Today we raced in SW 15 knots and good visibility. Three races, two short windward-leeward and one across the bay. We placed 7, 5, and 3.
The series seems to be a battle for third. Two J100s Young Blood and Dog Party are looking invincible. We’re in a cluster behind them with another J100 and a J35. They all owe us time, but not much on these short courses.
Our starts have been decent, but as the slowest boat upwind in the fleet we had limited options keeping lanes in the right direction. Today we were flying a blade jib, and going fast but not pointing with the competition.
Tomorrow looks light and shifty, with an offshore breeze. Sunny and warm. Should be a fun day.
Today we spent a couple of hours drifting around before a light breeze filled in from the south. It brought fog with it. The RC set a short windward-leeward course, but we lost sight of most of the fleet shortly after the start. The one boat that we had occasional sightings of was Young Blood, a very well sailed J/100, so we knew we were in the hunt. We were happy to finish third over the line behind two J/100s, and corrected out to second behind Young Blood.
Tomorrow’s forecast is for SW 15 knots, maybe with fog. That’ll probably be the heaviest conditions we see this week. That’s ok by me. I hope we have decent visibility. I like to see the competition.
Fairwyn crew, Polaris Trophy ~1977 photo credit Jim Goddard
An old friend died of cancer Saturday. That’s him standing in the back, with all the hair.
Bob Boutilier was a large character when I was a scrawny shy kid hanging around Bedford Basin Yacht Club. He raced a Farr 1/4 tonner ‘Scotiaplan’ in the mid 1970s, and took great pleasure in putting it to the big boats for a couple of years with a rock star crew from Bedford. He was a bit of a model for me when I was seriously racing keelboats ten years later
In the early 1980s Boots and my dad hatched a plan to have a fake 19th birthday party for me so that I could drink in the club bar for the summer before my real birthday. They had the club manager convinced, but the whole thing got a little out of hand, and eventually one of my friends ratted me out.
In 1984 and 1985 I worked with Boots. He was selling Beneteau, I was selling Laser, and we were working with Charlie Gass, who was commissioning new boats. Fun times. He wasn’t sailing much, but he and I raced a Beneteau 305 ‘Carpetbagger’ in Chester Race Week 1985. We had a few memorable road trips and boat shows.
Through the 80s I drove a series of Boots cars. He’d get excited about a new $300 car, and pass on his old one to me.
I left Nova Scotia in 1988, but we stayed in touch. When I got into RC sailing around 2012 he had a fully prepped Soling 1m waiting for me in Stowe. Later he lent me another boat for a regatta in Ontario. It was great to see him and reconnect at a few regattas. Later still I picked up a set of RC boats in Alabama while traveling through on Escapade, and got them to Bedford, eventually.
Boots followed my blog from the beginning, and I’d get occasional email responses to my travels. We always had enjoyable visits on his front porch and his basement boat shop when I was in town. Last time I saw him was a year ago.
I’m sure that many people are grieving. His lifetime friends in the community, his wife, children and grandchildren, and many in the RC sailing world who got to know him later in his life. My condolences to Annie and the family.
There is one expression that I use regularly that I attribute to Boots. ‘Reality rears its ugly head’. It’s perhaps a good one now. From my perspective he had a rich, full and fun life. I’m only sorry that it had to end so soon.
Maybe I should coin a new acronym, RSV. I like the regatta support vessel role, and Escapade is well suited. Mother Ship is a bit too generic.
As planned, we came down Sunday. The RSV is anchored for the week in Back Harbour, and we’ll sail Narwhal from here. I’m helming the boat, and am quite excited to be here. Racing starts tomorrow.
I’ve been puzzling over this pair of boats moored nearby. I thought the white one was a Viking 33 and the other a Viking 34, but after closer examination I’m less certain. Both C&C designs.
I’ve been largely anchored here for the last 8 days. This is my home town, and it’s great to catch up with old friends and relatives. I’ve rejoined BBYC as an outport member, and we raced Narwhal Wednesday night. The club is quite vibrant these days.
I’ve been to downtown Halifax several times as well. It’s about an hour away by boat. The waterfront has changed a lot since I lived here in the 1980s.
Tomorrow we head for Chester, about 50 miles away. Allister is taking Narwhal and I’ll shadow them in Escapade, and we’ll raft up in Back Harbour for the week. Racing starts Wednesday.
Some photos from the Halifax waterfront. There are a lot of foreign yachts in the area. I like that last boat, but don’t recognize the design. Big boat is an Oyster 655. Nice looking boat.
We came out of Country Harbour yesterday into an easterly swell, and as forecast had NE 10-15 knots of breeze arrive late morning. Prevailing conditions are usually the opposite direction. So with great conditions we had a fast run down the coast and arrived in Halifax at dusk. We’re now anchored in Bedford.
That was a fast and smooth trip. Just over two weeks from Montreal. We arrived here without having to clean salt spray off the windshield. That’s remarkable. And we did pretty much all of it at slow speed, so the fuel bill was low. Bill’s food planning and cooking was excellent, and made a big difference for me. And I saw some new segments and identified a few more critters. Can’t ask for much more than that.
Bill leaves tomorrow to join his partner on a long-planned camping trip in Newfoundland. I’m racing Narwhal in Chester in ten days, and have to get both boats down there and ready. Easy pace for a few days, and a few repairs like my water heater that are quite urgent. In any case it’s nice to be stopped today. Sunny and nice weather here.
We’ve been traveling for two full days at slow speed, following the coast line as closely as possible. Tonight we’re anchored here, a long way inland.
The big highlight for the day – the trip maybe – was seeing a sunfish up close. This is the third time for me, but it’s been a long time. I saw it as we passed, and circled back to drift close by.
I had the same confusion identifying it as I’ve had in previous sightings. First I thought it was a sunfish, then a sea turtle, then a dead or dying small whale. Then when it was about 40 feet away it slowly turned upright and dove away. Bill may have more pictures. They’re huge weird fish that bask on their sides on the surface.
It’s empty around here. The two other pleasure boats we saw today were European sailboats. Very sparse population. Lots of anchorages and fishing wharfs.
The weather looks cooperative for the next few days. We’re due in Halifax Sunday midday for Bill to hop on a bus.
That was a lovely day noodling along the coast, with a stop for lunch out in Guysborough. Sunny and calm, though we did brush up against a fog bank on the way in here.
We’re anchored here. Nice quiet spot in a SW wind. Arrived around 1700 after a relaxed trip down from Mabou. It’s been sunny and warm – there is a heat warning here with a high of 27C. The only time we were bothered was climbing the steep hill in Port Hawkesbury to get provisions.
The only hair raising moment was when my shifter failed – again – this time leaving me stuck in forward as I was getting ready to do a back-and-fill turn at the end of a small marina in Port Hood. This was a completely separate issue from the failure on the Trent Severn. I dropped the anchor and the stern went aground, and we were able to fix it and carry on.
We fueled up in Port Hawkesbury. Another great run, using 457 l of fuel to go 641 miles since last filling up in Rimouski. We really have had great traveling weather, just covering miles at slow speed. Since leaving Chicago in May I’ve traveled 2,495 miles and burned 1,786 l of fuel with 366 engine hours.
Speaking of traveling weather, the next few days look great. Rain and fog maybe, but no significant wind or waves. We’ve got five days to get to Halifax, which is about 170 miles away. We’ll be taking the slow scenic route.
It feels good to be here. Coming out of Port Hawkesbury into the Atlantic breeze felt very familiar.
Boating Adventures 