Well. We passed the inspection. The Chief inspector, Mary had been aboard NELLEKE several times in the past to inspect her, so everything went very fast.

Some of the other boats have not been so lucky. One had to withdraw totally since she blew her engine and had to replace it. There just hasn't been enough time to get a new one installed and fully tested prior to the race. Even the race committee chairman has had the bad luck to blow out the waterpump on his boat and is madly scrambling to get a new one installed prior to the race. For him he is fortunate enough to not start until Monday so at least has a little time. NELLEKE had her own bout with equipment failure as I discovered that one of the batteries in the cranking bank was N/S. That explained a great deal as to why the house bank was discharging a lot faster than expected. Fortunately I had some extra cranking batteries aboard so replacement was quite simple with the crew's assistance.

Sadly there was very little wind so we weren't able to get out for another sail. Instead my very patient crew and I went back to AYC to fuel up for the trip. One hundred and fifty litres and $360 lighter the tank was topped up and ready for the trip.


07/10/2008 05:51:54

Getting very close, now!

Tonight we will have our safety inspection and final crew training outing. We had intended to have one more on Saturday, but with the Captain's Meeting, social events, and the various additional chores that still need to be done, I have made the Command Decision and have chosen to scrub that in favour of the extra time to get the "nice to haves" done.

I am keeping my fingers tightly crossed that for once the weather witches are on my side. They are calling for light winds during the start which will have us beating out the harbour to the Bravo buoy, but once we round that we will have 3 basically sunny days of 15-20 knot winds. Perfect for us!

There. I've said it. Now I've probably jinxed myself but, hey! I gotta plan somehow.

I sure hope that they are right. If so, it will be a very pleasant downhill slide to St-Pierre in dry weather and less than 2 meter seas. Great conditions for an essentially novice crew. It will also create a great environment for them to get the feel of sailing without the constant sensation of doing things to save their lives. It'll also give them (and me) a chance to keep watch for sea life. When it's foggy or stormy or pissing down rain you don't get a chance to see too much. Me, I plan to get caught up in some of my reading.

07/07/2008 05:51:54

Hurrah!

Our 4th crew member has arrived. Amy showed up at NELLEKE last night, and got the firehose of information jammed at her - poor lady!

We then immediately went out for a sail to get her the feeling for the boat and an initial idea of what lines go where for what. She appears to be a very quick study and I think that she'll fit in well with the rest of the mangy crew.

Now we're scrambling to find additional crew for SEA SMOKE and ALAUA VI as they have both lost someone to work and to injury recently.


07/06/2008 05:51:54

The start is drawing close and the prep-time is getting very short. My one relief is that everything that absolutely has to get done, has been done. From here on in everything else that we do is gravy. Yummy, tasty, gosh-I-really-wnat-it gravy. But gravy nontheless.

Sunday, we went out for a motor followed by a fairly decent sail. There was inintially no wind whatsoever so we motored around to Purdy's Wharf and showed the guys the Maritime Museum where the start line will be in a week's time. Then we motored back through Eastern Passage and trialed out the FLS in a real-time situation of shoaling waters. Hot-diggity am I glad we bought that puppy. In spite of shoaling waters left and right we never even came close as, guided by the technology, we were able to stay clear of any sandbars. My confidence in our ability to stay off the lumpy bits on our way south this fall has gone up exponentially. Aftre we came through the narrows the wind picked up in the outer harbour and we were able to sail.

Tuesday our 4th crewperson flys in to join us and will come out for an evening sail. Art and Marc work right beside me in the office so I know them pretty well. Amy will add some real interest to the watch schedule in that she'll have a whole new group of stories to tell and experiences to share. We're all looking forward to adding her to the crew roster.

One sail training session on Tuesday night. Then another abreiviated one which we will coincide witht he inspection at RNSYS on Thursday and a final short one on Saturday prior to the Skippers meeting and we'll be as prepared as we'll ever be for this race.


06/24/2008 05:51:54

A pleasant, albeit slow, sail was had on the Northwest Arm Tuesday night. Only one of the confirmed crew joined us, but stalwart Dave, the fellow who had joined me on a previous RHSP and on last years Marblehead Race came out to join us as an extra hand. Too bad he won't be able to come this year but at least we can get him out for day sails as often as his schedule will allow.

We will also be adding a new member of the crew. A lady by the name of Amy has asked to join us by way of an auction to raise money for breast cancer research. She is a biology professor at a university in Indianna and trains cadaver dogs as a sideline. Sounds like she'll be someone really interesting to chat with during the watches.

The evening was plagued with low and variable winds so the guys found out first hand why I really hate to sail in the Arm. We put up main and jib and coasted out as far as RNSYS in about an hour and a half. This distance is usually covered in 15 minutes! Although something less than adrenalin pumping, it did give us a chance to play with trimming the sails and give Marc some time on the helm.

We also met up with SEA SMOKE, a Bavaria 38, one of the other military entries in the race. Looks a bit like a more solidly built Benateau and appears quite fast. They will be entering the white sail class so I guess they'll be the competition.

NELLEKE has also changed docks and I'm still getting used to pulling into our new space. I'm starting to get the hang of it and am getting quite adept at manouvering in tight spaces.

Work on the boat on Wed night and then another evening of sail training on Thurs.

06/22/2008 05:51:54

We got out again on the weekend with the crew.

After fighting our way through dense fog it cleared just as we got into Halifax harbour and we had a nice sail from Georges Island out to beyond Hangman's Beach.

They guys are getting more and more used to the boat, where things are and where to put other things. We still have to work on understanding the instrumentation, watch discipline, MOB drills, and vessel sensitivity but on the whole I think the personalities are a good match. I am hoping that a fourth crewmember will fall out of the woodwork. One that is an experienced sailor so that if something happens to me the other guys will be able to get themselves out of trouble. I have a couple of irons in the fire.

06/12/2008 05:51:54

Finally! We were able to coordinate NELLEKE readiness, the weather and crew availability and got out in the harbour for a couple of hours of sailing.

With winds as 25 knots gusting to 40 we didn't have a whole lot of sail up and conditions in the harbour were challenging to say the least. With the downtown office buildings and the bridges the winds were full of eddys and direction changes, but still, it was fun to get out with the guys and bang around the harbour.

After 6 months of being up on the hard some lessons have to be relearned, not the least of which is to make sure that everything is properly stowed. No damage except to self-esteem.

I'm still not sure if we want to add another crew member to fill up the liferaft, but I have been considering it.