September 12 - 28 -- Mostly Mountains -- But Some Sailing Too

Yes Lene and I took a nine day Globus bus tour out of Calgary Canada with her brother and his wife, Mike and Linda.

We enjoyed breathtakingly beautiful majestic vistas, like Bierstadt paintings, only real. And good food, good companions and easy living with the driving done by experts.






 But I also managed to get some water related activities in, though not sailing.


Lake Waterton is a beauty on which I took a ride on the 1928 m/v "International,"

which has been taking tourists from the town of Waterton in Canada to Goat Haunt, Montana. There a Border Agent will admit you to the US -- if you want to walk a far piece to the nearest town. The boat was pretty and has been used exclusively for its current purpose for almost 90 years.






On the way back I noticed this small weird shadow on the eastern side of the lake and turned to see what caused it.

Another such boat trip was on Maligne Lake a half hour drive upstream from Jasper. This time the boat was rather unremarkable, one of seven on the lake. It was run by two young women who took turns driving and tour directing. The Garmin showed depths in meters, and was not needed because the lake is deep everywhere. It also showed SOG but in kilometers per hour! Its registry document said it was to be operated by a crew of three but....    It ran a straight shot to the landing half way down the long lake and slowed only to avoid creating wakes for the few canoeists.

We also had some river experiences. In Fort Steele, a semi-reconstructed, semi-original 1890's town, the museum showed a model of an unusually broad and flat stern wheel driven boat used to carry lead ore from the mines to the railroad. It operated for only about three years and only in spring when the water was deep enough.

Later we walked on a river

-- that's right -- a frozen river, Athabasca Glacier. Thousands go there every day, even in the shoulder season, and our presence and heat and dust are contributing to the gradual end of the glacier, currently losing its mass. The next picture shows a bus and two small tiny horizontal dashes in the ice. These are parked busses!

Later we were among 17 folks in a big inflatable raft steered by our guide with two oars from oarlocks amidships to keep us abeam to the current during our six miles on the glacially cold Athabasca River, down to just above the small town of Jasper.

But you prefer to hear about the sailing. Only three days.

One was with Peter, who was of ILENE's crew on the trip from Hampton VA to Tortola in November 2011, in the earliest days of this blog. We were out there for about four hours of pleasant sailing in light wind, through Hart Island Sound, into Manhasset Bay to the Race Committee float, past Kings Point and home In Manhasset Bay portion of the journey the wind died completely so the engine had to be used. Peter had the helm as much as he wanted and we reminisced. We passed and circled this schooner which hauls tourists out of New York. Light wind, like I said.

After Canada I sailed with Vic, my successor as President of our congregation,

30 years ago. He brought his three grandsons: Levi, Madden and Jagger. We had lunch in the salon after a "Cooks Tour" of the interior and sailed for about four hours. We went over to near King's Point and then under the bridges to the huge prison barge opposite Rikers Island before heading home by much the same route. Wind was out of the north and light at the start so we used the Genoa and main, but later when the wind got stronger, I switched to the smaller headsail. Levi had been to a sailing training camp in the BVIs this summer and wanted to go through the channel to Flushing and LaGuardia Airport, because of his interest in aviation, but it would have been a beat on the way back north so I said no. All three of the lads had the helm and did very well. The tide was flooding throughout our sail so westbound we made a very slow SOG, but we rushed back with favorable tide. Vic and I shared some red and then we had an early light dinner at the Club. A wedding was taking place there which slowed service a bit.
The most recent sail was what may be the last excursion of the Old Salts. There were seven of us and it was the shortest OS sail on record. It was blowing quite a bit at the mooring so I started out with a reefed main. Once out there, no longer protected by the lee of the Island the wind was stronger. With the addition of the small jib we were making 7.8 SOG without tidal effect. Mike, who had the helm, was having trouble steering, and we were heeled more than was comfortable for some of the ladies. The wind meter was showing 32 wind speed units. So I furled the jib, tacked and headed back for what was probably the longest noshing and drinking session in OS history, including more than three bottles of wine.
           Mike, Sandy, Marsha, me, Debra and Sarah. Thanks, Matt for the picture
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And one four hour work day. It was unusual in that every one of the four items on my list of chores actually got done: 1) Clean out the raw water strainer and replace all of the three filters which it feeds to the water maker, commission it and make one hour of water. Soon I have to pickle the water maker again for the winter. It was not needed this summer but has to be maintained nonetheless. 2) Top off the remaining battery cells with distilled water. 3) Check the chart chips in the chart plotter to have the serial number for my complaint to Jeppersen that there was a blind spot between the Throggs Neck and the Hellsgate Bridges with no chart. Turns out that there is chart coverage of this busy area, but only at the 3/4 mile scale, which I had not tried. 4) Complete installation and screwing in of the new stanchion and reinsertion of the port lifelines through it and reattachment of them to the bow pulpit.
And one day for a delightful leisurely lunch in New Jersey with Jim, former captain of "Aria" and he gave me some excellent sailing books, some of which I've donated to the Club's library; others are keepers.
And with the official arrival of fall, the weather threatens to be as nasty as it was pleasant this summer.