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| Date |
Location |
Crew |
Weather |
| June 20,2003 |
Cherry Beach, Toronto Outer Harbour |
Single-Handed |
Sunny - 23° - Winds Light - 5 knots |
My first sail of the year. After researching different
areas in the Toronto region where I could sail, I decided to try Cherry Beach on Toronto's
Outer Harbour. That location is the home of several dinghy clubs - check out http://www.outerharbour.net/ for more information.
I parked in the public parking at Cherry Beach and then dragged the MiniCup out to the
lake. As something new, I bungie-corded my paddle to the boom after paddling out
from shore. This worked out quite well. I spend about an hour or more beating
to wind-ward to the channel to the inner harbour and the lake in light winds but just
mainly enjoyed being out on the water again. There were a number of Albacores on the
water from the Westwood Sailing Club for their race night so I stayed out of the way and
watched them arguing and yelling Starboard to each other around the
windward mark. I did have to sail through the race to return to the beach, but I
timed it so that I believe that I wasn't interfering with any boats - they seem to take
their races quite seriously.My launching dolly had quite a time going from the Jeep to
the shore, but on the return trip, there was a group of very nice people playing with
their dog where I landed. Three husky young guys offered to help pull the MiniCup
back to the parking lot which worked out quite well. I do have larger wheels for the
dolly which I will need to install, and I also found another spot at the beach where I can
get closer on harder ground.
Over-all a fun time and I will certainly be sailing there again. |
| July 4,2003 |
Cherry Beach, Toronto Outer Harbour |
Single-Handed |
Sunny - 30° - Winds Light - variable |
| Searching the beach indicated an area where the sand is quite
compacted. It made manouvering my dolly quite a bit easier. The weather was
hot and sticky with thunderstorms forming to the north. I had hoped for some
consistent wind, but ended up disappointed. The wind was quite inconsistent and
mostly absent - hopefully the wind won't always die on me at sun-set. It did pick up
a bit at 8:00pm but by then I had beached the boat (of course). |
| July 25,2003 |
Cherry Beach, Toronto Outer Harbour |
Single-Handed |
Sunny - 25° - Winds 10 knots - gusts to 20 |
| Lots of wind. Lots and lots of wind. In some ways
it was a good thing that my sail is pretty stretched these days so I wasn't too
over-powered. I made good progress out of the outer harbour and down the channel to
the inner harbour (twisty winds there). Once in the inner harbour though, there were
3 foot swells which quite regularly washed over the boat leaving a lot of water in the
cockpit. The wind was more gusty here too, meaning that I had to pay close
attention. I managed to heave to a couple of times to bail, but the conditions were
a bit too exciting for a novice sailor like me. I made it safely back to the outer
harbour and sailed around there some more, even doing a couple of succesful gybes. I
found a softball floating in the harbour and had some fun retrieving it. Retrieval of
the boat was pretty good, I beached fairly well using my paddle to make sure that I ended
up where I wanted to be - but the larger wheels on the dolly are becoming more of a
priority I think. Hopefully I'll get to that this season some time. |
| August 1-3,2003 |
Fair Haven, New York |
Single-Handed |
Light to strong wind |
The BYYB 2003 North East
Regatta was held at Shon's Boat Basin
in Fair Haven New York. Little Sodus Bay is an excellent place for a small boat
sailor and although there are a fair number of PWC and larger pleasure boats, there's
enough room on the bay for everyone. While the weather forecast was not conducive to
sailing and camping, in general there were pretty good sailing conditions. This was
my first regular launching ramp launch for the MiniCup and it was certainly a lot easier
than over sand. I did learn though to not tie my boat to the dock when there are
winds blowing me into it. I lost a fair bit of paint and had a heck of a time
getting out from the dock.
I managed to take a number of rather blurry pictures which are shown below. Sadly I
didn't get any good pictures of John Abbot's Weekender or Jim Stumpf's fine Vacationer.
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| Leaving Neustadt |
Camp BYYB |
MiniBear at dock |
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Gaffers At Dock
Chris Davis' Weekender, Howard Berg's Weekender, Scott Widmier's Pocket Cruiser, Jim
Stumpf's Vacationer |
On a run |
Scott's Pocket Cruiser and Chris' Weekender |
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| A nice view of the bay |
Howard Berg under weigh |
Stephen Mustico's Weekender under construction in the camp |
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| Stephen manages to launch - he even sailed a bit later |
Howard again |
Scott again |
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| Channel to the lake |
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