Tara Smith

We motored for a while, carrying a large bench on foredeck, felt like wankers so put the sails up, too lazy for the kite. It was a pretty stunning day though, 12knots northerly, blue sky and sun. Nice to see a few other boats sailing up wind, points!

18-20knots from West. Close hauled. Waves. Huge grey whale

Great sail 18-20 knots with waves, enjoyed a beam to close reach. Active driving. Lots of commercial traffic.

Calm motoring a bit boring. Happy logs sleep at night.

Dorothy is owned by the BC maritime museum and I am so incredibly grateful to get to skipper her. We motored from the causeway docks and paraded past the Classic Boat Festival Commodore aboard Midnight Sun. The classic race followed the sailpast, the start was off of Brotchie Ledge then to QV, white mark inside Clover Point and finish back at Brotchie. Unfortunately the wind was less than the predicted 10knots (that would have been ideal) and we had closer to 3knots of wind and a building flood tide. Our start was fairly good and we maintained a lane to weather of the two lead and much larger boats. The course was shortened to the white mark inside Clover Point. We rounded in third and then stayed inside the back eddy and managed to finish in second and corrected to second overall. Dorothy is so beautiful to sail and very different from my previous racing experience with sport boats. She has a jib and staysail on the bowsprit. The mainsail is a gaff rig and it has been very interesting to learn how to trim it. Running back stays and everything is beautiful bronze hardware and vintage looking new sails.

Perfect day to deliver Dorothy from RVicYC in Cadboro Bay around the waterfront to the Victoria Inner Harbour for the Victoria Classic Boat Festival. The wind was 8-12knots from the NE, we decided on a route outside Trial Island so that we could maintain a nice reach, jibed just before the shipping lane and reached towards Broachie Ledge at 6knots of boat speed. When we reached the breakwater we tacked back out and attached the motor bracket, then sailed back inside the breakwater and dropped the sails and motored into the harbour and docked on the shoreside of the causeway docks ready for the Victoria Classic Boat Show. Dorothy is Canadas oldest sailboat now part of the BC Maritime Museum fleet, she was built in the Victoria Harbour for Commodore Langley of the VYC, she raced for many years and won the Cowichan Bay Regatta and others, two years ago she raced in the Cowichan Bay Regatta at over 100years old. It’s really special to have the opportunity to sail this beautiful boat and connect out local racing history.

Lovely sail around the bays of Pender Harbour and Garden Bay in the Davidson 9