Kanata Sailing Club Founding Member’s Award
The Kanata Sailing Club (KSC) Founding Member’s Award was created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Kanata Sailing Club in honour of the founding members of the club. This trophy is given to the member who has made outstanding contributions to the KSC and to the spirit of community sailing.
The past few years have been challenging for the Kanata Sailing Club both financially and through all the Covid-19 restrictions. Many members stepped in to help guide us over these hurdles putting the club in a better situation financially and accomplishing some big projects at the same time.
Since this award was forgotten for quite some time (it was above the sign-out board! -ed), the idea to resurrect and award this trophy at the KSC Annual Meeting (AM) for past years seemed appropriate. Thank you to the members who submitted the nominations in a very short timeline and for those who volunteered to be judges on the selection committee. We received 18 nominations! Next year, more time will be given for the nomination process and for volunteers to step forward for the selection committee.
The recipients for the KSC Founding Member’s Award for the past 6 years are:
- 2018 Tom Saunders
- 2019 Frank Boyaner
- 2020 Ken Skublics
- 2021 Deborah McPhedran
- 2022 Steve Harrington
- 2023 Stefan Bilan
Congratulations to all the recipients for your outstanding contributions, leadership and commitment to keep our club viable through these past challenging years. We appreciate your time and dedication.
12-Mile Island Circumnavigation Challenge Awards
Since 2002, experienced KSC sailors have challenged each other to see who can sail 15 km upriver to 12-Mile Island, round the island and return to the club the most times in a season from opening day to closing day. Three trophies were donated to the members by Ken Eaves and the late Harry Adderley, who designed and fabricated the trophies.
This year, there were 16 competitors with 27 roundings of the island, plus an additional rounding after closing day. One of the competitors rounded 12-Mile Island 11 times winning 2 of the trophies – an extraordinary feat! The 2023 winners for the 12-Mile Island Circumnavigation Challenge trophies are:
- Mark Cooligan, who won both the single-handed monohull (4 roundings) and catamaran (6 roundings) trophies with a total of 11 roundings as he also rounded the island once in a double-handed monohull with Steve Harrington.
- Steve Harrington and Carla Millar won the double-handed monohull trophy for a total of 3 roundings, plus an additional rounding after closing day. Steve also had 2 additional roundings of the island, one solo and another with Mark Cooligan.
Congratulations to all the 2023 competitors for participating in this challenging, fun competition.
KSC Sailing Season – Final Race Series Results
This year’s weekly race series, held on Tuesday nights, went from low/no wind evenings to big winds/waves evenings, where you had to hang on to your tiller and sheets hoping not to capsize!
We had 24 participants come out to compete over the course of the summer series, including many new members. The apres race BBQs were always fun, where stories were shared and bragging rights observed on our newly renovated deck. A big thanks to the instructors Heidi Cloutier and Connor Quinlan for setting up the course and providing the RC boat which occasionally helped sailors needing assistance by righting their boats or towing them back to shore due to the low winds.
The top 10 finishers for the 2023 Final Race Series are:
- Steve Harrington
- Carla Millar
- Mark Cooligan
- Liz Prentice Hudson
- Jean Mullan
- Jason McKenna
- Annie Miller
- Rob Zgraggen
- Mike Lepard
- Tom Neumann
Congratulations to all the competitors for coming out each week and a special thanks to Carla Millar for stepping in as Sailing Director when Mike Reece broke his ankle.
12-Mile Island Race Day
It was a big day for the 12-Mile Island Race Day with shifty winds. There were 15 competitors in 9 boats including one of our new learn-to-sail graduates.
To enjoy the hilarious details of that event, you will want to read (or re-read) the race report by event organizer Carla Millar on the overboard coolers, broken hiking straps and death roll capsize practises.
Congratulations to Steve Harrington and Mark Cooligan on winning the 2023 12-Mile Island Race Day. List of 2023 finishers and participants:
- Steve Harrington and Mark Cooligan
- Ken Skublics
- Rob Zgraggen and Bianca Helmus
- Frank Boyaner and Jean Mullan
- Heidi Cloutier and Connor Quinlan
- Tom Neumann and Xiong Xue
- Stefan Bilan
- Eric Andrews and Devin Linnington
- Jason McKenna – turned back early
Congratulations to all the sailors who took on this challenging race and winds. A big thank you to Carla Millar for organizing the day and creating a lovely new trophy.