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.

Wildwood April 5, 2010

Another beautiful day, and really windy. Les and Chris joined us on the inaugural sail on the lake. Yesterday there was some discussion on how we never reef the main sail. Well guess what - we double reefed it today, waves estimated at 2 feet! Good thing the Matilda has a large cockpit - four us needed to be on the same side of the boat almost all the time.










A photo to prove we made it all the way to the bridge, just a-racing down the lake, or is that up the lake? Lots of time left for Chris to make it back to town - or was it?




I'm not allowed to say who was at the helm (wasn't Gerry, Chris or me) but we got a little too close to the edge of the lake. For those non-sailors that means we ran aground.

Chris and Gerry scrambling to get the sails down.











The unknown helmsman trying to move the boat with the paddle.












Gerry pushing with the other paddle. Women and children were relegated to the V-berth below (weight distribution or just so we were out of the way?) hence the shots from inside the boat.










Les went up to fix the jib. He wasn't smiling a few minutes later when he got totally soaked from the spray.










Made it back just in time for Chris to make it back to town for her 3 o'clock appointment.
BTW - here's the meaning of relegated:
verb [ trans. ]
consign or dismiss to an inferior rank or position. Example: they aim to prevent women from being relegated to a secondary role.

Wildwood April 4, 2010

Another beautiful spring day. Took advantage of the weather to put the Matilda (gotta name the boat someday) in the water. First one in!!! Would you believe I'm putting Penaten on the bottom of the boat?

Crazier

April 3, 2010
Some people are crazier than me. Today was a very very windy day, but warm. A member of the sailing club decided to take advantage of the wind and go windsurfing. The air was warm but can you imagine how cold the water must be? And he unfortunately spent some time in it.








At one point he disappeared after taking a spill so we went to see if he needed rescuing. This is what we found:




If you look very closely you can see him whizzing along on the other side of the lake. On this side of the lake you can see how gusty it is.

Ontari ari ari O

Back to incredibly warm weather in Ontario after leaving Freeport in the aftermath of a tornado! Funny thing happened on the way to the plane. On the bus from one terminal to another I spoke briefly to someone from France with a reasonable command of English and as we're climbing the stairs to the plane he says "Pardon me, I don't wish to be rude but I think your pants are on upside down." I managed not to laugh hysterically and said, "no they're not, they're reversible." They're my favourite pants and since they are reversible the seam is noticeable.

So that's all the news - except yes indeed there was a tornado, something rather rare in the Bahamas. Port Lucaya (near us) suffered somewhat but the biggest tragedy was at the container port where 3 people died.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100329/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_bahamas_tornado