A few Wildwood Tales

Still looking for the culprit who stapled this to the dock between Les and Gerry's boats. No one has fessed up.



Rudy and Ellen finally made it out to Wildwood again (they used to be members). The six of us had a terrific time on Les and Chris's new boat Kinsale - another Edel but bigger, faster and prettier.











One day last week I was at the helm coming down the lake when Gerry made a comment about my helmsmanship or is that helmswomanship? "Why are you steering with the tiller over so far?" You're supposed to be steering straight, the boat is going straight." I told him that's the only way I can get the boat to go straight! Nothing else was said. A few days later we were almost in the exact same spot with Gerry at the helm when he said "I wonder why the tiller is over so far, it shouldn't be." Of course I might have said something like "yeah, why aren't you steering straight, the boat is going straight?" We get back to the dock and the first thing he does is try to figure out why. Strange he didn't try to figure out why when I was doing it. He assumed pilot error I'm sure. Anyway, as you can see the problem was not me or him it was the rudder. It's difficult to steer with the rudder bent out of shape. Sorry I cut half your head off in the photo, well maybe I am......



The sad news is that the rudder was replaced but the same damn thing happened - it managed to get bent again, during the Vanexan Cup Race and just as we were gaining on Anita and Steve!!

Bits and Pieces

1. Dinner with Richard and Leslie revealed that washing machine drums can be deadly. I didn't mention the fireworks that ensued when we first lit the washing machine fire pit in the Bahamas because we all thought it must have been something in the wood but when my brother told his tale of the same thing happening here in Ontario I thought I should issue a public service bulletin and tell everyone to beware of the black powdery stuff that can spew forth like fireworks from one of these things. We were luckier than Richard and Leslie - we weren't trying to have dinner around it - they were and needless to say their food was covered in a lovely film of black toxicity.

2. Would you believe someone from my 6 Grade class (Northdale Public School, Waterloo) managed to get almost 20 of us together for lunch a few weeks ago - including one of the teachers - Mr. MacMillan. I discovered that stating what's on my mind, sometimes less than tactfully has been part of my charm for a long time.


3. It's just like dumpster diving - getting free stuff is great. A few trailers up the row someone was building a new shed and left the old one on the curb with a "free" sign on it. Was 2' bigger and in better shape than mine so of course we snapped that baby up in a hurry. Gerry and I must have been a funny sight, inside the shed, walking it down the road. Would you believe they also had a perfectly good deck they wanted gone! The photo shows where some strong guys dropped it and the other one shows where my good friends Gerry, Rudy, Ellen, Chris and Les planted it while I was at dance class - thanks soooo much! Was a great surprise.

One of those days

It's been awhile..... busy dancing and danced so much that now I'm injured and ordered to not dance for a month! So sailing and cross stitching is my thing these days.

Saturday started cloudy but cleared up and off we went to the sailing club. The flag was hardly moving so we put on the really big jib sail, the one whose sheets run all the way to the back of the boat which makes tacking harder than usual. For those who don't know "sheets" are the ropes attached to the sail that you use to pull the sail in on either side of the boat. I think they're called sheets because they control the sheets (sails). Anyway, going downwind was uneventful, as usual, however coming back not so much. The winds had really picked up and were fickle too. So why did I decide I needed a turn at the helm? Probably because I was getting damned tired of hauling in the sheets every time we tacked and the sheets got snagged on the junk on the bottom of the mast (needs to be removed - junk not mast), then on the cleat on one side of the mast, then on the other. Cleats that the halyards are attached to (yes, they're ropes but they're called halyards, they haul up the sails). Anyway, winds were crazy and I was zigzagging all over the place but sort of in control when all of a sudden the tiller flew out of my hand and we did a 360 - not my fault, I swear, and fortunately Gerry had 360'd earlier and then again later (sorry, Gerry). Moments later we heeled over way too far, I attempted to let the main sheet out but didn't yank it hard enough so we rounded up. I should have gone back to being crew but no, I hung in a while longer, long enough to almost run into a power boat that did not give way, I didn't either and fortunately we missed each other. I think about then I said "had enough - you drive!" So Gerry's at the tiller, I'm busy hauling on the damn sheet once again and wham - my elbow and the tiller collided - OUCH, right in the funny bone, lost all feeling in my arm and couldn't complete the tack. It would probably not be hurting today if I hadn't hit it twice later that evening.


Fortunately you can't get too injured cross stitching.