June 01,2014

The car is packed up and the house is looked after. It took a little longer than we thought with all the details. Lance Crow is our pool boy for the hot tub. Becca is the grass cutter as she gets to use the John Deer. This may sound like slave labour but she got the use of Moira’s Ford Windstar for the summer while we are gone. Shannon is the overall go to person. She took on the gardens and then realized that I (Moira) am a lousy gardener and she will have her work cut out for her.

Just found out that Shannon’s management skills are excellent as she hired Peggy (Greg’s Mom) to do the gardening. A great big thanks to Peggy.

We say good-bye on Sunday morning.

The drive is great and we end up staying in rural Quebec on Sunday night. We are at a beautiful Motel/Camper Park where we have a room with a kitchen and living room.

June 02,2014

Monday we arrive in Moncton at Walter and Lorraine’s and have a great supper.
They have been waiting for us and it is wonderful to catch up on Shediac news.
Lorraine teaches us a card game called “Bitch” which involves three decks of cards and we play until bedtime. Very competitive game and fun.

Walter and Lorraine are housing us until launch and we are being treated like royalty.

June 03,2014

We go to First Choice Marine and Chris has removed the shrink-wrap. Ladders out and we inspect Genevieve. The boat has come through the worst winter Shediac/Point du Chene as seen in 20 years. Talk of 17-foot snow banks down near the wharf.
They thought that they would never see spring.
Time to get to work. We start unpacking first and cleaning the inside, the mast will
be done tomorrow.

June 04,2014- June 06,2014

We have the boat ready for launch, which is tomorrow. One hick-up with the diesel engine, air in the system but the mechanic had her bled in less than 10 min.. We decide to go with the original prop that we had rebuilt last year.

Meet up with familiar faces in the boat yard and the reunion is sweet.

We are off to Bonny and Dave Beer’s tonight to sleep over so that we can get up early for the launch on June 07. We are still playing the card game Bitch. Keeping us very entertained. Girls against the boys. Of course the girl’s take the championship.

June 07,2014

It is blowing 20-30 knots but Walter thinks it isn’t that bad. We are the first boat to go in and need to get the comfort level from the crane operator. He says this is the second launch and the first one the wind was really howling. Launch is a go.

John explains the concerns with the 65’ mast blowing in the breeze but is told no worries. Other boaters provide lots of help. Bruce Como jumps in the cockpit to give direction to the crane operator from John down below as the mast is put in place.

The boat and mast go in the water smoothly and we are relaxed as she is taken to the dock.

It is cold and my shoes are on board so my toes have turned white and a kind of a blue-gray in my sandals. Feels like frostbite. Summer will come to the East coast they promise. I am taking the pictures and doing the Timmy’s run.

At the dock I (Moira) am hoisted up the mast to remove the lines and all is good.
June 08,2014


Can’t sleep on the boat yet have to go to the marine yard and get our belongings from the loft. It’s like x-mas when we see the pile of stuff we now have to load on Genevieve. More busy work to be done.


June 11.2014

John and Dave go shopping for lobster, mussels and oysters. Dave insisted on paying for the oysters. We wanted to treat all our hosts to a big feast of seafood to thank them for the great hospitality. John did the cooking and the shucking. It was a great night.



June 15,2014

Happy Fathers Day to John.

We have been in contact with Dave and Shirley Brown from Miramichi and they are coming for lunch. We start out in the cockpit of the boat with snacks and an adult beverage. They are out of town members from QCYC and it is great to see them.

It is raining very windy and cold definitely stormy. We are still smiling.

They were telling stories of George Annaud (before our time at QCYC) but small world, they know of Lynn and Don Walton.

We move to La Garage for the main course lobster and steak for the special day.
Sounds elegant but it really is a garage converted to a kitchen. Shirley and I are freezing so we sit with our feet at the oven. The weather is bad.

John and I are on the boat but it is so rough and cold that even when Bonnie and Dave asked us to sleepover again we decided that we could not come out of the boat and get wet again. . Perhaps in hindsight we should have rethought this because the wind howled all night.

June16, 2014

Final provisioning and John has to go to the top of the mast to fix the roller furling. Winds only blowing 15-20 knots and the sun is shining.
It’s a great weather day.

We are ready to shove off, a sad goodbye to all and we are on our way to Summerside PEI. It takes us six hours motoring all the way, light winds and not in our favor.
We stay at the Silver Fox Marina, facilities are good and the slot machine gods are generous. Get to hear the musicians from the College of Piping play the pipes and drums, Very good. Great ribs at the Brothers 2 Restaurant, which we walked to, seemed like miles.

June 17,2014

Well it’s Wednesday, wet and windy; we can’t leave. Another night at the Silver Fox.
The sun will come out tomorrow fingers crossed. We will head for Charlottetown.


June 19th
The wind has changed and it’s finally not raining so we are off to Charlottetown.
A gorgeous sails and tied up before another rain front rolls through.

Spoke to soon the rain starts and there is a hailstorm.

June 20th

Happy Birthday John who has just turned 64.

We decide that we need to stay until this front blows through. Could be the tail end of the storm in Ontario that hit Angus and many parts of Prince Edward County.
Another day of rain so we will sit out my (john’s) birthday ashore and head for Pictou tomorrow.

We plan on a nice dinner out to celebrate.