THE
MAIN
SHEET
Sunshine Bay Yacht Club World
Headquarters (SBYCWHQ)
Wabamun Lake, Alberta
November 2016
AS IT BEGAN, SO SHALL IT END!
As the 2016 sailing season began, we
were excited about having new dock
sections to enjoy.
Well fast forward to October 2016 and
there we were taking those new docks
out for the season. The weather really
added to the finality of the whole event.
We were all surprised by the amount of
snow and the drop in temperature that
happened so quickly.
CORRECTION: In the June 2016 version of the Main Sheet, credit was given to Cameron Trucking for delivering
the new dock sections. The credit should rightfully go to CAMERON DRIVER TRAINING for providing the
transportation.
The Main Sheet
November 2016
Adding to the “excitement” of the end of year activities was the weather many experienced
on the trip down to Wabamun. High winds, heavy Wabamun seas, rain and even snow
were the challenges many faced on that trip.
The boats are safely put away for the season and we will dream about next year’s sailing
season to do it all over again.
DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS??
Oh What a scandal!
Our commodore went missing and it turns out she took off with another man!
In mid August 2016, Commodore Leslie
Daigneault and former Commodore Barry
Tonge disappeared from Edmonton and
surfaced again in Seattle, Washington.
They had signed on to help move
Kathleen, a Cal 39, to San Francisco.
The voyage took 9 days, 14 hours and
saw them log 919 nm before reaching
their final destination at Berkeley Marina
in San Francisco Bay.
Leslie and Barry were sailing with boat
owners Rob and Karen and have shared
details of the adventure that included
night sailing, two man watches of three hours each, heavy fog, winds that ranged from
non-existent to more than 23 knots and seas that ranged from calm to waves bigger than
a house!
The trip was full of excitement including one adventure when they were 110 nm off shore
in the North Pacific Ocean enjoying a comfortable sail with the spinnaker up when the
spinnaker halyard broke and spinnaker and sock fell into the ocean. All hands were
required on deck to drag the soaking sail back on board. Shortly after getting the
recovered spinnaker back in the boat, a rapidly advancing front was quickly overtaking
them from the north. As Leslie reports “In less than 20 minutes we moved from easy
seas with gently rolling 4-6 foot waves and 8-10 knot winds to winds hitting 15-18 knots
and seas from 7-10 feet with plenty of white caps; time for Leslie and the skipper to head
to the foredeck while Barry took the helm and brought the boat into wind and the face of
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The Main Sheet
November 2016
the front to reef our main. With the proficiency of a seasoned sailor, Barry navigated the
large waves; now with limited distance between each wave, he was challenged with the
increasing difficulty in keeping our head to wind while adjusting the bow for taking the
next wave so as to not bury our bow or jeopardize the crew clinging to the mast and
boom; a gold star to everyone for their deck and reefing work under some pretty
aggressive off-shore conditions.”
Fog was a recurring theme throughout the trip
clouding their view of tankers, other smaller craft
and even the fuel dock on one occasion.
Captain Barry Tonge keeping
things under control
Encounters with sea life were also to be had. “Come quick – whales” Leslie’s voice
hailed loudly from the helm. We were right in the middle of a pod of Orcas with some
less than 30 feet off our port-side as we rounded Cape Mendocino.
The final day of the voyage was akin to having
front row seats in a marine park with one
performance after another of right whales
breaching all around us. At one point, sitting
bobbing in the ocean taking lunch, the tables
turned as a whale took notice of us and circled
the boat. As he started his second circle less
then 10 feet off our hull we though it wise to
start the motor before this whale became too
curious.
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The Main Sheet
November 2016
Passing under the Golden
Gate Bridge was met with a
toast from the sole
remaining bottle of beer
that had survived aboard.
“What a tremendous feeling
entering San Francisco
Bay!”
ARE YOU READY FOR THE BLUE WATER?
There are a plethora of opportunities for sailors to join skippers on their boats as crew for offshore and blue water sailing excursions. Not unlike at our club, there are many skippers who
have various types of sailboats and enjoy sharing their love of sailing with other sailors aboard
their boat for voyages of varying lengths. There are many boats through-out the world looking
for everything from crew for weekend sailing and coastal jaunts, to help in moving their boats
longer distances. This global movement of boats involving longer distances, and something
more than coastal sailing, is often related to the regular migration of boats following global
weather patterns. Boats on the East and West coasts of Canada and the US wait for the end of
the hurricane season to begin heading south to the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin American in
early November, and conversely a northern migration back north often referred to as the bash,
starts before the return of the hurricane season in May and June.
Several web-sites offer free access to Crew Wanted Lists and sailing opportunities. Other lists
are in support of skippers looking for crew for specific Rally’s and events. There are also several
paid subscription lists. Latitude 38 is an organizing body that promotes the Ba Ha Ha, the Pacific
Puddle Jump, the Delta Doo Dah and the CoCal Ta-Ta Rally’s. It provides access on its site to a
free on-line crew list. http://www.latitude38.com. Another site is the Cruisers Forum
http://www.cruisersforum.com.
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The Main Sheet
November 2016
SEASON SUMMARY
2016 was another busy season with the usual amount of fun and foolery as summarized here:
RACING:
BIG ‘O’ PARTY
Racing was popular again with many SBYC
members. Race Director Dan Meade reports
that, on average, there were 12.4 boats for the
Wednesday races. You might ask how Dan
came up with the 12.4. We think he used the
same formula as the PHRF!
Many came out to celebrate their big O this year.
Of note were:
Of note, Mayor Don Iveson won most of the
Wednesday night races!
Other racing events of note:
Jack and Jill Race
First
–
Second –
Third –
Sarah Chen
(Mrs. Don Iveson)
Miss ?
(sailing with Paul Kantor)
Sylvia Erikson
Fall Series and Splice the Main Brace Races
-
both won by John Semple
PIRATE DAYS
COMMODORE’S WALK
Despite some cool temperatures, the usual
foolishness ensued out on the water.
Commodore Leslie created a new tradition to test the
width of the enhanced docks. Just not quite wide
enough though are they Commodore?
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The Main Sheet
November 2016
A new special help segment has been added to the Main Sheet. If you have a question
that has been plaguing you for a while, send it to [email protected].
Here are some of the questions or comments that have been sent in to the Main Sheet
so far.
Dear Pierre:
We would like to take this opportunity to recognize and applaud the selflessness and gallantry of some
of our club members when our boat was in distress. We were not at SBYC when it happened but
these good Samaritans have provided us with the story of their sacrifice on our behalf. Here it is:
It was a dark and stormy night. . . (or so they say - actually it was in the middle of the day but it sounds
more ominous…). Who can forget the wind and rain storms that beset the summer of 2016? Several
of the boats and docks suffered during those
tempests, none more so than our beloved
Dreamfinder.
Several eagle-eyed and responsible club members
spotted Dreamfinder developing a dangerous list to
starboard in her slip.
Motivated by the affection said club members have
for their fellow club members, they all leapt into action
with no regard for harm for themselves. Contacting
us while we were out of province during this event,
they kept us appraised of the ongoing salvage
mission:
-
They cut the lock off to gain access to the cabin (which is why I will heed the SBYC
recommendation to get a combination lock next year)
They surmised that the list was attributable to some drips of water making their way into the
boat
They were able to use the SBYC fire pump to expel the ingression of water, returning
Dreamfinder to a more upright, stable position.
We were so happy because Dreamfinder was Saved!!
As you can appreciate, we were so relieved to have
such stalwart, caring friends that we promise to pay
suitable retribution for their gallant efforts.
Upon completing our own study into what caused the
boat to be listing, we found the source of the “drips”.
So from now on, we will be keeping an eye out for
intruders to our boat and have trained our trusty crow to
watch over our boat and warn of us of imminent danger.
Sandy and Craig D
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The Main Sheet
November 2016
We have to say “See ya later mate” to Steve Guest
and Karen Booth who are moving on to become
members of “SBYC West” and have joined several
alumni on Vancouver Island. They have taken up
residence in Ladysmith, BC.
Adios and Adieu
They will both be missed as they were active members
in the club being very involved in organizing or
assisting in whatever activity was being planned at the
club. Steve was a member of the board for many
years serving a wide range of duties.
We will miss them but wish them well on the west
coast. At least there will be another home out west for
us to go and visit.
UPCOMING EVENTS
STAYED TUNED FOR DETAILS FOR


THE 2017 WINTER GALA
THE 2017 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
KEEP DREAMING
SAILING THOUGHTS
Photo credit to
Kevin Plesniarski
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