In Halifax!!!

Just got into Halifax, and am settling into the hotel for the night. I am staying in a hotel for one night since the condo will not be available until tomorrow after 4 pm. Wow, interesting trip up here. Drove from Annapolis to Bangor, Maine yesterday and shared a hotel room with Ted Morgan (who is also an SSA member that is competing in the worlds). Ted had to leave very early to make it to the Halifax airport to meet some more SSA members who are competing. I left 1/2 hour after Ted, and before I could get to the highway, my power steering pump and steering gearbox decided to die a rather smelly death. Due to some very helpful and friendly folks in Bangor, I was able to get the pump and gearbox replaced and back on the road by 11 a.m. PHEW!!!

Everything went smoothly from there, and the folks at Canadian customs seemed more interested in Samson than me. I had never been to Maine before, but what a beautiful state. Just driving over some of the rivers, heavily wooded with pines right to the banks, reminded me of some river fishing I did a long time ago. I think it is time to do it again (Bob, get that old flat back canoe ready, let's go!). Also driving through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was no less beautiful. I'm really glad I did this drive, even after the expensive vehicle repair this morning.

The boats are here safe and sound, and tomorrow I will go to the club first thing to see if I can get registered and measured tomorrow. It seems we have another Hurricane coming our way (Danny), and looks set to hit between Saturday night late and Sunday morning. Can you believe that after how long of no hurricanes, here we have two hitting Nova Scotia in a week. The Standard Laser Worlds was hit by a hurricane last week. I expect that Saturday will be a fairly nasty day, so we will have to see how much practice we can get in. I have a feeling I may have to pack up my boat and move it back to Halifax in the condo garage to keep her safe from the hurricane. So, who knows if we will be able to start on Sunday or not. I suppose the earlier it gets here the better, so we can get it by us and start racing. I would imagine the 24 hours following the hurricane will be exceedingly light.

It's cold up here, I needed to dig out some fleece last night, but I'm still fairly adamant about wearing shorts and flip flops! Begrudgingly I have to admit I did pack a pair of jeans and some khaki pants, but I really hope I don't need them. Sailing I'm sure will be cold, so I found that packing for sailing was easy, I took every piece of dinghy sailing gear I owned, except for my drysuit. Those Gul 3mm farmer john hikers are looking really good right now. Thanks to Intensity Sails for the great price!

Well, I'm going to grab a bite to eat before the restaurant closes. More hurricane updates tomorrow!!!