We're Back To Work!

Ted and I took advantage of the one of the last warm weekends to move all our boats to their winter homes. Which means blog season is about to begin again! If you want to see us this winter it means you better book in with Ted... he is currently busy organizing our weekends for boat work. I have requested two weekends off. But I don't think I am allowed to take anymore time away!

Ted thought it would be a good idea to do a little write up of the sailing that we have done this summer. We did a lot! And we'll need to do some more boat work this winter to do that again next year. Our plan is for this year to be the last big push for boat work, and then we'll scale back significantly to maintenance tasks for a while - I worry about what we will do with all our time in those winters if we have free weekends! I think I should teach him how to bake. 

The wind caught us off guard during the last week the boat was in the water and I received a slightly frantic phone call from my mother saying that one of the mooring bridles had let go. I left work and Restless (still with her full cover on) was sailing sideways. Some how we manage to row out to the boat in 40kts (we wore life jackets). We stripped her down and tied another line to the mooring and tied it around the mast and then another safety to the winches. On our row back in we though we might go out to sea, there was a lot of rowing with no movement! 

After that adventure, I made arrangements to take Restless around to her winter home so that I did not have any repeats. Besides, after looking at Ted's boat work lists the sooner the boat comes out the better.

But before the blogs about work and sub-zero temperatures begin, it is nice to reflect on the sailing.

Our last race, the Fowl Run, on Restless happened to be the same weekend as my birthday so we had a little celebration!

Restless, the IOD and Rondo, the Nordic Folkboat

As many people know, we qualified to compete in the IOD Worlds championship in Sweden. We raced on the west coast of Sweden in August and had a great time (there will be photos below). Ted and I really liked the Swedish Pennant and decided that we need to get one for Martins River. I took this photo after we returned and I hoisted the flag. The couple that hosted us in Sweden had a pennant just like this one and one of our hosts was the Folkboat Champion a few years ago! (the 60s)

                                                             

After Sweden Ted and I made our way up to Norway before heading back to Canada. Of course we stopped in at Fredrikstad to have some drinks in the boat yard where the first IOD's were built and where ours was built. It was nice being shore peasants for the day. Ted decided to wash his hair with the bottle I labeled "S". It was soap. He couldn't figure out why his hair looked so bad. 

Ted saw an IOD tied to the wharf and needed to touch the tiller

He also tired of my company and made a fluffier friend. Boat cat!

Bjarne Aas, the designer and Builder of the IOD

But let's get back to sailing in Sweden during the IOD Worlds! This was the Norwegian IOD team. Everyone was okay but I think they needed a stiff drink after racing, especially the bow person... they must have suction cups for feet. 

We had a variety of different conditions during the regatta as you can see from the photo above. There was a bit of wind on some of the days and then zero wind on the others. It really mixed up the results, we did well in the windier days but on the fluky days we did not. We ended the regatta in 6th place, not bad for our first Worlds in an IOD and being the youngest team. IODs have been around for over 80 years and Ted only started sailing them 4 years ago. 

The following photos are from the first day

From Aft to Bow; Ted Murphy, Jonny Seller, Dave Wedlake, Jamie Blunden, Me, and Minette Murphy, Ted's sibling... in case you didn't know!

Minette and Jamie always posing for the camera

On the first day we managed to explode the shackle that was part of the vang system on our last downwind leg. "Luckily", two weeks earlier we had a similar situation during Chester Race Week. As the fine oiled machine we are... we managed to fix it just in time for Ted call 'gybing!'  

We raced in some seriously light winds. That is Ted on the back of the boat sleeping as he waits for wind - we are actually racing in the picture. There was nothing to do as the entire fleet sat like painted ships upon a painted sea. In times like that it is good to have a sense of humour. The race committee took pity on all the boats and they towed us in after the race and gave us beer. 

 

 This was us finishing in first place in a nice sea breeze. They have an interesting tradition in Sweden, when you get a bullet they say you 'nailed it' and the prize for this is a piece of a plank from a ex-IOD with a nail hammered into it.

Mandatory couples selfie with the bridge to Tjorn (the island we were staying on)

Sailing back after the last race. If you think we look cold... we were! At the beginning of the regatta we arrived back at the docks frozen. My parents had come along for the trip (they had never been to Sweden and they thought it was the best time to go!) and I asked my mother to get me socks if she came across any... she did... she bought socks for all of us! 

All the boats that we sailed on had these shot holders (I can only assume for the sub-zero temperatures at that time of year)... I am determined to make one for Restless this year. You will notice that there is only enough room for 5 shot glasses... so we are going to have to make a slight modification! 

So that was IOD Worlds 2018. We sailed against some really amazing sailors and we learnt a lot from the event and for me it was my first Worlds event so that made it even more exciting. I should also mention that the hospitality that they entire crew received from our different hosts was amazing and the hot tub at our little house saved all of us!

The view from the hot tub!

Before Worlds we had two local IOD regattas; the Indian Point Yacht Club One Design Regatta and Chester Race Week.   

Sitting on the leeward side is our good friend Hugh that sometimes sails with us and visits us while we are working on the boat. He is the reason that my blog posts are not as tardy as they could be. He always asks when the next one is coming and I always promise him it will be out soon! 

Those photos are from the event at IPYC, I don't have any of us sailing during Chester Race Week because they were all done by a professional photographer and I don't want to get into trouble for using photos that are not mine!

What I have are a few photos that sum up Chester Race Week pretty well I think.

A great photo of Ted after our yearly IOD party. His blanket is the cover from the boat; he stayed there until we left the mooring and refused to open both eyes at the same time. 

It rained a lot and a boom makes a great clothes line! 

And here is one of people that made my day on the last day of racing. In the morning I sent Ted out to the boat with the lunches and my bag with a towel, a hat, a phone, and a wallet while I collected the battery we had charged over night. When I got to the boat, my bag was not there and I asked Ted where it was. A frantic search ensued for thirty minutes before we had to leave the mooring and head to the race course. I pushed this out of my mind - what did I care if we were leaving for Sweden in 10 days and I had no Visa or debt card or Driver's Licence - that was land Dayna's problem. 

The race ends and I begin frantically phoning it again and nothing. My mom and I decided that it has been stolen so I cancel all of my cards. But as soon as I do that a ping shows up on find my phone and the search is on again. ( I have to thank the young man that sat with me and showed me how to use the find my phone website as I quietly sobbed). The people in the picture above found my bag floating in the water. I guess when Ted got on Restless he flung my bag into the sea! After several dark 'n' stormies I decided to talk to him again and inform him that because I did not have a Visa he would be paying for all my wine during the entire trip.  

But there is more!

Here are a few photos from the July Series that happened in Chester 

It's really easy going around the mark when you are the only boat. I think we are launched in this photo

On the odd occasion we use Restless for fun and we take all of our land loving friends out to sea! To get to your classic yacht you must also travel in a classic Tender as seen below...

A few of my friends being taken to the boat by Ted in my parent's tender Alla Turca, my mother's boat is called Rondo and she was named by my grandfather that because he loved 'Rondo alla Turca' by Mozart. This tender was designed in the 1930's. 

The saga of Dayna and Ted in a dinghy continues! 

This will be my album cover after my friends and I start a band. 

When one takes their friends sailing they are obliged to walk to plank. 

The Skipper 

Our private classic yacht raft up, Rondo turned 50 years old this year and Restless will be turning 60 in 2019.

When I first met Ted over 4 years ago he promised to take me to a place called Rogues Roost it is along the coast of Nova Scotia between Halifax and Peggy's Cove. This year he finally took me away on a romantic weekend. 

This is what romance looks like on a J 24

We actually had a great time. We left on a Friday in very little wind and dropped anchor in a little harbour. Woke up to wind and rain and headed out. We were met with 2+ meter sea and dinghy spent the better part of 2 hours trying to sink. I had a knife handy to cut the tow line if it came to it, we were not able to pull it on board underway because of the amount of water it took on. We decided to take shelter in another cove and dragged the dinghy on board and lashed it to the bow. We used Ted's phone for navigation as we could hardly see beyond the bow of our boat. We decided to 'thread the needle' in some areas to hide from the waves. I think that Ted and I found a new form of trust in one another after I navigated him in 20+ knots through a 3 meter passage between rocks in one of his race boats. It is much nicer to run aground in a a full keel boat then a fin keeled boat (so I am told). We sailed by Rogues Roost and went to the PB Yacht Club so Ted could get a very special burgee. 

We also went to Nantucket -  But I already did a post about that. When we are not sailing on the IOD, we sail on the J24 or my parent's Folkboat. Sometimes we like the simplicity of a dinghy and we sail his 29er or my sister and I take off in our paperjet. I think we took one weekend off from sailing and only 3 from racing... a lot of rum consumption happens during the summer! 

My favourite photo of Jamie and Ted EVER! 

We are, however, still trying to get Slocum as enthused as us!