Mike Evan, creator of the Gone Sailing DVDs is sailing Down East again and blogging about it here.
Arrived at St Margarets Bay, NS, Shining Waters Marina, byrented Dodge Charger with 3.5 litre engine, we’ll need it for a few days running around to provision the boat and to pick my father up who isflying in from Vancouver on Tuesday evening to sail with us for a week. That’s Phantasia with our wee neighbour MegaHurtz.
Phantasia II on the hard
Departed Cobourg by Via Rail for the 30 hour trip toHalifax. The train ride was fun, relaxing, goodfood and an interesting group of passengers to meet, from Australians to Texans, many friendly people from the Maritimes make up the staff.
Aboard a Via Rail train from Cobourg to Halifax
A night on the town in Halifax, managed to make a 2130 pm dinner
reservation at The Press Gang and enjoyed Bill Stephenson’s trio while
dining. It’s the last night of the Halifax Jazz Fest.
The Nautical Mind salutes the 185 crews preparing for the Lake Ontario 300 which starts the morning of July 17th off Port Credit Yacht Club. As the longest, annually–held fresh water race, it is a test of endurance and team-work and is an exciting challenge for local sailors.
The event, begun 20 years ago, has gone through many changes. The first race had 67 double-handed boats racing from the west end of the lake to around Main Duck Island and back. It was considered quite an achievement just to complete the course. Today with three times the participants, it enjoys the support of commercial sponsors, has real-time particpant tracking during the race, and has been split into two courses—a short course for whitesail (300 km) and a long course for spinakers (300 nm). It is one of the five long-distance, offshore races held on the Great Lakes including the Chicago to Mackinac Island Yacht Race, The Bayview to Mackinac Island Yacht Race, the Trans-Superior Yacht Race, and the Trans-Erie Yacht Race.
Will this year be a blow or a drifter? Will the boats be tossed in the wash-machine conditions of the long fetch at Main Duck Island or will they have to wait out a calm that can prolong the race to four days or more? Lake Ontario can throw up conditions that are as tough as many ocean races.
There are no published accounts of the Lake Ontario 300, but you may be interested in Tom Ervin’s stories of the Mackinac races in Victory: A First-timer Relives the Fastest Bayview Mackinac Race Ever or A Class of Their Own. Or you can have a look at out many other salt-water race accounts.
Last weekend a dozen tall ships from around the world tied up alongside the Nautical Mind Bookstore in Toronto. Folks came out in droves to admire the beautiful vessels, which are now continuing on their tour of the Great Lakes.
TS Playfair and Europa alongside Toronto's HTO Waterfront park
More pics after the fold…
Over a dozen beautiful tall ships will be plying the waters of the Great Lakes this summer as part of the American Sail Training Association’s Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge. Ships like HMS Bounty, Germany’s brig Roald Amundsen, and Toronto’s own STV Pathfinder and TS Playfair will be competing in a race and series of events around the lakes, designed to spread knowledge of water conservation and youth sail training. They’ll be tied up alongside The Nautical Mind in Toronto between June 30th and July 4th. If you come to Harbourfront to see them, be sure to stop by our store to check out our fine selection of books about Explorers and Old Ships.
Ann’s new book, The Spice Necklace: A Food-Lover’s Caribbean Adventure, is a follow-up to her national bestseller, An Embarrassment of Mangoes.
That Receta’s first visit to Antigua coincided with the annual Classic Yacht Regatta here was totally unplanned. Supposedly, we were stopping only briefly, quickly heading on to Barbuda to meet cruising friends. But when you’re cruising, it’s a very good thing to cast your plans in Jell-O.
Margeta-O II gets the gun!
These days, Toronto Harbour is warm, sunny, and strangely bleak.
A huge swan has taken up residence near the bookstore. Apparently there are four eggs in her nest.
The Royal Canadian Yacht Club will be presenting a “Safety at Sea” seminar open to all sail or power boaters on April 10, 2010 at the OISE Auditorium in Toronto. The one day seminar will provide the training necessary to handle emergencies away from land and critical for offshore or short handed crews. It is sanctioned by US SAILING and all attendees will receive a US SAILING Certificate of Attendance at a Safety at Sea Seminar. Speakers include John Rousmaniere, Herb Hilgenberg, John Bonds, Wayne McCrae, and Dr. Michael Chapman. More information is available on the website safetyatsea.ca.
The Nautical Mind stocks dozens of books on safety and stories of survival in the face of adversity. Some indispensable classics in these areas include:
No fooling, it was like the first day of summer.
Our “brick and mortar” store is located at Harbourfront in Toronto Canada. The sun is staying higher in the sky much later in the day now (ie past mid afternoon). It is still cold.
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