June 6, 2012
We’re driving north today to the Antique and Classic Boat Show. See you there at the Booth! There’s loads of gorgeous antique boats to check out and tons of fun for everyone 🙂
Diane
June 2, 2012
The Lake Ontario 300 is in 20 days!!! Today is training day on Phoenix, the J109 I’ll be racing on. For all the years I’ve done this race, this will be my first year doing the LO300 fully crewed. I’m really looking forward to it. So today is the first of three training days on the boat. Stay tuned!
Diane
June 29, 2012
The long weekends are here and so is the sunshine! Next weekend on July 7, 2012 is the Antique and Classic Boat Show in Gravenhurst. I’ll be there with . Come check out the incredible boats and stop by our booth to hear some crazy stories of crashing and bashing a 21 foot mini in the Bay of Biscay and the Irish Sea!
Diane
June 26, 2012
Here is a great article in Sail World about our Sea Survival Training last weekend
http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/Sea-Survival-seminar-a-success-in-Toronto/98904
Diane
June 24, 2012
June 22, 2012
Today I’m off to sail in the corporate world and have a very interesting afternoon with a fantastic group of individuals sailing around Toronto Island. Tomorrow it’s the Safety At Sea Seminar hosted by RCYC. Keeping the credentials up for next year’s Transat Race!
Diane
June 18, 2012
After two months of real crashing and bashing sailing in some horrific conditions in Europe, I am proud to tell you that I am stronger and fitter because of all the hard work with . When you’re racing a high octane sailboat, you’re pulling on lines, dragging sails and climbing masts in some of the toughest conditions going. Even when you’re sitting still for a minute or trying to catch a quick ten minute cat nap, your body is jammed into a crazy contorted lump and your core is the only thing holding you in place. Skinny Legs made me my arms, legs, and core stronger so that I could face these challenges head on. Thanks Skinny Legs!
Diane
June 16, 2012
Check out the video I just found on YouTube. It’s long, but there’s some great footage of the racing. This was our first race of the season. It was double handed for 150 miles and had wind ranges from no wind all the way up to about 25 knots of wind. If you’re patient enough, you can even see a little interview I did in French!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmEHbRDo_HY&feature=related
I think my bestess girlfriend Lezli summed it up perfectly…. France was a “superb, spellbinding, safe and successful” adventure! We did a fantastic amount of training and learned a heap, added key races to our qualifying miles and made some amazing friends along the way. All of this could not have been achieved without the incredible support of our sponsors and individuals like yourselves. made sure we had some amazing new sails onboard, and replaced all of the running rigging to hold those sails up made sure the team was well taken care of and protected from the sun ensured we had some fantastic gear to wear, and got our little boat to France. These fantastic endeavours only happen because of amazing sponsors and the support of individuals like yourselves. Whether it’s because you follow the fantastic stories, or because you make a contribution, it all comes together in a very successful campaign! Next up we need to do a little campaign “business management”. We’ll go back to England in February to complete the Artemis training and the last of the qualifying miles. For now I need to find a boat to race on Lake Ontario…..I’m boatless! 🙂
Diane
June 4, 2012Well it’s been a wonderful long two months here in France, but it’s time to go home. OGOC is out of the water and all squared away and ready to go to bed for the rest of the season. It’s been a fantastic and very very successful time here. We’ve accomplished 370 of our qualifying miles, along with one of those races being the obligatory single handed race. Next spring we’ll come back and do the Artemis training, the balance of races and maybe even some more training here in France! Stay tuned of course for some more racing when I get back to Canada!
Diane
