Lake Erie Interclub - Long Point Bay Race

A bolt broke on the alternator assembly in Zatarra so we were unable to race until Paul fixed it. Even sailboats have to rely on engines unfortunately. We were not ready to sail until 11:30, an hour and a half after our official start time so instead we sailed out to meet the fleet and take some pictures.

Part of the fleet approaching the last mark. A good windy day as can be seen by the white caps.

At the mark the crew had to douse the spinnaker and round the mark to do the last leg under white sails only.
 

Some of the fleet after rounding the last mark, heading for the finish line.

It was a day well suited to Port Dover boat, Shaibu, who performs well in strong wind.

Picture taking turned out to be difficult. Bob, Sharon's son, took this picture of Shaibu but I deleted the one he took of the top of the mast and the one of just the hull. In fact I probably deleted about half of the shots I took as the waves made it difficult to focus or even to get the boat in the shot.
We went back to the marina and then over to the Port Dover Yacht Club for a rum party, fish fry, awards ceremony and dancing.

At the yacht club, boats are rafted together, many with their sails piled on their decks so there is
 sleeping room below. There is not enough room at PDYC for all the boats
 so some are moored in the fishing harbour and some in the municipal marina as well.

Rum party in full swing

It must be an Interclub tradition but there always seems to be a piper at some point during the race.
He was on a wooden boat moored at PDYC.

The flags laid out to be presented to the winners of the first 2 races. Port Dover boats were well
 represented in the top 3 placements.

We didn't stay late as we again had an early start in the morning. Paul and Sharon were kind enough to let us stay on Zatarra so we didn't have the early morning drive to deal with too.