18-52-2014: Weather

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May 3, 2014 – Today was Sailpast, the day our Yacht Club Commodore officially opens boating season. We all dress in our summer whites and don our blue blazers. We wait until we hear the canon fire, then the piper starts and leads the Commodore and his wife, and the other members of the Board of Directors of the Club along each dock and past every Club vessel moored at the Club docks. As the procession passes, it grows as Club members fall in behind. Eventually the procession ends at some point where the ceremonies will take place. This year that was out on the new breakwater.

One can always hope that the weather will cooperate, last year was spectacular, but it doesn’t always work out that way….as you can clearly see. So there were shelters for everyone, except Kirk and I since I was asked to be the shore photographer…which meant that I needed Kirk to hold an umbrella for me on occasion. May not seem like a big deal to most, but I absolutely hate taking photos of people, and the only reason I agreed to do it is that the Commodore is a very much loved friend. Because my father spent so much time pointing a camera at me as a child, I grew to despise having my photo taken. As a result, my discomfort extends to pointing it at other people. I would have said no had it been anyone else.

After the National Anthem, the speeches, the awards, etc, the Commodore declares the season officially open, and commands the fleet to their vessels. The Club vessels, all clean and polished, assemble on the water (really it’s more of a scrum) and organize themselves by vessel type, to file past the Commodore’s vessel. As each vessel passes behind the Commodore’s boat, the Captain and crew stand and the Canadian flag is dipped in salute, a tribute to the age old tradition of the Inspection of the Fleet.

In years where the weather cooperates, many of the boats head off for a cruise before dinner back at the Club or one of the outstations, but on days like this, after each vessel has completed its pass we wait until the last boat has been recognized and then there is a mass flood of vessels back to their berths. And once past the Commodore, or back at dock, most lose the dazzling white pants, white shirts, white shoes, and blue blazers and slip into more comfortable dress. Then we all hung out, socializes, maybe had a drink or three, before heading back out to the breakwater where the dinner for 300 was held. Boating, we are all really just a great big social group. Some even go so far as to call us drinkers with a boating problem.

One of the things about the first outing of the season, is that it’s not usually without some incident. We didn’t take our boat out as it needs steering and fuel delivery repairs, but we were invited out with friends on their boat. On the way back in we had engine issues, no panic for us though, just par for the course when we are out on our own boat, so it was out to the beam and fend off any accidental damage while the Captain got things running again and back under control, and we docked her safely, the last bit by hand. It was almost eerie that the problem was so similar to that which we regularly struggle on our own boat, but since we’ve had to scramble more than once on ours, it was just like a regular outing 😉

That’s the thing about boating, you just never know what’s going to happen on the water, and you have to be prepared for absolutely anything to go wrong at any moment. It’s never dull.  “The lovely thing about cruising is that planning usually turns out to be of little use.” – Dom Degnon

And now I have about 320 photos to sift through to find some to post for the Club members…. this could take awhile…and I am hoping that some of them came out well.

Welcome to boating season, stay safe on the water everyone!

I wish you all safe voyages, fair weather, fine fishing, and gentle seas.