Hi All,

It's a lovely evening here in Collingwood,and the sun is just setting. Louise just called on the cell phone, and we heard from the kids on the phone yesterday. The kids are probably in Baltimore by now...

We motored over from Meaford this afternoon on flat water with not much wind. I begin to wonder if we will get enough wind for good racing, let alone enough wind to make my new sail (#3, over about 17 knots) worth having. It will certainly be a good thing to have in Kingston, or down south if I get there.

Meaford was a delightful place to stop. Their harbor is amazing clean with beautiful blue water. Somebody must have done some really good design in placing the breakwalls to make it flush so well. We were on the very end of their longest dock and had great swimming. Their public library has wireless net access that is available sitting on their back stoop even when the library is closed -- I have to add that one to my list of tricks -- it never occurred to me to open up my laptop just outside the closed library in Tobermory.

Half way here from Meaford, I shut everything down and we had a lovely swim in the middle of the bay all alone.

We are at the Collingwood Yacht Club, which enjoys a huge wind break from the north, the grain elevators that closed in '96. One of the locals was explaining to me about the club being the best deal on the lakes, something about a 50 year lease and cheap rates. Anyhow, it seems like a really friendly place. I am already engaged in a a little brinksmanship about the regatta. One of the other competitors (Agent 99, an X99 much like Devil's Advocate) has a brand new black and transparent sail they were out playing with tonight. I found another opportunity to say "We sometimes beat Abbott 33s on time" within hearing of an A33 owner. I managed to mention in conversation that my new sail won't be here til tomorrow.

All in all we are having a lovely time, and I am looking forward to Laura arriving witht he rest of the race crew tomorrow.

Rick / Dad

PS I have combined these trip reports into a web version,

for those who are really keen to read the installments again, or for those I forgot to add to the list until more recently. The

address is:

http://me.queensu.ca/people/sellens/personal/dragonGB/

It may not be completely up to date.