Day Two Racing in the North American championships or Pre worlds

                The weather has been more Melbourne than Queensland, but we're tough and we can take it..

There are two classes of yachts racing in Halifax Harbour, the 2.4 metre class single handed yachts and the 18' Skud two handed sports dinghy, while the three man sonars will be racing at Lunenburg, further down the coast.

Amongst the yacht fleets are the general harbour traffic of a busy commercial port, so it gets interesting.....

                                               

                  .. of course the day starts back at the dock, where crews prepare   in different ways...
                                                              
                                                         

                                                 One of the Aussie teams...

 

 

and where getting into the boat can be more than a leap and a jump!

 

 

and lots of willing volunteers are spending their days helping out at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron..(RNSYS) ..

 

That's Mike ..

 

 

and Dennis ...

 

and the summer holiday students

 

and a few aussies in there too.. if you want to be out on the race track

 

You find a job!

 

 

that's Matt...through the rainy window.. where I stayed dry and he got wet....

 

               ........... and a few more I haven't met yet...

 

On Day one , I went with Rob the chief Race Director and spent a

day with the 2.4 metre yachts .. like a mini etchell..

 

                  there were 17 starters, but next week there will be 45...

                            the aussies did well......

                                The Canadians were a bit ODD

                             The whole thing looks a bit odd really....

   so today it was time to go and see what Pete and Rachael had been up to..
                                   Note that sail number AUS 055
 

 

conditions were grey, with 10 - 15 to start.

 

                               The backgrounds sort of homey....

                          The spinnakers colourful..

 

some with good Reason

there was too-ing and fro-ing

                                   there were nice lines...

                         and untidy looking moments...

                    There were four races, so lots of starting practise

                            a bit of yelling and up up up!!

                                  pleasing patterns of behaviour...

   
                                            and some a bit cheeky..

  
                 with 8 races now complete, and only two to go tomorrow..

                                   Pete and Rachael are in 7th place  

 

 

Kicking goals.. In the water for a practise session

          
 .. and the story continues...

  Yesterday was thick fog all day at the yachts club; clear and sunny five minutes away .. Quirky Halifax..

                     Trimming and tuning the boat continued , with Rachael and Ray getting it all together ........


                                                      

                     fog blanketed the land all day , but it was still warm..

 

 

.. along the banks of the club...

 

 

                        Pete came down to supervise the site  for a while

 

 

                         and then today .. it was time on the water ..

 

 

fist Ray and Rachael went for a trial sail..

 

 

 and you can check out the real estate too...

 

 

 

the spinnaker strikes a pose,

 

 

as they head to the sail area..

                                 It was time to get Pete back in a boat!

                           so as they disappeared from sight

 

We headed around the bay to watch their progress,

 

                              .....it was pretty easy to take.

 

there were picture postcard fishing ports

                              all manner of nautically nice pieces

 

We met Stan of Pirate cove..  and an invite to come back for a rum!

 

 

 

relaxed awhile

                              Yve even took in a flower or two..

 

and then it was back to boats.....

 

Tomorrow is  registration Day for the North American Championships

 

the first regatta of the two Pete and Rachael are registered to compete.

 

there are 14 scuds competing .. Let us see how we go!

Halifax .. 2014 Let the Racing begin!

               
The journey was undertaken in stages, which made it all a bit easier,

                    until we finally arrived , with all our baggage !

                                                         

 

Leaving Brisbane

 

We whizzed past Hollywood

 

found every piece of baggage....

 

Loaded up the 'truck'

 

discovered the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadon

 

 

which is rather cute!

 

 

Took a look at the bay

 

 

 

found the boat ...

 

 

Realised that we had suffered a bit of damage to the keel during the transport

 

but luckily ... we had packed  a lot of 'nail varnish ' and Ray was able to get the repairs done

                 Today will get the boat back in one piece and into the water

                                      and since it is Wednesday night

                                               we are going sailing........

 

Progress and preparation for Halifax.

     

                         There may not have been many exciting photos to share,

                 but the work behind the scenes continues in preparation for Halifax.

• Training finished
• Flights booked
• The scud on it's way
• The Raffle drawn
• Coach boat in Halifax- Booked       

                      

                                           
       We had left our crew , Peter and Rachael, training on the uncertain waters of Moreton Bay

                                                     always smiling ....

 

enjoying a few beautiful sunsets

                                              some frustrating wind free drifting...

                                                   and the ignominy of getting the sails wet!

                                                       However the final days were windy and busy

                                                                                   

 

 

Pete and Rachael dealt with some 23 knot bullets,

                                         a few issues with the gear threw a spanner in the works..

                                          They stayed the distance of five hours non stop...

                                  .... and still flew a kite home...

 

.. and Ray kept the running repairs going .. while Yve donated a hairdryer!

 

 

Finally at the end of the week,

 

We got our "good luck" Rainbow..

 

                                                                           
                             Ray and Pete went off for some other "fun " sport

                                                                                     

                                                            The boat was packed, stickers arrived,

      
          
                                    .. and Graeme and Ray took off on a delivery trip to Sydney

                                  Where the container was loaded .. and away to Halifax went the Scud..

 

 

 

 

 since then,

 

Flights have been booked....Thanks to Paul Cotto at Flight Centre, who is a remarkably patient man...

 

Congratulations to the winners of the raffle :

 

     1st Prize : Mr Graham Furtado

 

2nd Prize: Mr Craig Mathie

 

3rd Prize: Mr Brad Church.

 

Thankyou to everyone who bought a ticket to support the cause and help Peter on the way to Halifax.