Official Start to the Canadian Summer - Splash Down!

May 24th weekend is generally regarded as the unofficial start to the Canadian summer.  It's a popular camping weekend (read alcohol ban in national parks), the start of the outdoor gardening season and yes, the start of the sailboat season.  What better way to celebrate than to launch a boat.

We finally got "most" of the work done on Exploits and got her back in the water in her new home, the Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club.  She went in on Saturday evening.  Daniel and I spent most of Sunday getting her ready.

Our first sail in the Tatmagouche Bay was on Victoria Day (Monday).  Judy, Daniel and I had intended to go out for a quick sail before the company arrived.  We didn't check the tide schedule though and ended up hitting a sand bar.  We eventually got off, but it meant we had to spend another 2.5 hours in the bay waiting for the tide to come up.  On our way in the second time we ran into another bar at the mouth of the marina.  Four other boats got stuck on it before us.  The water on the North Shore is very shallow to say the least, which is going to take some getting used to after sailing in Halifax.

We eventually hooked up with the McCarthy's and had a nice relaxing (very little wind) sail / motor.  With no incidents!

Let the "exploits" begin on Nova Scotia's north shore!