Friday, September 5, 2008

Back Home

Well the wind was on the nose, like we thought it would be. We motor sailed until about five miles off Sodus Point, where we killed the motor, and slooowly sailed into the bay. What was amazing, was a C&C 35 on the same tack, and we ghosted right by him in the light air. Go figure!  A hulking 30,000 pound cruiser, towing a dinghy floats past a 12,000 pound racing machine. Maybe he should invest in some new sails, cause that's not supposed to happen.
The Yanmar diesel ran fine, so now I think I have some bad fuel in the port tank. Guess I will have to attempt some fuel polishing, and tank cleaning. Coincidentally, there was an article in one of the sailing mags about this process. Sounds like a dry dock job to me.
 
The black flies came out to play, and bit us up a bit. We learned that black flies can't handle glass plus spray cleaner. Give em a spritz, and they get goofy enough where you can swat them. Deb had a mosquito net ready for herself. I was on my own. We really lucked out on the weather on our cruise, and I'm glad we went. There's nothing like living on the boat for a few weeks to really get you to relax. My only regret is that we didn't anchor out, but I need to get a little more energy independent before we attempt that. The fridge is AC, and runs off the inverter. I think 8-12 hrs on the hook would be pushing it. 
 
Confederation Basin only had about a dozen sailboats for the holiday weekend. I remember the place used to be filled with sticks, and now hardly any make the trip. There were quite a lot of trawlers, and heard many say they were loopers. These trawlers were huge, and looked to be well stocked with electronic goodies, and other nice stuff. Another thing we noticed were most of the sailboats were Canadian. There were only 2 other sailboats from the states, besides us. Beneteau seems to be selling quite a few boats in Canada, as that was the popular brand, followed by Catalina. The Basin hasn't changed much, and the kids are still there to help when the wind is blowing. After 5pm, most of the dock help is gone, and you have to rely on fellow boaters. From about 3 to 5pm you grab a drink, sit in the cockpit, and watch the docking dance. We have seen some of the most bizarre docking acts in this marina when the wind is blowing. Nothing can top the French Canadian sailboat that had no dock lines ready, motoring slowly into the slip, while having wine and cheese at the cockpit table. They never got up, just drifted into the slip, and let everyone else stop and secure their boat. No thank you's, just more wine. Amazing.
 
I hate to say it, but I'm already configuring my mast supports for winter storage. :(