BVI SAIL TRIP - THE CREW

                                         
Click to enlarge

Well now that the decision has been made to go sailing in the BVI, the next important step in the process is to assemble a crew.

This is a crucial part of the trip and needs some careful thought. It was decided that we wanted to charter a Catamaran with four cabins so potentially we could have eight people if we sailed with four couples...or we could just go with four guys each with our own cabin.

So, since Zohar and myself hatched this scheme we needed to first approach our wives to see what they thought of the idea of sailing with two other couples or did they think we should just make it a male bonding trip? Now bear in mind neither of these Ladies are into sailing as much as we are so we kind of knew going in what the outcome was likely to be but there was always the chance they might have been receptive given the location of the trip and that we have all sailed together for day trips on Lake Ontario. Turns out our first instinct was correct which made the job of selecting the remainder of the crew much easier as we now only had to convince two other like minded sailors to join us rather than two couples.

No matter whether you decide on couples or singles compatibility and like interests are key. I would suggest that it's far easier to find four sailors that are compatible than it will be to find four couples that are...having said that I would like to give it try for the next time but I know that it will require more thought and plenty of lead time not to mention a lot of sweet talking with my better half.

From a planning point of view this was now going to be a much simpler endeavour..so it was time to approach some of our fellow sailors to round out the crew. First up was Mark who is the other partner that Zohar and I share a 27' sail boat with at the National. It did not take too much convincing even though he had completed a contract position and was between jobs. That left us with one more to get so we approached several other members of the National as well as a fellow we sail with regularly on a Catalina 42 that is a friend of the owner. Turns out that he was the one that was able to commit so we now had our fourth member, Warren.

We were actually well into the next step of securing a boat and starting to talk about the trip to anyone that would listen that we decided we could actually take on a fifth crew member as long as that person did not mind getting the salon rather than an actual cabin. And so it came to be that Darcy decided to join us. Darcy has been sailing for quite a number of years longer than any of the rest of us and keeps a 34' sailboat at the Boulevard Club which is just down the road from the National.

I had sailed several times with Darcy as part of the Broadreach Foundation sailing program in the summer and knew that we got along well and figured there would be no issues with the others. There is a link to Broadreach on the right under Other Links if you would like to check out the great work they do as an organization to help disadvantaged youth.

So the crew line up for our BVI trip is Zohar, Mark, Darcy, Warren and me - Bill. The point here is that we have pulled together a crew that knows and likes each other and we have all sailed together. Three of us are members of the National and also co owners of a sail boat we have there and we have been sailing together for many years.

Compatability and sailing skills should help to make this trip memorable. Hopefully you will keep these tips in mind when selecting your crew...a boat, even a 40' catamaran is a relatively small space for 5 people to share for a week...just think it could have been 8 people (four couples)..imagine the dynamics on that one!!..so choose wisely. Now for the selection of the boat...oops that's the topic for the next BVI blog...don't miss it!

FLASH UPDATE...as I was putting the finishing touches on this blog we learned that Warren suffered a very serious injury to his left arm and might not be able to make the trip...we are all hoping that he will recover quickly and still be able to join us.

2015 BVI SAILTRIP - INTRODUCTION

Click to enlarge  (Photo from The Cruising Guide to the Virgin Islands 2013-2014 available on www.amazon.ca) 


I have been a member of the National Yacht Club in Toronto for about 12 years and a sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has always been on my bucket list. The BVI is a part of an archipelago that includes the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Spanish Virgin Islands and is located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico.

It is a sailing Mecca with constant trade winds and line of site navigation. The luscious green islands are surrounded by amazingly clear blue-green water and warm temperatures averaging about 25C throughout the winter months.

So, given the fact that the sailing season ends in October here in Toronto and that winter here is mostly very cold and bleak and snowy, wanting to take a trip to the BVI to go sailing in the middle of winter is kind of a no brainer.

With a little (very little needed) prodding from one of my friends and boat partners at the National we decided that we needed to stop dreaming about this trip and get off our frozen butts and make it happen. Now that we were determined to do this, we needed to decide on a crew because sailing is a team effort and we knew we wanted to have at least 4 people on the crew.

I will get into that topic in the next installment.
Bill

REMEMBRANCE DAY WITH MY FATHER - NOV 11, 2014

That's my Dad, a Royal Canadian Navy veteran of World War II.  He's 88 now and living in a nursing home in Brampton, probably not unlike many of his comrades in arms that are still alive..it was so many years ago for him and he was just a teenager when he joined up. Unfortunately he is suffering from Alzheimer's so the day was not really registering for him but we sat him in front of my iPad so he could watch the ceremonies from Ottawa anyway.

I remember a story he told me years ago before his illness about an amazing coincidence that happened to him.  He was a radio operator on a River Class frigate, HMCS Inch Arran K667,which was assigned to convoy duty out of Halifax. At the end of the war a German U Boat, U889 surrendered and was escorted by my Dad's ship along with another back to Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

Here is the account of the action from Wikipedia. 

After the German surrender on 8 May 1945, the German High Command ordered all U-boats to surrender. On the afternoon of 10 May, U-889 was spotted south of Newfoundland by a RCAF airplane, steaming at 10 knots and flying a black flag of surrender. The RCAF plane radioed to nearby Western Escort Force W-6 who intercepted the submarine an hour later. U-889 was ordered to head to Bay Bulls Newfoundland. 24 hours later U-889 was turned over to frigates HMCS Buckingham and HMCS Inch Arran who escorted her to Shelburne harbour Nova Scotia where she was boarded and Braeucker, her Commanding Officer, made a formal surrender.

Many Many years later Dad told me about attending a Naval reunion and meeting a gentleman that turned out to be a former sailor in the German Navy who stayed on in Canada after being captured at the end of the war. My Dad inquired as to what ship he was on and the reply was that he was not on a ship but a submarine...the U-889 to be exact! ..not only that but when quizzed as to his job...you guessed it... Radio Operator...same as my Dad!!!

Truth is stranger than fiction eh?....Well these two former enemies became friends and stayed in touch via snail mail for many more years.

Dad eventually lost touch with him but I'm so glad he told me this story before the Alzheimers came on.

Lest we forget.

THE NATIONAL YACHT CLUB - WEST YARD HAULOUT 2014

(Click to enlarge)


Well even though Haulout is a sad day as it means the sailing season really is over till next May, Mother Nature cooperated and gave us a relatively mild day with a mix of sun and clouds but more importantly..NO RAIN!

Once a year in the fall and again in the spring they leave their natural watery habitat and take to the skys...no these are not migrating geese...these are Flying Boats.

With the help of heavy metal machines and a dedicated group of hard working club members all boats that are staying the winter at our club or being loaded onto trailers are carefully and skillfully lifted out of the water and lowered onto either their cradle or trailer.

The day starts EARLY with many people arriving by 6am or sooner...that's when we get fueled up on coffee and donuts awaiting the sound of the crane starting up and the darkness lifting so that we can get started.

The first order of business is to lift the ramp out of the water..this year was much easier as it is a new one which is smaller and lighter than the old one..last year was very dangerous with high winds flapping that old iron monster around like a main sail..extremely scary...no drama this year thank goodness!

The first boat came out around 07:30 and we were off to what is always a very long day.

The wind picked up around mid day and the channel got rather choppy but we were still hauling from the basin so it was not too bad. After the crane move in early afternoon it was time to start hauling from the channel. The wind had died down a bit but it was still somewhat rough so the process was a little more challenging...especially for the sling crew.

It's a long way down to the decks of the boats from the seawall and you had to climb down a ladder on the side then jump on deck. timing this when the boat rose up on a wave was the best plan. Once on deck it was a bit of a bull ride until the boat was in the slings and finally pulled out of the waves.

Lady Chadwick is the last boat out and there were a lot of happy faces when we got down to the last few boats and we could see her circling around in the channel waiting her turn.  The sun was literally sinking (sorry..bad choice of words around boats) in the West and we were all wondering if it would be dark when we hauled her.

Amazingly the Lady was lifted almost at exactly the same time as the sun finally disappeared on the horizon. We all waited till she was safely down before collectively letting out of sigh of relief. The long day was finally over and it was all done safely.

It takes a lot of coordination between the crane operator, yard coordinator, sling crews, pushers, line handlers, landers, cradle crews, safety boats and boat owners but somehow we manage to get it all done. A special thanks also to all the people behind the scenes handling everything from paperwork, donuts and coffee, to lunch tickets and Regalia sales.

Now we just have to wait half a year to reverse the process...LAUNCH..a much happier day in a Northern Sailors life!

For more images of the Haulout, click on "My Images on Flikr" under OTHER LINKS.

THE NATIONAL YACHT CLUB - CRADLE LAYOUT 2014

(Click to enlarge)


October is a sad month for Toronto Sailors as it's the end of our sailing season here which only begins in May..time for the boys (and girls) to put away their toys for the winter.

Cradle layout is a labour intensive endeavour which takes us a day to accomplish.

We run two tractors and work starts at 8am. Using a chart of the East and West Yard which shows the location of each cradle, our first task is to start lifting the stacks of cradles, five or six at a time, and moving them to their general location in either the East or West yard. Each cradle is labelled with the Owners Name, Member Number, and which end is Bow and which is Stern.

The bigger boats are stored in the East Yard so those cradles are bigger and heavier and so the lifts are smaller, two or three at a time.

So we pick a stack...decide how many we are picking up and then four chains with hooks on the end are attached to the four corners of the bottom cradle in the stack and away we go.

The tractor moves the stack to the location of the bottom cradle, we then rotate the stack so the bow is oriented North or South according to the chart, and we drop the stack and unlock the chains.  We then either go back for another stack or reattach the chains to the four corners of the next cradle up from the bottom, lift the stack and place it the location of the bottom cradle..drop the stack, unlock the chains and repeat the process till we are empty then go back for more.

There is a lot of walking and bending up and down so everyone is pretty tired by the time the day is over.

It's also a potentially dangerous job so you need to be careful not to get your fingers or toes caught in the wrong place at the wrong time..steel is very hard..fingers and toes not so much!...we also wear hard hats to protect the old brain bucket..thank goodness because I have personally tested the effectiveness of this piece of safety gear on many occasions doing this job over the years.

Once the cradles are in place its up to the individual owners to set up the cradle and put the pads on prior to Haulout.

Next weekend is Haulout and that is a whole different story..stay tuned!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

Hello and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog!

Now that I am retired and after many years of sailing, travelling and taking thousands of photographs, I decided it was time to start sharing my experiences.

I hope you enjoy your visit and that you will check back often for updates. If you would like to be notified automatically of new content via email, please submit your email address in the Follow by Email window.

Soon I will start writing about my upcoming sailing trip to the BVI's..can't wait..it's going to be fantastic and hope you will follow along from the planning stages to the trip itself...if you are a sailor and have never sailed in the BVI, my hope is that this will inspire you to follow in my footsteps.

There will be lots of other trips for me to write about and photograph, from cruise ships to land based adventures.

If you like sailing, travelling and or photography my hope is that you will find something of interest here.

Remember, you will always regret the things you don't do more that the things you actually do, so get out there and enjoy life!

Cheers, Bill