It's Friday therefore it must be a sailing day. Wasn't in the office yesterday because I went to Air Force for a section head meeting so I wasn't able to confirm with Alison if we were going sailing. I took all of my stuff anyways.
So Alison was into sailing but we had to call Gerry to find out if the motor was fixed. He looked at it earlier in the week and said it needed a new spark plug. I bought one on my way home on Tuesday night and gave it to him. Alison and I were just on our way to the front desk to get his cell phone number when he pulled up. He needed a poece of software from me and then he said he was heading out to check the engine.
Just befor noon Gerry called back and said everything was fine with the motor. At noon Alison and I took off. It was a bit overcast and the wind was blowing but the rain clouds looked like they were heading south.
Got to the club only to discover that the club dingy had been left at a mooring.Pissed us off, same thing happened last week and I had to swim out to the boat to get it. I changed into my swimsuit and went down to the dock but the water was cooler than last week and I didn't feel like getting wet. We just sat at the end of the dock and waited for the boat service to start in one hour, yakked and drank rose wine I had in a thermos.
The guy who had taken the dingy came in then brought the dingy back to the dock with his boat. There were also a couple of other people waiting for the dingy. He offered to take us out to the boat so we took him up on his offer.
As we got to the boat and started taking covers off and such I noticed that one of the mainstays was loose, well not only loose but the turnbuckle was completely missing. We sort of puzzled over it a bit then sort of figured out that Gabrielle (Mr Nydam's daughter) must have taken it off. There was already one missing that had a rope holding the mainstay in place. We decided to take one off and go to The Boathouse to find a replacement.
Well, they couldn't find the proper one. All the turnbuckles they had were longer than ours. We really couldn't use those because the wires were already loose with the onw we had. The guy there called a couple of places but could not come up with one. We headed back to the club but dropped off first at Mr Nydam's to se if Gabrielle was there. No answer at the door so we headed back to the club.
Alison had left her phone in the boatso once we got there she tried calling Gabrielle but justleft a message. We took the boat back out to the mooring then called the boat guy. When he was taking us in he said that Gabrielle was just here looking for us so once we got in we headed back over there.
Turned out she had taken the other turnbuckle and went over to The Boathouse to see about getting a new one. She got there just after we were there. The guy now thinks there is this sudden run on parts for differnet Cygnus boats. Anyway we all decided to go back to the baot and reinstall everything and switch the rope replacement withan inside stay that is not as important.
So we ended up not going sailing as it was now near 4 ans Alison had a meeting in Point Claire Village at 5. Gabrielle was going out with friends in the boat at 7. Alison and I went for a beer deciding to go sailing on Sunday instead. I stopped off at the Forces sailing club on my way back and the guys there looked through the GP hut for hardware but there were no turnbuckles laying around. Did a quick internet searchwhen I got back home but didn't really find anything yet. Will have to take a tape measurer out with me next time to get an exact size. I think it's 3" but it very well could be a bit longer.
So tomorrow is Air Force. I think I will only work a half day as the Forces sailng club it going to sail out to the sand bars in the afternoon. Don't know whether I'll go with the club bots or go get the Cygnus and sail it out to the sand bars.
Clear weather and warm for the weekend so should be great!
Alison and I went on a sail on Friday afternoon along with Karima and Bert from the office. It was a great afternoon except for the fact we ran out of wind and had to paddle back back most of the way from the sand bars. Will post pictures when I get around to organizing my very full compact flash card.
Dropped by the sailing club on my way home. Haven't been there since the steak and lobster bbq early in mid-June. Had a few beers with the guys and caught up with the club gossip.
Came home from that just in time to walk over to the McGill bookstore to buy the new Harry Potter book at midnight. Much better organized than last time. They had the pre-party outside the book store then had everyone line up with number tickets. I got there at about 10 to and had number 151. They also handed out a sheet with a plan of the bookstore with the various activities marked out. Those with pre-orders were to go to the basemant while those without would go to Gringot's Bank (the cash registers) on the first floor.
At about 2 minutes to midnight they opened the door and everyone quickly moved in. When I got in there was a massive lineup leading to the basement while there were maybe 10 people at Gringot's Bank. When I got the the cash register I grabbed 2 copies, one for me and one as a birthday gift for Claudine. I glanced at my watch as I was leaving the book store and it was only 10 after midnight.
Now having the new Harry Potter book presents a bit of a dilemna, I am part way through another book right now and I hate reading two books at the same time so I need to finish off the other book. So far I have been so busy this weekend so I haven't made much progress on it but hopefully I can finish it off today.
Yesterday was Air Force but in the eveing I went with Tessa and her friend Joanna to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Very good, sly as you would expect from Tim Burton and Johnny Depp but highly entertaining.
So this morning been lazying around, keeping and eye on both the British Open and the Tour de France while catching up on laundry. Just finished scarfing down on omelette made with asparagus, onion, mushroom, garlic and a touch of parmesan cheese. Yummy!
Now to go finish that stupid other book so I can start in on Harry Potter!
Well, we actually made it out on the water after work yesterday. Ok, we took the easy way out and just used the jib bit we did a big triangle in Valois Bay before heading back in. Even managed to pick up a bit of speed on an evening where there was not a lot of wind.
We have tentative plans to try again tonight although thunderstorms are again in the forecast. This time it actually looks like it outside a bit. If not then we are going for sure right after work tomorrow. Alison has a dinner engagement in the evening but we should be able to fit in a couple of hours of sailing if we can get going by 12:30 or 1.
This time we'll put up the main sail ;-)
Last summer the whole office spent the afternoon at a small marina on the West Island where the boss keeps a sailboat. It was Nicolas birthday and we thought a picnic would be a fun idea. My Nydam's daughter came down, rigged the boat and took some of us out. After that I took people out for the rest of the afternoon. You can see the pictures day from that in the photo gallery.
A couple of weeks later I went out on the boat with Mr Nydam and his wife. We sailed to the otherside of Lac St Louis where the sand bars are. Again another nice afternoon.
He told Alison and I we could use the boat anytime we wanted. We planned on a Sunday about week later but when we met up it was so windy there were whitecaps. We went to go eat lunch and then returned but the wind had not died down. The rest of the afternoon was spent in chairs watching sailers struggling with the wind.
He told Alison and I we could use the boat anytime we wanted. We planned on a Sunday about week later but when we met up it was so windy there were whitecaps. We went to go eat lunch and then returned but the wind had not died down. The rest of the afternoon was spent in chairs watching sailers struggling with the wind.
Anyway, the boss was not planning on putting the boat in the water for this season, his kids are all grown, he has a bigger boat on Lake Champlain and bought another new boat to work on. Alison and I persuaded him to put it in the water, we would take care of expenses. No problemo.
Fast forward to now. The boat has now been in the water for about 6 weeks and we have not as of yet been sailing. Either my schedule doesn't mesh with her schedule of the weather defeats us. Last Tuesday we were supposed to go but a big storm came up that dumped so much water in a little time they actually had to close highways around Montreal.
So this week we looked at our schedule again and picked today. Yesterday I checked the weather forecast and it said thunderstorms for this afternoon. Also rain and/or thunderstorms for most of the next week or so. Seeing as that was the case I was ready to dump going to Air Force to take advantage of a beuatiful; (but fairly windless) afternoon to go sailing but could not reach Alison on her cell.
So, as far as I know it's still on. I keep going outside to look at the cloud situation. It's a bit cloudy but it doesn't look dark and menacing. Maybe we will be lucky and miss the storm(s). So I work away the afternoon, stepping out ever so often to check the sky and have the Weater Channel permantly setup on one of my browser windows.
Took off yesterday morning with Claudine, Ben and Marc's dad Don to go to Rimouski to see Marc sing in Faust. Stopped in Claudine's parents place in Montmigny for lunch and got into Rimouski just before dinner. Met up with Marc at the theatre just before he went into makeup and got the keys to the room at the student residence at the CEGEP there.
Ate dinner then dropped Ben off at the babysitter Marc had arrranged. Both Don and I thought for sure that Ben would have a coniption fit when we left him but he went willingly with them without hardly a glance back.
Opera was fairly good, some good voices and the orchestra was not too bad. I taped it on my MiniDisc, will make a CD copy later on for Marc and Don.
This morning we had breakfast then took off taking the smaller highways. When we hit Riviere du Loup on a whim we decided to take the ferrie across to Saint Simeone. Took about an hour to cross and saw some beluga whales during the trip.
Drove along the smaller highway in the Charlevoix region, quite pretty. We bought lunch at La Malbaie then stopped near St. Irenee to eat by the river. after that we continued on our way taking the north route all the way back to Montreal. Was surprised that the traffic coming back into Montreal was so bad considering it was the end of a three day holiday weekend.
So a trip that normally takes about 6 hours we took 11 hours!