The water is not hard yet

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The water is not hard yet

Who said that sailing, in November of 2005, does not occur in Edmonton? This past Sunday, a group of enthusiastic sailors went out to enjoy the weather and the camaraderie of Remote Control Sailing. Weather situations were absolutely perfect to ensure a competitive round of yachting, both for the spectators and the operators. The breeze was steady at 2  to 4 knots, coming in from the south east.

Normally we would not be at this part of the lake because of the high weed content, but go figure, the conditions in the water were perfect. Rundle Park usually is drained also for the winter season, but I guess they leave the pond full for winter freeze up for skaters.

Usually we sail amongst birds, you know, ducks, geese and turns, but today, clear sailing YEA HA!!!  My boat is sailing very well until a knock takes it on a course for the shore. Sure enough it grounds on the shallow gravel bed. Well we do not ground our boats, we just deepen the channel a little. This is to be expected at times, the 14” keel is one of the longest in my fleet of yachts. My feet get a little wet from pushing out the sailboat into the water once again. .

I spoke to soon. My Transmitter has just crapped out, no control ! , no control ! , I’m heading for the island. Just great no wetsuit, no boats, no waders and the water is about 0 degrees. All hope is lost until mike offers to bring his boat to shore in a hurry and let me have his transmitter. Great, I just have to put in my crystal and I will regain control of my boat. A disaster diverted!! After I bring my boat in, I replace my transmitter and continue with sailing. Thanks Mike.

Everything is going well for about an hour until the winds pick up. Between the wind, transmitter and wave problems, we decide to pack it up. We are certainly a hardy crew of enthusiast’s not the fair weather sailors people think we should be. After all it’s November and the water is not hard. Until then we will keep on sailing. And when the water is hard we have another sailboat. The Ice Boats.

Enjoy your days outside with good friends.