Sail #34: HarHen Finally Get Aboard

10.9 nm, 4 knots per hour, 2:58:25 elapsed time

Another perfect day for taking first time sailors, Mr. Henderson (a.k.a Dickhead) and Leslie out on Exploits.  Leslie has wanted to get out for 2 years now, but it never seemed to work out.  Turk wasn't too keen initially altho he seemed to really enjoy it (not surprising since there was a tad bit of beer drinking involved).  I'm not sure Turk is ready to hang up the windsurfer just yet, but I expect we might see him on board again next season.  Nice way to say good bye to Turk and Leslie before they headed back to Alberta for the winter.

Sail #33: Sail Past

7.1 nm, 4 knots per hour average speed, 1:45:57 elapsed time

Sail #32: Earle W. Forshner Memorial Race 1

9.6 nm, 4 knots per hour average speed, 2:19:03 elapsed time

The big guys came out for the Forshner Weekend including the fastest BHYC boats and several visiting boats from Pictou.  We opted not to fly the spinnaker since we were short handed, altho Captain Reid reminds me that I have a cruising spinnaker not a race spinnaker so it really doesn't help us.  The Admiral likely would agree with that, which is why the spinnaker has been nicknamed, "the divorce papers".

Despite finishing 10th, we did finish ahead of a couple of the other boats in our race class and 4 other boats in the cruising class (http://users.eastlink.ca/~mhoyt/bhyc/EF%202011.htm).  Given that the cruising class boats started 10 minutes ahead of us, we did OK, particularly since we didn't break out the spinnaker.  We didn't compete in Race #2 on the second day since we had planned to reunite with the Manuels in Chezzecook.

We did have a bit more excitement than we wanted at the last tack.  We fouled the starboard sheet bad, which meant we had to cut it off about 0.5 nm from the finish line.  To add to the frustration, I couldn't find a knife!

I've asked for one for Christmas!

Sail #31: Capital Idea, My Dear Dartmouth

20.2 nm, 5 knots per hour average speed, 4:08:33 elapsed time

What a special day!  Ruth and Brian from the Nation's Capital (Ottawa...my American and Quebec friends) and Cheryl from Dartmouth (Nova Scotia) joined us for an absolutely fantastic day on the water.  The winds were perfect to make the 20 nm cruise across to the Marshville Shore very comfortable and the company was even better.

We worked our way out past UD4 and then a nice reach to Malagash Point, tacking to a nice 5 nm reach past the eastern shore of Brule Point and into Marshville.  We turned just in front of the Conley cottage but didn't notice anyone around, before heading back to BHYC.

It was a very large day indeed.