LAS VEGAS - PRE CHRISTMAS GETAWAY

Well time for a pre Christmas non sailing trip with my wife, son and sister-in-law to the U.S. southwest visiting Las Vegas Nevada and Scottsdale Arizona...might as well go to the desert before going to sea eh?

We usually try to fly out of Buffalo but I was having difficulty finding any cheap flights so we just decided to fly out of Toronto and got an early 6:45am flight on November 30th.

It was getting very close to boarding time by the time we made it to security and wouldn't you know it but "Lucky" me got flagged for extra screening..what fun...wheeee!...additional time to an already agonizingly slow process!

Just made the flight...time to doze off..arrive in Charlotte on the first leg..couple of hours to kill..Cinnabon and a coffee for breakfast..back in the air..doze again..touch down..VEGAS.

Believe it or not you don't have to be much of a gambler to enjoy this town...lots of other stuff to do...yah yah I know some of it not exactly kid friendly...but even just wandering around taking photographs is fun..especially at night.

We have been here many times over the years and seen tons of changes....for a while it seemed new hotels were going up as fast as they could tear the old ones down..but in the last few years construction has slowed dramatically but a few new projects are underway with the biggest being down by the Sratosphere called Resorts World ...the $4 Billion first phase 3000 room hotel and casino is due to open in 2016. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resorts_World_Las_Vegas

Glad my son came out with us...his first trip here..so as neither of us a big gamblers we left that to my wife and her sister while we planned other cool stuff to do..at least in our minds.

If you are a history buff one of the things you can do are go see Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition In the Luxor   www.luxor.com/entertainment/titanic.aspx

This is really interesting with lots of neat stuff brought up from the wreck...they have recreated parts of the interior ...some ship corridors, first class stateroom and of course the grand staircase..they even have an actual HUGE piece of the side of the ship and a real ICEBERG inside..very cool...(pun intended!) The only thing is no photography allowed...bummer.  At the end of the exhibit is a wall with every passenger's name that was lost in First Class, Second Class and Crew...you are given a passenger ticket when you first enter that has a passenger's name on it that you try to find.

There is a quote written on another wall in the exhibit by the Irish philosopher Jack Foster..."We are all passengers on the Titanic"... ponder that for a moment..how true.

Titanic Official Website www.the-titanic.com

As an aside to this if you ever get to Halifax, Nova Scotia, go to Fairview Lawn Cemetary as you can view the grave sites of over 100 of the people lost on that tragic day April 15th, 1912 ... Several Halifax based ships were involved in recovering the bodies..see the Halifax Connection  www.novascotia.ca/titanic/connection.asp

For local history check out the Neon Museum..here they have lots and lots of the old casino and business signs that have been saved ... Stardust, Frontier, Desert Inn and  many more...www.neonmuseum.org

What else?..oh yes a visit to,Madame Tussauds in the Venetian...

www.venetian.com/madame-Tussaud's.html

This turned out to be a lot of fun...where else can you get up close and personal with Daniel Craig, Bruce Willis, Robert Deniro...go a few rounds with Muhammad Ali..hang out with your golf buddies Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods..and of course the LADIES..

JLO, Sophia Vergara, Halle Berry and more... Iconic rockers from the past..Elvis, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix..and the near past..Michael Jackson. There are of course many more...worth the visit.

We got discount tickets for some of the above at  www.tix4tonight.com

  ..They have outlets along the street and at Fremont Street.

Fremont Street...another cool place to visit..and the street shows are free!...This is a lively place to say the least at the North end of the strip in the old downtown.

Here you will find several of the older casinos and some of the old iconic neon signs such as Vegas Vic...a huge cowboy at the Pioneer Club.

There is always a huge crowd here...usually a bunch of bands playing, street vendors of all kinds, and many look alike stars and Vegas Follies girls to get your picture taken with.

The Viva Vision light Show..overhead is a huge arched video screen which spans the street from one end to the other and on which they project very colourful animated films set to music which blares out from a multitude of speakers..the images dance up and down the street and they change the show often.  It usually starts every hour from 6pm for about 6 minutes..very entertaining.

www.vegasexperience.com

My son and I did a little gambling but we spent most of our time in the evenings wandering around taking photographs..it really is an amazing place to see.

I have loaded an album of Vegas pics on my Flikr site:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wgmt/sets/72157649270866360/

My next blog will be about some of the sights to see outside of Vegas.

Till then, Cheers, Bill

THE BVI TRIP - THE BOAT

BVI TRIP - THE BOAT

Lagoon 400 S2 Image from www.cata-lagoon.com
 

Ok...decided to go sailing in the BVI..check..rounded up a crew..check
Now all we need is a boat!

There are many charter companies to choose from with the major players being the Moorings - www.moorings.com and Sunsail - www.sunsail.com but there are many others just google "sailboat charters BVI".

I had also learned about a way to book directly with the owner and save a substantial amount on the cost while reading a sailing magazine.

Sailonline - www.sailonline.com is a great site with lots of useful info including how to charter direct with the owner.

Here is a link to explain how it works
https://www.sailonline.com/boat-charter/saving-money-a-tips/booking-directly-with-a-boat-owner

Having seen a Lagoon 380 at the Toronto International Boat show a few years back we knew this was what we were looking for so now we just had to find one in the database that you access from the top of the page..Discount Charters.

As luck would have it we found a listing and contacted the owner.

We expressed our interest to charter in February of 2015...many emails were exchanged and at one point we thought we would have to look elsewhere as we were advised nothing was available..but then our luck changed and an email from the owner indicated she had worked some magic to get us a boat!

Awesome!..but then another email...bad news can't get that boat after all...bummer..but GOOD news...she was able to secure a brand new Lagoon 380 that would be arriving in the BVI in January 2015.. For the same price!!..Ye Ha.

So we thought we were set....but yet another email...bad news again...can' t get that boat after all..BUT as compensation a one year old Lagoon 400 S2 was secured for us at only $50 more...well that's not too hard to handle eh?

We plunked down our deposit as quick as we could so now we are good to go.  I can't say enough about the owner who has bent over backwards to ensure we got taken care of and has been a fountain of information, answering all of our questions in a very timely manner.

The boat is managed by Dream Yacht Charters - www.dreamyachtcharter.com which is located at Hodges Creek Marina in Maya Cove to the east of Road Town on the main island of Tortola.

Here is a link to view a video and see more images of the boat as well as specifications

www.cata-lagoon.com.

The Lagoon 380 would have been fantastic to get but what a nice upgrade for us to score a beautiful Lagoon 400 S2 instead....WOW!

Next up...THE ITINERARY!...can't wait to
tell ya all about it.

 

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!