Month: April 2019

I’m going to try to tell the story of how we came to buy TL. It’s going to take a while, and will take several posts.

Generally speaking my sailboat racing needs have been met quite nicely in dinghies in recent years. We have a Snipe and a Laser, and both are kept in competitive form. There is great club racing on Guelph Lake and at Water Rats, and lots of weekend regattas in driving distance.

I’ve thought lots over the years since we moved to SW Ontario about use cases for a larger sailboat, but could never come up with one. I have a few favourite boats from the 1980s, and even when they started getting cheap I wasn’t really tempted. Samantha and I both were never tempted by a cottage, and a boat sitting in a marina is worse. Not my thing. And the ongoing costs are high.

I don’t really sail for fun and relaxation. I like to race, and if I’m not racing I want high performance sailing. And I want to do things really cheap, and I don’t have a big crew. Tough set of requirements.

I should say that I did some serious racing with a young crew on a 34′ ULDB in the 80s. Inshore and offshore. Lots of thrills, lots of victories. See if you can spot me!

When I left Chicago and the boating business in 1993 it was an interesting time. The Melges 24 was just coming out. There was a growing fleet of F27 trimarans there. It was the early days of the sport boat. I *loved* the new Farr 395. And then I became a banker and raised three kids and had fun in Little London and kinda stopped paying attention.

My friend Christian has a modern sport boat, a VX One. He’s invited me to do a regatta later this summer and I’m pumped. Watch the video linked above. When he saw pics of TL he said they look the same 🙂

Anyway, mostly I’ve just given some background of what my thinking was until last fall.

That’s a good place to stop. More later.

Three days since I last posted. I’ll try to catch up. Not much to report, haven’t been off the boat. Weather has been warm but unsettled yesterday and today.

Sunday night I stopped here just off the channel. Pics from Sunday

Monday I went through Moorhead City and headed away from the coast though a cut canal, then down the Neuse River and across Pamlico River and into the Pungo River. I anchored here last night.

It was raining last night and I wasn’t in a rush to get going today. Came up the canal to the Alligator River and am anchored here.

Tomorrow I go over to Elizabeth City and then through the Dismal Swamp Canal to get into the Chesapeake at Norfolk.

Am anchored here. Nice quiet spot. Enjoying Randy Bachman and Saturday Night Blues on CBC.

I stayed put yesterday. Heavy rain lasted until late afternoon. So I had another very good dinner ashore and stayed another night. I like that place, the Inlet View Bar and Grill.

Not much remarkable about today. Mostly cut channel. Wrightsville Beach was pretty built up and active.

I shared the top pic on Facebook earlier and someone asked about the top burgee.

There’s a story behind that.

I posted in October about my AGLA burgee at the bottom. The middle one is the Guelph Community Boating Club where I am a member and sail a Laser and Snipe when I’m in town. Not much these days:-). And the top one is a recently acquired Trawler Forum burgee.

Right around the time I ordered my AGLA burgee I started a conversation about a TF burgee. After a real community effort they went into production in January and the first run sold out fast. I’m proud to fly it and grateful for the community for making it happen.

On a related note, I’m aware of the possible ugliness of my radar mast. It was an improvised solution. On my new sailboat I’m having a radar mast added by someone with more sensibility than me :-). But I was a big fan of the original more modest mast because it gave a proper place to fly flags, and I was reluctant to give that up. I think I’ll always have a mast with spreaders for that reason.

In general I don’t care much about flags. But on this boat I’m traveling far from home, and as I mused about earlier sometimes it’s nice to show identity through flags.

I rented a car this week and drove home for a quick visit, then went to uncover the sailboat. See the new boat post if you haven’t already. I added lots of pictures today. Had a good look at the sails and gear and got to see the topsides and deck in detail. The builder is doing a few mods – an underdeck autopilot tiller and radar mast – and getting the trailer ready.

From St Thomas where the boat is it was on Sarnia for an interesting and informative visit with the folks at the sail loft, then an equally interesting and informative meeting of the Great Lakes Singlehanded Society.

It was a lot of driving – about 2,200 miles in 3 days – but I don’t mind that. Had a plain 2019 Corolla, averaged 38 mpg. Very comfortable seat and all the fancy electronic stuff, CVT. Pretty impressive car overall.

Now I’m stocked with groceries. Will return the car in the morning and get underway. I think it’s about 400 miles to Norfolk from here. I’m looking forward to this segment.