hoffman was in the lead.

Here is my Charlie Hoffman story from the 2007 Bell Canadian Open:

I was working the par 5 13th hole in the valley.
You have to cross the creek two times to get to the green.
On Saturday, Charlie was one of the only players who tried to get there in two.
His 2nd shot went left of the green into VERY deep rough.
Working the green I went over to were his ball was and pointed at it.
Charlie came RUNNING across the bridge and accused me of stepping on his ball.
He called for a rules official and got a drop.
I lost all respect for him doing this: CHEATER

Back to this year, on the 16th Charlie was two strokes behind last year's winner Jhonattan Vegas.

I two told two guys my story and they went to the tee block, and they yelled "CHARLIE HOFFMAN YOU SUCK" after he hit his drive!  PRICELESS Hoffman birdied the 16th to be within one.  He missed his birdie on 17 to tie, and then birdied the 18th to force a playoff.

In the playoff, Vegas beat him with a birdie.

It was an enjoyable week at the Open.

The weather was great.

The marshalling team I worked with were great!

The outcome was great; KARMA got Charlie in the end!

Can't wait until next year!

I will bring Still Time back to Whitby tomorrow morning.

C22 WYC Series 3 Race 3

What happened to Race 1&2?
Turns out the they were schedule in the Open Regatta on the previous weekend.
They didn't have any wind.

I was at the Canadian Open, so Melissa, Chris, Tariq, and Andrew had it covered.

It was a windless Wednesday and the race was called.

Apparently they couldn't get the motor started and had to be towed in by Geoff on Knotty Girl:

CS34 WYC to Oakville Singlehanded

Was hoping to get away around 9am after a pumpout, but too much too much to do to get the boat ready  Winds were 12-14 knots from the NE (can you say spinnaker run?).  However, Still Time was filthy.  After a pumpout, I decided to wash the sides of the hull.  There were severe black streaks on both sides, so it was fairly easy to remove at the pump out dock.

Leaving the harbour selfie @11:30

Winds had dropped to less than six knots from the north.
I hoisted the main, and motor sailed, trying to keep my speed above 6 knots.
Didn't even bother with the foresail (not enough wind).

Wind completely died, and filled in from the south. not enough for the headsail.
Motored along cleaning the cockpit and deck.

With the sun canvas removed, the dodger is AWESOME:

REALLY good visibility.

Neat shot of Toronto through the window:

Just before Ashbridges Bay, the winds filled in from the south to 12 knots true winds.

Out went the head sail on a beam reach, and off went the motor, and boat speed was over 7 knots!

TORONTO

At around Port Credit, the winds did come forward to close hauled and the main was doing nothing, so I dropped it and motor sailed with just the jib:

Nice

With the motor at 2,000 RPM, was doing almost 7 knots with the headsail only.
About 2 miles from the harbour, furled the headsail.

Coming in Oakville Harbour @5:38pm

Had a slip assigned by The Oakville Club dockmaster Larry.
Port tie up very easy.

The Oakville Club is the greatest!

Had a beer, had an excellent dinner at the club.

Blew up the stand up paddle boards and went up the river:

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...and around Oakville Yacht Squadron across the river.

Trip Odometer: 1.17 miles
Avg Speed: 2.4 knots
Max Speed: 5.6 knots
Moving Time: 30:19

Went for a swim in the pool and had a wonderful shower.
The showers at the Oakville Club are AWESOME.

Great day on the water; only wish Rita could have been with me.

Trip Odometer: 42.54 miles
Avg Speed: 6.5 knots
Max Speed: 10.3 knots
Moving Time: 06:35:00

Pretty BOARING track
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CS34 Boatel for RBC Canadian Open

Today I pack up Still Time and will sail her single handedly to The Oakville Club to use her as a boatel when I am volunteering as a marshal at the RBC Canadian Open.

This is the 10th time in 12 years that I have volunteered for this.  One year it was in BC, and last year I took it off because of responsibilities for hosting the LYRA regatta.

My buddy Neil will join me on Wednesday for the Pro Am.
Looking forward to it.

The Oakville Club will be hosting us again for the week.
They have the most awesome bathroom/shower facilities on the lake.
Great spot, only about 5km from Glen Abbey.

I spent yesterday getting the boat ready:

• filled the diesel tank
• changed the oil
• filled the water tanks
• filled a propane tank
• checked the coolant levels
• checked the battery levels
• provisioned the boat with food and water
• provisioned the boat with beer and booze
• cleaned and blew up the dingy
• mounted the outboard motor

I just have to bring my clothes on board, do a pump out before heading out.

CS34 Dodger Completed

Marcio from Dreamcast Canvas came out today to install the side panels for the dodger.

From the outside

From the inside

Looks great; really freshens up the boat.

All around front of the dodger are removable lexan windows.  Each panel has a removable canvas cover for privacy, keep the boat cool, and adding longevity to the lexan panels.

In the above photo, you can see the protective plastic on the lexan; this will come off tomorrow.

We should have the sides of the full enclosure and the new cockpit cushions before we head to the 1,000 Islands in August.