Perhaps it was a sign?

Temperature: an optimistic 1 degree Celsius
Wind speed: 20 kph gusting to 40.

Today is the last weekend day in October and that means the last chance to sail the reservoir until May 1. The morning was written off for lack of wind and sub zero temperatures. I arrived at the res early afternoon after sitting in nasty traffic jams and realizing that I forgot my roof rack to take Fionnlagh home afterwards. Definitely not worth going back for it in that traffic. Assembled the dolly, which I have been taking home to avoid theft or vandalism and unloaded the boat. Rigged part way, got dressed up in slightly damp sailing gear, and then tried to finish rigging. I had everything done except the vang and the mast tie down. Strangely, the mast tie down seemed too short. Or was the mast too tall? Hmmm...maybe something is in the mast step? But what? Did Janet drop something in there yesterday? Weird. Is the mast really not in the step? Wear marks are visible on the mast above the top of the tube. Definitely not in right. Wiggle, wiggle. Nothing. What the? So I leave the boom attached and lift the rig off. Remove sunglasses and peer into the mast step. It occurs to me that I left water in the mast step after yesterday's sail and it has been below zero since then. Yup. Ice. I squeeze my hand in but can't reach it. I look in the car for a long stick and come up with only a wrench. Then I realize there is an easy way to get the ice out. I grabbed a water bottle and poured water into the mast step. Then refilled the bottle in the lake (brrrr!) and poured again. The ice floated to the top and I scooped it out. Then I spent five minutes warming my hand back up. I don't think I've ever had ice in the mast step impede my rigging before! Maybe it is too cold to go sailing? Is there enough wind to make it worthwhile? It was not nearly as wild as yesterday but there were some serious gust patches out there. Speed could be found.

Ready to launch. The boat patrol were taking the arms off of the dock as I launched. Hopefully they wouldn't take the dock out. They usually left this one until last and the other docks were still in.

It was a good sail. Although it was cold, it was still a beautiful, sunny day. The reaches were fast, planing in the gusts. It was gusty and shifty like yesterday, but the wind strength was less. I was cautious as I didn't want to fall out of the boat again and I didn't want to capsize. With the sun in my eyes and glaring off the water on port tack, I couldn't see the gusts coming. Still managed to stay upright today. With the spray from planing, I did get wet. I lost feeling in my fingers and toes after about 45 minutes. The last 15 minutes getting back to the dock, my left hand hurt it was so cold.

I arrived at the dock just as the boat patrol was towing it away. Thanks a lot, Janet. The wooden dock was still there, but closed and the ramp jammed up with the grey dock cubes and heaps of driftwood. Not an appealing option. The Opti dock was still there so I sailed over. I've never used the ramp there. It was clear of driftwood so I docked and hopped out to make sure the ramp could be used. It appeared to be long enough. Next hurdle: could I get the dolly over there and get the boat back to the racks?

The dolly fit between the posts on the bike path, but only just. It was quite a long walk. Longer on the way back with Fionnlagh in tow, up the hill. At least I was getting warmed up. I left Fionnlagh on the grass in front of the club and went in for dry clothes.

I felt that I should have some sort of ritual for putting things away after the last sail. I thought about when I might sail next. If Fionnlagh goes to Victoria again this winter, then I should take all of the lines off in preparation for the trailer ride. If not, then I'm just wasting my time. It felt better to take all of the lines off and quite deliberately make sure I didn't lose any of them. Sort of a way of saying goodbye to the season. Even though I want time for other things now, I will miss sailing around the reservoir.