Boating Adventures

I’m anchored here in Yarmouth Harbour.  Got here about noon on a favourable current.  South winds and rain tomorrow night in the forecast, then benign weather through the next week.

I briefly thought I’d have to clean salt off the windshield when I got a little splash today going through a tidal rip.  But with rain forecast I think I can put it off a little longer.  It really has been smooth sailing.

The tidal range is getting bigger.  About 12 feet here today.  I came in at high tide and anchored in a 15 knot wind blowing down the harbour.  Now the boat is sailing around on the anchor, with wind fighting outgoing current.  It’ll look different here at low tide.

My plans have been coming a bit more into focus.  I have an approximate target date for arriving in St John of about Sept 8.  I’d like to find a spot to leave Escapade for a week or so while I return to Ontario.  Then up the river.

Looking at the charts in a bit more detail, I’ve realized that it probably makes sense to do a big loop from here, with St John as the midpoint.  I’ve also been looking at exploring the Minas Basin.  It looks completely doable in fair conditions.  From here my basic game plan is to follow the NS shore line as closely as I can.  Digby, Annapolis Royal, Hantsport and Maitland are all on my list, as is Parsborrough.

I’m anchored here for the night. 

Today I left Shelburne around 0700 to get the currents right.  Rounded Cape Sable close at slack current, and followed the shoreline north.  Stopped at West Head for an excellent fish and chips.

Tomorrow looks good for getting to Yarmouth.

Pics, in order

I’m anchored in the harbour with a couple of other visiting boats.  Erin is going by today, but not much action here.  NE winds gusting to 25 kt.

We had a nice ride down yesterday.  Following breeze – I’m still weirded out by all this easterly wind – and occasional big sets of swells from the south due to Erin.  I can see how people get swept off the shoreline.

My inverter failed after I was running the 3000w water heater with the genset.  It was charging, and I tripped the main 30a main breaker twice before turning the inverter off.  Since then it flashes when turning on, and I can connect with my PC, but can’t find any way to remedy the situation. 

I can get by on 12v and run the genset for coffee and cooking.  For now it’s disconnected.  I guess I’ll unmount it and have a closer look when I’m motivated.  It was new this spring.  Should be under warranty.

I have no plans to move today.  Will get ashore soon.

I’ve been hanging out locally for a few days.  Got some groceries and did some laundry. Great as always to see Ruth and Jim in Deep Cove.  I was on their dock last night, and today Jim helped me get some needed repairs done. I now have hot water. 

Tonight I’m anchored in Lunenburg Front Harbour.   Pleasant calm evening.  A big hurricane is forecast to go by well offshore later this week, but for now it’s good traveling weather.  Tomorrow I head SW down the shore.

My plan is to follow the NS shoreline around the tip and towards the Minas Basin.  Yarmouth is my next major port of call. I’ve never been there.

My rough plan is to travel the coastline to the US border, then backtrack to St John.  From there I’ll head up the St John River as far as I can.  Then back to NS for the winter.

Pics have been light because I splashed another phone a week ago.  I’m pretty much sorted now, though I’m a little disappointed that I’ve been unable to get a new esim without receiving a text message or visiting the nearest store 80 km away.  I really thought I had full remote recoverability.  Not quite, apparently.

Apart from the next 80 miles or so this is all new territory for me.  I’m starting to get excited.  I have some open guest slots, for those interested in joining me. 

Some boat pics.  The Tancook Island Ferry, new J40(2), Farr 56(2), a cute Crosby Tug(?)(2), and a Nordhavn that is actually quite attractive.

That was fun.  Race Week is a wrap.  Certainly amongst the old folks aboard another day might have been a bit much. I’m tired.

We came fifth in class.  Today we came 2nd in the short course and 5th in the long race.  Beautiful day, with a 15 knot seabreeze that came in after a brief wait.

I had fun, and felt like I did a decent job on the helm.  Our starts were good, by my standards.  The boat is very familiar to me, and we got better at sailing it as the week went on.  I think everyone aboard enjoyed the series.  It was fun to sail with David, Laura, Allister, and a great bunch of people.

Congratulations to Larry Creaser and the Young Blood crew for a well deserved first in class.

Here are a couple of pics from the press boat.

Good racing today.  Sunny, with a surprisingly steady north wind at 8-12 knots.  We sailed one short windward-leeward race and one longer distance race.

The J35 Falcon had a great day, with a 1 and 2.  They now are sitting in third place. We had a 6 and 5 and are in fifth place.

Despite the results I think we all had a good day.  We’ve been getting better each day in our boat handling and communication, and for the most part went fast in the right direction today.  It’s good close racing.

Tomorrow is another sunny light day, with a transition to sea breeze expected in the afternoon. 

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.

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.

So long, Boots.  I’ll miss you.

https://www.harboursidecremation.ca/obituaries/robert-boutilier/#!/Obituary

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.