Launch Date May 4 2012

Haul Out

Came to the club at 7:15 and she was already hauled out.

I was hoping to put the frame aboard, but that was okay.  I had more time to give her a good hull cleaning before coming to work.

Summary for Year

Hobbs 2938.7 

Mileage3387.6

54.8 Hours on motor

708.6 nMiles

49 trips

never more ten 9 miles from base.

Winter Frame

Halloween run

I went to winterize Cygnus and the weather was nice and warm but windless.  I saw Taku go out without sails so I decided to go warm up the engine oil too.  Motored to AS15 and put up the main sail and drifted for a while.  Wind picked up a bit and I sailed a bit and then took down the main sail. 




Came back to the club, did a pump out and winterized the boat and took out the head pump home for a full rebuild.

And there was wind.  (get that chris)

October Oyster and sleep aboard

Slept aboard after the Oyster party at the club,

Thanksgiving weekend

After the fabulous PCYC pas-de-deux race, we set sail across the lake meandering around until 6 when we set anchor in the sunset. We covered the main and put away the 170 and 135.  That made the night a little more quiet.

The chili from PCYC was heavy, so we just had some grilled shrimp and went to bed.  Nice windy night. The other boats left and we were alone at Dowkers.

Next day we were having breakfast of 7 eggs, when this Tanzer 7.5 sailed across our stern, scaring Danièle a bit.  I came out and saw it was Andre taking down his main and "throwing" out his anchor (underhand).  He had not recognized us as we were completing his breakfast.  The he looked and noticed us.

We rafted up with Andre and had a beer and then took off for a few hours of nice sailing with the new 140 eBay sail.  Nice sailing from about 3 to 6 and came back in to Dowkers.  We had one bavette from Arkavan and called it a night.

Next day we had toast and ran back to the club in about 1 1/2 hour, did a good pump out and we ran out of time to do an oil change.

 

 An incredible fabulous long weekend !

Pas de deux race

Danièle and I went to the club early to make sure we make it for the annual Pointe Claire Pas de deux.  We ran out to Beaconsfield to find the RC boat at 10:30. They told us the race started at 10 AM.  They said that there was a change of schedule.  We were very disappointed.

I tried calling the RC on Channel 68 as stated in the Sailing Instructions.  No answer.

A chase boat came and told us that we were at the Beaconsfield race.  We looked back at the lake and saw a bunch of boats near SLVYA 31 and decided to "gun" it for there.  They never answered their radio. 

We got there just in time for the start and then waited 6 minutes 45 seconds for our start and we hand an excellent port start.  We raced to SL26, back to the eastern part of the lake.  On the way back we were in a beam reach with winds exceeding 20 knots.  At one point I considered resigning from the race.  We did a "chicken gybe" at one of the marks.

Cygnus from Fugu after she passes us

Fugu had a broader tack and passed us as we were approaching the finish line. We were probably 15 out of 19, but this is not confirmed.

Race lasted almost 3 fabulous hours.

We docked and had Chili and beer at PCYC and then went for a walk in the Pointe Claire village looking for propane and watched kiters.

Friday evening last september sail

September is almost over ..Danièle and I went out for one last sail in September.

Winds were foretasted to be about 8 knots from the south and it was 16 +.from the west.  We motored out to the gut as I change sail plan from the new 150 ebay sail to the 135 and decided to practice my reefing.

Tacked to Dowkers and ran back san reef.

Temperature was about 20.  Nice.

Supper at Harmony d'Asia.

September weekend

Danièle and I went out Friday after work to go sailing for the weekend.  After doing some house work like folding the dinghy and eliminating unnecessary sails, we set out down the channel with full sails (170) and with a full tank of gas and sans pump-out. We only did some test flush on the head after last trips malfunctions.

After half an hour going down the channel, it was going to be 10 PM before we got to Dowkers so we set sail for Ile St Bernard ... one of our favorite spots.  Got there about sunset and BBQ some Kefta and got up the next morning to a very gray day.  Some winds, but they died shortly. Spent the day at anchor watching the  duck hunters nearby...   Head pump had lots of resistance and some leaking from the bushing nut.  But we decided it was tolerable.  The day was very grey and a little cool ... maybe 17 degrees .  That night we had some nice lamb chops for Arkavan.

Next day winds were good and we took down the 170 and got ready to put up the 135.  As we sailed to the seaway, the winds died and we did not put up the 135 and redeployed the 170.  Winds were right down the seaway so we went east, going through the zig-zag channel and sailed the main lake about 5 times from 11 to 5, coming back for a pump out and supper at the club. Sunday weather was about 25 degrees, very nice winds ... we are at the end of September.

Sailing was more fun then going to the boathouse sail this weekend.

4 hours September sailing with Chris

Chris and I took off work early and set sail about 4 to 7:30.  Nice sail in 6 to 10 knot winds from the south east.  Sails were main and 135.  Boat speed 4.5 to 6 knots.

First day of Fall.

Single handed bliss

It has been six weeks since I have sailed single handed so I went out at 10 and gassed up the boat and went out for 5 hours of single handed sailing with the 170.

Watched the first Frostbite race.

I had some problems with tacking and lost the Genoa sheets cos I did not tie knots at the ends. 

With an east wind down the channel, I came in through the "inner gut"

It is nice to bond again with Cygnus.

Enema of my boat

Last weekend, the holding tank was overfull but nothing seemed to come out the vent. 

Yesterday I cleaned and checked the holding tank vent with a water hose and she seem clear now !

I guess the vent was always fine... since I smelled the aroma outside the boat. But fortunately not from inside the boat.

For the love of boat ownership.

Head malfunction on weekend with Danièle

Friday, Danièle and I set out to Dowkers for the weekend.

Nice supper of Salmon Trout and a nice almost full moon.  Next day winds were light and variable so we sat at anchor all day swimming and Danièle's homework. I did some mundane boat maintenance such as stanchions and boom.  boring...

As evening came, the head started smelling bad (outside).  I tried putting some head freshener chemical and as I pumped, the holding tank made a buckling sound and the teak board behind the head "poped"  oH Shit

Went outside to slowly open the pump-out deck fitting ... very slowly and liquid started squirting out.  Yikes.  It was 9PM and we decided to motor back to the club to do a pump-out.  Nice evening sail with an brilliant almost full moon, it took us just over an hour to get back.  Did the pump out and all seemed fine. Even Danièle took the incident very well.  We determined that the holding tank can hold 5 days of poop.

We stayed on board at the harbour and on Sunday we sailed the lake with Jimmy after we gave Cygnus a good wash.

We watched the single-handed pursuit race finish.  I had some regrets not doing my favorite race of the year, but enjoyed sailing with Danièle just as much.

Race Results

4 nice days @ Dowkers

Just spent 4 days at Dowkers waiting out the storms.

Happy labour day weekend.

Wednesday Race - Chris and Connie

I washed the boat and de-rigged post Irene. Looked like zero winds.

Chris arrived early.  Connie came late.  We were departing when Connie showed up.

There was a SouthWest wind of about six knots and we put up the sail and motor sailed in a broad/beam reach. 

Reasonably good start.  I started at the helm and Connie took over as Chris and I rigged the spinnaker.  Chris did foredeck for the first time. Did very well. I heard him say drop the pole, I was busy and when I dropped the pole, I hit him in the head.

Connie and I folded the spinnaker, while Chris took the boat windward

Second spinnaker twisted but Chris unsnapped the tack guy and fixed the twist.


We finished last.  Varuna in the white fleet finished a few seconds ahead of us.  But the crew was engaged.

Lots of RC and crash boat traffic in the channel in the dark san lites.  They were rescuing a powerboat to tow her back to the club.

Irene

Forecast winds

Actual winds

Ile St Bernard overnight

After the Friday race, Danièle and I set sail for Ile St. Bernard.  First time I negotiated the Zig-Zag channel at night.

Cygnus touched a red buoy in the channel on the aft-port side leaving 3 small red marks.

Arrived tired and well anchored and grilled some bavette from Akhavan Supermarkets.

Ship passing by in the seaway

Got up about 10, lingered around and I took the dinghy to Centre Nautique in Chateauguay  to meet up with Tony, Marie Josee and others.  The Evinlude stalled and restarted after some cooling.  She pretty much needs to run at full throttle to get any speed.

Came back and Evinlude ran out of gas on the way back... About after 45 minutes of running.  Refueled and came back to the mother ship.  She did not move a bit..  ;)

There was no wind and there were gale warnings on the VHF.  Irene was coming in on Sunday.  People were having fun on the lake.  I felt a little uneasy sitting at anchor with a gale warning in effect.  I pulled anchor and motored back to the club using reverse track on the GPS.

Closed the boat securely with thoughts of Irene's effect on Sunday. Tied up the dinghy tucked under the bow of Cygnus.

As we were leaving the dock, I ran into Nigel and he was telling me about how bad Irene was going to be (50 knots of wind). We went back and doubled-up the dock lines, wrapped up the main sail with a line and put the life ring and other items into the cabin.  WE put the dinghy in the storage locker inflated.

I showed up at Vladimir's birthday party late. Chris was telling me that Norm had decided not to sit out Irene (gees).

Friday race with Tilda and Danièle

Danièle showed up at club early to help me set up the boat and dinghy for my Saturday trip to Ile Ste Bernard.

Tilde showed up and we raced.  The start was lousy.  We were in the wrong position 2 minutes before the start and I decided to make a run for the very long start line.  I figured we can go starboard for the pin and tack if we needed to. We did not need to until after we crossed the line.

We had encounters with Drifter on both windward tacks.  Naomi had similar issues with Naomi.

On the second beat, Drifter was pinching for a long distance heading for the buoy and we easily caught up to her, but was not able to pass her.  Drifter touched the buoy.  I never saw her do her penalty.  She said that she did.  Paul's coaching about not pinching.

Our position was last but close to Naomi and Drifter.


Winds shifted and we had a nice beat back to the club.

Nice sunset and photos....after the race !

I went out again after the race.

Windy race with Chris

It was a dark and stormy night.  But the proud crew of Cygnus (Chris and I) wanted to go out. I picked up Chris at home and drove to the club .. then Chris remember he did not have lunch so we stopped by Amir.

We got to the club at 4 ish and rigged a reef in the main and used the Hunter 110 head sail.  We had some problems rigging the sail in the channel, but finally got it pretty good. 

I was not keen on racing.  I just wanted t go for a sail.  I was concern about the small crew and that Chris could not handle the line cos of his elbow.

Sailed out in a south wind of 16-24 knots.  Boat was very good on port tack and lousy on starboard -- as usual this season. We sailed across the lake and back and observed and photographed the start of the race. I did not want to get close and Chris wanted to race.






















After the race started, Chris and I agreed to past the starting line and maybe go for DNF.  We raced the course and came in last and we touched the windward buoy and did not pay our penalty.  We were last place anyways. 

We finished and I suggested we do one more tour of the lake which is what we did and came back into the harbour about 9 and folded (refolded the main) the sails and packed up and went for burgers at Bistro on St. Jacques.

Annual Staff Sail

Alan, Marie and Vladimir came for a day of sailing and a steak dinner. Fred was looking after his new family.

Winds were light in the beginning, but built up nicely and we had a nice day of sailing with the 170 head sail.

We came back to the club to avoid a storm and for a BBQ steak dinner.

Friday race

Danièle and I went out for a sail before the Friday race around 1PM.  Sailed the lake a couple of times and then came to the racing area to start the Friday race.

Just before the race, we had to change sails from the 135 to the 170 and we did not get to the line in time and we were without a watch.  We were late by a minute or two. 

On the windward mark, Tara II with its all female team training for the Myrtle Cook Cup was in irons in front of the windward buoy.  We came in but she did not move so we tacked and came around to get back on track for the buoy.  I thought there was enough space in front of Mumm's , but for some reason we stalled and Mumms II could not avoid our rear quarter.  The helms person had stalled our rudder.  We fended Mumm's but not sure if there was any damage.

After the race, we had a nice sunset sail to Dowkers followed by a nice supper of beef tournedos.  

The next morning, we lingered around and then headed back to the club to pick up the office staff for our annual sail.

Wednesday Race - Finished Last

Jodi, Chris and Danièle came racing on Wednesday. It was Jodi's second time aboard a sailboat.

Some crew was just not into it.  No efforts and not present.,  I got annoyed, very annoyed. Boat was not pushed and was not sailed well.

We had a bad start.  We crossed the line 1 minute 45 seconds after the  start.


We cut off Solo.  And Solo came back and cut us off.  No protests.

We then had a near collision with Flirtation who was not even racing.

The course was shortened and we misunderstood the shortened course and mis-sailed the race.  We fouled a couple of Lasers at their finish line.

We raced very badly.  Last Place. We probably should have DNF'd.  We probably should not have even bothered to race. Not really a good day racing IMHO.  We did fly the spinnaker twice and flew it back to the club.

Daniele handed the helm very well while Chris and I handled the spinnaker.

Winds were 10 knots and declined to maybe 4 knots.  Head Sail was 170.

Sailing with Peter and Claude and SQUALL

I got to the club early to wash Cygnus and haul her out to for a mid-season cleaning to make her GOFAST.

You can see the storm east of us

Claude and Peter arrived as we were about to relaunch her.  A small rain storm was coming in so we tied up Cygnus at the service dock and waited out the rain at the clubhouse.  It lasted just 10 minutes.  The weather radar was very helpful for forecasting the storms.

The Squall

We motored out to the gut in a west wind.  I put up the 170 and sailed in 6 knot winds tacking to the west of the lake.  A storm came across from north to south on the eastern part of the lake.  Another storm went west to south east south of Ile Perrot... we were in the clear. .... until a squall hit us.  I got the 170 down and tied just in time.  We waited out the 24 knot winds which lasted about 8 minutes. It was preceeded by a distinctive 120 degree veering of the winds

Claude lost his Wrapmation cap.

Then we wanted to make sure it was over before we put up the head sail again. We sailed back to the club by 5 ... in time for supper at Claude's.