We took Peregrine to Port Credit to meet with Sea Scouts from 1st Port Credit and 65th Toronto. It’s the first rendezvous in over 10 years. The last one was on Snake Island in 2014 with Sea Scouts across Ontario.
The Skipper of 1st Port Credit, Gurth Pretty, had arranged for the Toronto Brigantine youth sailing program to bring TS Playfair to Port Credit Yacht Club so that Scouts could go out and sail as trainee crew. We went for a 2 hour sail and were shown the ropes by the crew. I had never sailed on a tall ship before and the square sails were a complete mystery to me. The waves were high and so it was very bouncy. Mostly exciting, but a few folks had a little sea sickness. It was an amazing experience. They also run week long sail training camps and voyages in the summer if you would like to do more.
Scouters led various stations on shore to learn parts of the boat, coiling and heaving lines, weather safety, rowing, rigging and more. A group of 1812 re-enactors brought their reproduction boat Psyche to show the Scouts and put on a bit of a mock battle as we sailed out on Playfair.
Our Boat Crews are starting to settle in and did a pretty good job of setting up camp and making their meals.
We were blessed with beautiful weather for sailing on Sunday and our crew of Sea Scouts did a great job of learning to tack and steer Peregrine on the way home. We managed to reach 6.2 knots at one point, but we averaged about 4.5 knots all the way home. Thanks to the whole crew for making it a great sail.
Thanks to 1st Port Credit and Port Credit Yacht Club for hosting this great event and letting us camp on their grounds. There’s a plaque in their clubhouse that shows they hosted the Halton County Scout Jamboree in 1939 — cool!
A few photos follow. We may add more here later and/or share a Google Photos album with Scouts and parents. I got some video footage of our return sail and I’ll share that as soon as I can.
