Stephen Kidd

Wonderful wind from 10 to 20 knots. We sailed up the river to Shirley's Bay on about one tack, then bore away on a close reach as the winds strengthened. We tacked left over to Aylmer Island then headed back down river to Crystal Bay where we anchored for supper. We motored back to our slip.

Race Report Fall PHRF 3 Tuesday, Sept. 1 While the wind at the dock read only 5 knots from the East, we could see more on the river. Not enough to reef, though. And in fact, we had beautiful 15-20 knot winds that TQ loves. It was good we had an easterly wind that allowed us to practice using the chute to get upriver pretty fast to the course. After some initial reluctance, Jasmine stepped up, as we exited the harbour, to helm for the first time. She transferred her dinghy racing skills well to a keelboat. At the debrief, we all thought that if sailing a dinghy was like riding a dirt bike, then sailing TQ was like driving an RV. Jasmine adapted well to the boat's slower responsiveness to the wheel. She also discovered firsthand that slower tacks cause TQ to lose less speed. After the first time around the W-course, Jasmine got in the groove, overcame her admitted tendency to pinch and maintained the boat speed - up to 5.5 knots upwind. She was also sensitive to keeping the boat from accidental gybes downwind. Well done, you! We were shorthanded in this wind at a headcount of five, but this team really pulled together for a good workout for each of us. I was glad that Amy, as a first-timer, could experience TQ at her best on the lake. Amy (who has a CS 27 but had never raced), you blended in so well and so nimbly! Awesome handling of jib and spinnaker guy/sheet. Despite its reasonable consistency, the wind was shifty. So on our second time to the gates we made a late and costly decision to gybe the kite, not allowing ourselves enough time to get it down. Despite Martin's heroic efforts alone on foredeck, we had to round the gate, well below it. In the process, Jay, ably handling the main for only the third time, also showed himself fleet-footed, jumping between the chute halyard, the downhaul, the tweaker and even the sheet at one point, on his own initiative. This was one rare evening when the wind did not diminish on the lake. What a sail! (Sorry, we had no time to take pics until after the race.) Lesson learned: Re our debrief from last Thursday, we experimented with bringing the jib in tight as usual upwind, but also not as tight, to see what the influence on the boat's speed would be as well as back winding the main. In 15-20 knot winds, we had no back winding, and better boat speed with the jib in tight to the shroud.

Before we set out the lake looked like a mirror, but then a little breeze came up. By the time we sailed out there was a bit of a stiffer breeze of 5 to 8 knots. by 6:45 the wind diminished to about two knots.

Race Report Fall Series JAM 2 Thursday, August 27th Once again (again), boats floated around on the mirror-like Lac Deschênes. But then, a nice 4 knot breeze came up. We stayed nice and close to the start line and managed to be within a boat length of the start line with clear air for the gun. We had a reasonable, although slow, first leg. As we know, TQ prefers heavy winds, so we slowly fell behind. However, once we rounded the mark, we were able to cover a few boats and make up some ground. We sailed a broad reach out to the gybe mark, and wing on wing down to the leward. We had an exciting time coming down to the mark as those who rounded the mark were calling rights on other boats, and a slow motion collision even occurred! We rounded the mark, pulled in our sails, and made it back to a shortened windward mark. As we rounded, we came onto a reach toward the finish, and since TQ does so well downwind, we managed to cover and roll past about 5 boats to the finish! Overall, we had a great race despite the light conditions. The wind then came up after the race and we had a beautiful sail back into the channel. Sylvain, along with bringing some wonderful croissant sandwiches, suggested that we trim the jib a bit looser, and go for speed rather than pointing on the upwinds, especially in light or moderate wind. We’ll definitely give this a try for our next race and see if the payoff from pointing to speed will pay off! Michael Cardy

A lovely southeasterly wind at 5 - 17 knots made for a nice sail of broad reaches up to almost Aylmer Island followed by tacks upwind back down the lake. Denise did a great job adjusting to the boats wheel, helming much of the way up with Gabriel helming very well on the way back. It was a joy to have baby Veronica onboard, who was no problem at all!

Race Report Fall Series JAM 1 Thursday, August 20 Once again boats floated around on the mirror-like Lac Deschênes. But then, a nice 10-knot breeze came up about 6:30 from the northeast. Race bosun Luke bombed the RC boat over to the Ontario side and set a T-course, a triangle and a "sausage". We had a good start, trying to push up Yulara, who needed to push up Azura heading for the RC boat. "Up Yulara!" "I can't. Azura's there." "You need to push Azura up. Up Azura!" Apex was below us but, fortunately, not pushing us up. When I realized she might, and that we were a few seconds too early to the line, I had room to bear off just enough to cross right at the start signal. The other two boats above us also crossed safely. It was a good (and maybe lucky) start, but we got dirty air. We tacked right as soon as we could and held our own with the fleet most of the race, crisscrossing competitors on the first upwind leg. Rounding marks, we stayed upwind of other boats and regained speed. I had invited Dorothy to helm, but she first wanted to learn foredeck from Sensei Salim. After the first triangle, Dorothy took over, quickly getting used to the wheel and how TQ takes a few seconds to respond. On the last line to the windward mark, when I thought we wouldn't make it and should tack, she insisted we wait and see. The nerve! But yes, the wind was shifty, and we got closer to making the mark. But make it, we did! Dorothy not only helmed for the first time but also shot her first mark! Beautiful! 🎊 Salim and Jeff set the pole for the final downwind leg, and the wind dropped from anywhere between 2 and 5 knots. Hard for TQ to maintain speed. But we weren't the last boat over the line! Shoutout to Iggy - first time on the mainsail - who was diligent at it and caught on to it well, and was nimble with the traveller. 🎉👏