Views from a kayak

Have been taking advantage of the kayak, paddling around my little inlet as well as crossing the big water over to the sailing club.

Crazy pink roots.

Swan, cygnet, heron

Our colourful corner of the docks.

August 13 - Wildwood Cup

Against my better judgement Chris and I entered Blazing Matilda in the last race of the season (Gerry was in Florida dealing with the stinkpot - a boat, not a turtle).  The race can be summed up in one sentence: Once again, barely a breath of wind, once again a great start, once again flukey winds and once again, third place. Maybe next year we can have some wind????

Mini-vacation in Michigan

Took a mini-vacation, visiting Jeff in Michigan. He owns a few boats, and we suspect is trying to outdo Gerry in number of vessels. We stayed aboard his gi-normous power boat, took it for a little canal tour and the next day took the little power boat to Tree Island to cool off. Did a little cross-border shopping and of course got some Lamb's Navy 151 proof rum – rumour has it the only place you can get it is the duty free store. Okay, it's not a rumour I searched the internet and actually called the distributor to verify the bogus story Gerry had told me which turned out to be true – only available at the duty free at the Ontario border, not available in stores or at the airport duty free (illegal to fly with it). Don't you hate it when the man is right?

Big powerboat, cigarette boat, little powerboat & dinghy!

Cruisin'

Sometimes this is an island, sometimes it's not.

Surfer dog!

The man and his rum.

August 1 – Wind, Wind and more Wind – why is there never wind on race day?

Rudy & Ellen came out to Wildwood and we decided to take Capri out instead of Blazing Matilda. I hoped there would be enough wind, but needn't have worried, turned out there was wind to spare! Leaving the dock is always interesting, since there is still no motor, no extra plexiglass on the rudder to aid in skulling and she sits too high in the water for rowing. We managed to get her turned around at the dock, pushed off and left the bay without incident, too bad our return would not go as smoothly.

We headed up the lake sedately, sailing downwind looking for Kinsale (Les & Chris). Was a beautiful day, marred only by all the motor boats racing around, but it was a long weekend after all. Didn't find Kinsale until we were almost at the bridge and they were on their way back. The wind had picked up considerably so we anticipated a quick race back and it was, for them – for us, not so much. Ellen and I decided to sit on the bow, looking for shade but it soon became looking to not fall off the boat. There was too much wind and too much sail. The main sail cannot be reefed so we were in for a wild ride. It's the first time on this lake that I've been ballast, sitting with legs over the side, hanging on to the life line, which by the way is high enough for even someone of John Candy's build to easily roll under into the drink. Pity we only have one photo, Ellen and I were too busy hanging on, Gerry was trying to keep us upright and Rudy was manning the mainsheet. We maxed out the tilt-a-meter (Rudy's term for inclinometer) which only registers up to 45 degrees, managed to wash most of the deck and some of the windows. I was amazed that we didn't go right over – skill or luck?

We fought our way up to the dam, losing my favourite sun hat in the process. The trick now was to get around the finger docks back to our dock. I looked up the hill and sure enough, the peanut gallery was up there waiting for something to happen. They weren't disappointed – a rogue burst of wind and we were off course heading for shore. Chris and Les came to the rescue, pulled us back out, aimed us at the dock, wind cooperated,  Jerry C. caught our line and we docked safely.

Big Chute - July 25, 2011

Spent the day in the Parry Sound area and visited Big Chute Marine Railway. I've been past this area many times and have never stopped (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chute_Marine_Railway). Was really interesting.

Getting on

Going up

Crossing the road

Getting off

The old one

And here's the real reason we went – to add another boat to the ever-increasing fleet. A replacement for the one that was stolen years ago (and about which he can't stop talking – did I say that out loud?).