CS34 Whitby to MMC for RBC Canadian Open

My golfing buddy Neil and I have been volunteering at the Canadian Open as marshals since 2008.

It is a big commitment to spent 8+ hours a day on the course marshalling for 5 days (Wed-Sun).

Me commuting in from Bowmanville and Neil from Welland everyday to the Greater Toronto Area just is not possible. 

So, I arranged for a slip at the Mimico Cruising Club to the Still Time as a boatel for our time at the RBC Canadian Open.  The Open is at St Georges Golf Club in Etobicoke (8km from the boat).  

We have done this every year that we could:

• 2008/2009/2012/2013/2014/2015/2016/2017/2018 Glen Abbey (Oakville Club)
• 2010/2022 St Georges (Mimico Cruising Club)
• 2012/2019 Hamilton (Royal Hamilton)

I was planning on leave on Tuesday, but the weather was not co-operating:  MAJOR rain and a 30 knot breeze from the south kicking up 7-8ft waves.  Lake Ontario was very angry!

Decided to leave early Wed morning to make my afternoon shift at the golf course.

Woke up before my alarm and left the dock at 4:26am

Passing the Whitby lighthouse:

Whitby behind me:

Sun coming up:

No wind the speak of, so I motored until it picked up around Ajax, so up went the sails and off went the motor:

Had about 10 knots of wind on a close reach, so sailing along at 6+ knots.

Just past Scarborough, the wind swung to the west on the nose, and dropped to about 5 knots.  Had to get there, so on with the motor and down with the sails.

Approaching Toronto:

Went inside the harbour:

Still Time in her slip at Mimico:

That was easy!

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Neil drove in shortly after I arrived and got checked in, and it was off to the course!

Wednesday was the PRO AM, so very low key, not a lot of spectators.

On the way back to the boat, we went for a beer and the best hamburger I have had in a long time to this place on the Lakeshore:

What a great day!

MUMM36 ZAMBONI Susan Hood Trophy Race

Got down to the National around 2:30 and Kris had already moved the boat over the wall and was vacuuming out the bilges.

My first task was to put the rebuilt #3 jib car on.

Removed two screws from the end stop on the track:

Lined up the loader with the end of the track:

Slid the car on the track:

Screwed on the end stop:

I then had to splice a dynema strop to pull the car forward.
You can see the broken one in the first photo.

We hoisted Kris up on a bosun's chair to tape the upper spreaders:

By 5pm we had a BBQ over by the clubhouse:

Finished loading and organizing the boat before we pushed off:

We had a full complement of eight, and paired off:

• Kris/Michael
• Phil/Mark
• Ashley/Jenny
• Bart/Tom

If one person was on deck, the other would be below or on the rail.
For all sail changes and manouvers, it was all hands on deck.

We motor sailed over the Port Credit for the start.

Great photo from Ryan on Viking from Whitby of us in the pre-start:

We had a great midline start:

Short 3.5 mile beat to the Clarkson mark.  We short tacked to this mark, while our competitors who did a long tack inshore sailed less distance and were way ahead of us.

Crossing Farr 39 Sea Ya:

Passing that mark @9:15pm:

Sunset looking back:

What are you guys doing on the stern?

Winds lightened as we crossed the lake (down to about 5-6 knots).

The forecast said their would be a right shift to the NW, and we decided to sail below the rum line so we would have a better spinnaker angle when it happened.  ZAMBONI does not like to sail deep in light air.  Well, the shift didn't happen until we got close to the Niagara mark.  The boats that stayed on the rum line or above it sailed less distance.

As we approached the Niagara mark, the winds piped up to over 20 knots and swung right, so it was a 30 mile beat to Burlington. We were overpowered with full main and #2, so we went to the #3 and put a reef in.  We had to crack off slightly from close hauled to 40 degrees to have the power to punch through the waves keep our boat speed between 7 and 8 knots the entire time. 

Everyone on the rail, it was very cold, and got splashed several times.

It was a close spinnaker run from Burlington to the finish.

Rare photo of bowman (me):

We finished a little after 9am (13 hours), while our competitors finished an hour before us.

We finished DFL in the ORC class, but were happy with how we sailed the boat.
All of our crew work was spot on!

GPS Track:

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MUMM36 ZAMBONI Susan Hood Prep

Spent Wed/Thu getting re-certified in First Aid (I passed).

Loaded the delrin bearings in the jib car:

Put the new end caps on with Locktight Threadlocker and inserted the Harkin car loader:

Jammed the delrin bearings in the holder (60 of them):

Put the retainer clips on it:

Ready for installation on ZAMBONI later today.
We will have to remove the track end stop and slid the car onto the track.

Also have to splice some dynema before it is functional.

Renewed my Predictwind subscription so I can do route planning for races.

The Susan Hood Trophy Race is a 75 miles overnight race starting at 8pm tonight.

Winds look favourable for us, and we should be done for breakfast.

CS34 Tuesday Anchor

Rita and I got down to the boat in late afternoon, but there wasn't any wind to speak of, so we motored out into Lake Ontario, and dropped the hook:

We anchored in 9ft of water near the clubhouse:

We had usable club wifi:

Winds started picking up and the lake was getting lumpy, so we hoisted anchor and moved to re-anchor in the harbour.

We watched the Shark fleet head out:

Can't BBQ without a beer in your hand!

Best patio in Whitby!

The Shark fleet coming in from our slip:

Another nice sunset: