Robin (The Gadget family)

I've just done a search for sail, sailing and sailors in all of Canadian forums and have come up with no matching threads or posts, so I thought it was about time that there was one, for anyone interested.

Has any one been sailing in Canada, either in a dinghy or a yacht on a lake or the sea, on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts?

My sailing in Canada has been in amongst the Islands off Vancouver Island with my brother on a C & C 27' or his latest investment, a Taiwan built 42'. He knows the area well because he teaches sailing to all qualification levels so is out most weeks from March-October.

I really rate a summer cruise there, such beautiful anchorages with no crowding, so a real get-away-from-it-all holiday. It's so easy to sail in mainly protected waters too, though actually finding any wind can be a bit of a problem. Yes, one can moor alongside every night and eat ashore, but that isn't how we do it. We had one meal ashore in 10 days, at the floating restaurant off Newcastle Island, Nanaimo.

We swam off the boat, explored the shorelines, played on the beaches and admired the natural views from the boat, and sometimes we were the only boat in an anchorage. So peaceful, well, apart from having 7 kids and 5 adukts between the 2 boats.

We had one decent sail out of 10 days last time we were there in 2005, and it was sooo exhilarating! Especially for me, because although I was brought up sailing and living on a boat, Dad was always the skipper and made all the decisions. Graham encouraged me to believe that I was perfectly capable of being a safe skipper and lent me the smaller of the two boats shown, to build my confidence on.

Oh, what a buzz! My OH and son have no experience at all so I really had to think about it all. I will add that Graham and I had two-way radios so could keep in contact, and for the first 5 days his wife Jenny and I shared the helming and decisions between us, but then she returned to the bigger boat to spend time with her family and left me to it, with my agreement. To be able to trim the sails as I pleased, tack when I decided, head up as much as I felt was to our best speed advantage, to look out for other boats and hazards, to make sure from the chart that I knew where was safe with enough water and where wasn't, to be able to read the buoys and markers and to prepare for anchoring or mooring alongside a dock, were all responsibilities that were down to me and I loved it all.

To someone who is used to being a skipper my experience would be laughed at, but we all start somewhere and I am so lucky to have had my first skippering experience in amongst so many spectacularly scenic Islands and I really look forward to many years of family sailing out in that area when we eventually get there!

The pictures below show the two boats on the one afternoon with a bit of a breeze.

So, anyone else got a sailing experience to share?

dbd33

My middle daughter has some sort of officer's ticket and sails on tall ships in the summer. She's been all over. In good years she gets paid, in bad she just sails all summer for free(!) She's heavily into the tall ship scene and has the appropriate body ink.

Seven or eight years ago I got to wondering what inspired her and took a dinghy sailing course for a flavour of it. I liked that, took several keel boat and related courses and have been crewing on boats in club races a couple of times a week since. What I really like is dinghies but I suppose the most daring I've been is to single hand a J24 in heavy weather; exciting to me but obviously nothing to being on the yard when a tall ship dips it.

The most threatening incident I've encountered was when we were in a collision at the start of a race. We, a 25' boat, lost the mast and a sailor over the side. We were terrified that he'd be hypothermic as Lake Ontario in May isn't warm but he just needed his stomach pumping to get rid of the toxic sludge we sail on. It's quite amazing how dirty the lake is, in fog we can tell when we're close to shore because of the rubbish and dead fish banging on the hull. I suppose the lasting legacy of sailing to me will be guilt in using Toronto toilets; whenever I do I can't help but think of whatever I flush slipping by the side of the boat.

Mountain Girl

Wooow sounds beautiful.

There is one lake that I know of in Alberta, towards the mountains that sail large boats and thats Ghost Lake. You get to it by traveling on the 1A highway towards Canmore from Calgary. It looks amazing.


I do miss the ocean a weee bit I have to say....... but the mountains do have my heart .

Robin (The Gadget family)

The J24 looks like fun, and racing these must be such a thrill. I had to go off and find a couple of photos of them in action.

I'm disappointed to hear about just how contaminated Lake Ontario is, (I assume this is the one you're talking about). I see from the internet that this issue is a major environmental issue. Does this mean that people can't swim off the shores?

In BC a law has been introduced that all boats must have holding tanks by this year and that discharge of the tanks must be at least a mile from any land, so no more pumping the head out directly into the sea whilst at anchor. Graham spent a couple of weeks of March designing and building and fitting a fiberglass holding tank for Moku Lana. No mean feat because of the unusual shape of the space for it next to the curve of the hull on one side and the underseat cupboard on the other.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Come back and tell me of any exciting races that you are involved in as the season warms up!

Robin (The Gadget family)

I have copied the following from the internet, just for interest:

'Ghost Lake, created by damming the Bow River in 1929, is just east of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta's foothills. The lake is 28 square kilometres in size and is loaded with rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, whitefish, and burbot. The biggest mystery is how too catch them. Ghost Lake is notorious for taking human lives due to it's ability to turn into a nasty, windy lake in just a couple of minutes. It is located 35 kilometres west of Calgary on Highway 1A and is surrounded by Stoney Indian owned land.'

So, any sailors heading for Calgary, this lake will be one of your weekend options.

Thanks Smelly.

dbd33

Yes, Lake Ontario. The local government publishes fecal matter counts and declares some days safer than others. I wouldn't swim in it but we do see people swimming out and around the sewage outlet marker buoy or "shit stick" as it's known locally.

J24's are great. They're light enough that, in dead calm, one person can move the boat along by rocking the mast. They heel outrageously and, of course, don't have lines or stanchions, so it's like being on a big Lazer. You can also trail them which in a crowded location like this is a big financial advantage.

Atlantic Xpat

Me and Mrs AX actually met in the Uk largely because of a shared passion for messing around in boats. Although at the time I had a powerboat - a 25ft RIB rather than a yot. Here in Newfoundland we have one of the most beautiful cruising areas in the world IMHO. We are fortunate that Mrs AX's father has a yacht - a C&C 38 which were able to sail in. Last year the Mrs went away for two weeks around the coast. I joined them for another two weeks but after the first day, an incident involving falling over whilst exploring an uninhabited Island, lots of blood & a coastguard RIB ride to hospital put paid to that!

We sail out of the RYNSC in Conception Bay, http://www.rnyc.nf.ca/ and actually got married on the lawn of the yacht club (pretty much in full view of the webcam ) the first summer we were here.

On day, we'll own our own boat again. The Mrs and one brother fancy a J24 for racing but I like a bit more comfort. We'll see anyway.

Anyway, for your delectation here are some sailing photos from Newfoundland.

1) Yours truly & the QE2. (Occasional visitor to these parts)
2) Brother in law Mark in a Laser with no wind
3) Eclipse (FIL's boat) in Salvage Harbour, Bonavista bay
4) Eclipse & Panache (two identical C&C 38's) at anchor
5) Braggs Island. Taken 10 mins before the whole blood and coastguard incident started!

Robin (The Gadget family)

Thanks Xpat, I'm torn as far as boats are concerned. I'd like a laser for me, and something bigger for comfortable cruising. Whether I'll ever be able to afford either remains to be seen, but like you, I appreciate having relatives who are willing to share their cruising holidays with me.

The anchorages and scenery that you sail in look lovely and just so picturesque. So you had to call out the coastguard huh? The RIB ride must have been a bit uncomfortable with an injury to contend with!

Is the water warm enough to swim off the boat in during the summer?
What happens in winter? Presumably there you have to take the boat out on the hard? Graham can leave his in all year round on the west coast, he prepares them for winter between October - March by removing all cushions, etc, and by covering them in fitted tarpaulins, but that's about it.

He keeps his at Comox marina.

woodworm

same here... until I was about 14, I spent all my summers on my dad's sail boat (usually for about 6 weeks during holidays somewhere in the Mediterranean) , with him being the skipper and I absolutely loved the experience of being able to set sail, get away from the crowd and anchor in beautiful and isolated bays with sandy beaches ...
The love (and respect) of the ocean has stayed with me and it has always been my dream to live by the ocean and that is why I am here on the Atlantic coast now, althought the water unfortunately is not comparable to the Mediterranean Nova Scotia is ideal for sailing (in summer) and they have a great history of building boats. Every August a lot of people from all over the Eastern Seaboard are attracted to the classic boat festival that takes place in Mahone Bay on the South Shore ... (http://www.woodenboatfestival.org/festival/ ) .I took part in a regatta last year with our "home-made" small wooden boat. But I also had a chance to sail on the famous "Bluenose II" , which was quite an experience.

Robin (The Gadget family)

Hi Woodworm,
The Bluenose is such a sight, I've not sailed on anything that big, though I have crewed on lots of wooden gaff cutters apart from our own, whilst we were living on the boat in the Caribbean, and on one, remember climbing the ratlines to sit up on the crosstrees, just for the panoramic view, much to the alarm of the charter guests.

You're so right, an upbringing of sailing means that it's in the blood for life, and the feeling of being back on a boat is like feeling at home and at peace inside. I get the same feeling when I'm over on Vancouver Island too, so I am double-dosed with feelings of, 'This is definitely where I belong, spiritually'.

Does your Dad still sail?

Thanks for the photos and link, I spent a while looking through the photos of last years Mahone Bay festival, there is one at Comox too, which was taking place all around us on the day that we were setting off for our 10 day cruise, so we had the morning of fun and silliness going on around us in the marina, and got to see the home-made boat race. What fun, and such a laugh!

(I wonder which boat was yours? Have you looked at the photos?

woodworm

No, he is 76 now and sailing was getting a little tough on his bones (suffering from arthritis doesn't help....) , so he sold his Pegasus 800 two years ago. And then he got the glorious idea to buy one over here and moor it in the bay in front of our house, so that my husband and I can use it, (and he can fly over to spend his summers here) but to be honest we don't want the hassle of having to look after a boat... we just enjoy sailing with someone else... maybe it's stupid to turn down a boat, but...


The one we took part in the race is a little Windsprint built by our neighbour

Atlantic Xpat

That's interesting. My 73 yr old father still sails his Pegasus 700 on the Norfolk Broads!

dbd33

That's a wonderful thing about Newfoundland, all those islands with the remains of outports and no people. We had a fine bay in Exploits Bay, sailing to an island, barbecuing and, er, doing other outdoors stuff.

Robin (The Gadget family)

hot wasabi peas

Did you ever find your watch?