We need your virtual presence and your vote on Wednesday September 18 via Google Meet to formally update club governance documents: both our Bylaws and our Articles of Incorporation. You’ll be asked to vote on Motion 1 to accept the 2024 Bylaws, and Motion 2 to accept the 2024 Articles of Incorporation.
Why? New Ontario legislation (ONCA 2010) has been handed down aimed at modernizing how not-for profit corporations such as the Kanata Sailing Club are created, operated, governed and dissolved. The new law requires that we update those two principal governing documents, the Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation. We must do this before October 18, 2024 in order to be compliant with the legislation.
UPDATING OUR BYLAWS
The Bylaws govern how we manage the club, including such things as selection of a Board of Directors, board members’ roles and responsibilities, membership categories and the conduct of meetings. It’s a document members should be familiar with.
The Bylaws were updated by a club committee (listed below) and have been approved by the Board of Directors. Now the Bylaws have to be ratified by our Membership. This is where you come into the picture.
We will be holding a virtual Special Meeting (link above), at which time you will be asked to approve of the updated Bylaws. We believe this approach will make the meeting simpler to manage. We need approval by 2/3rds of those who attend.
For context, clarifications were made throughout, and specifically in the following areas:
Added clarity around the removal and appointment of Directors;
Updated the Conflict of Interest clause; and,
Expanded Family Memberships to include dependents living at the parental home.
Both the current (2012) and updated (2024) versions of the bylaw are available on our Website here.
You are invited to review the document. As members, you are most directly impacted by Articles 5 and 6, entitled Members and Meeting of Members.
Motion No. 1 that you will be asked to vote on will be: “a Motion to approve the Bylaws in the form presented and included with notice of meeting of the Members”.
UPDATING OUR ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
ONCA also requires that we update our Articles of Incorporation. The motivation for these updates is that the Ontario government wants to make sure that club assets are well-managed for the benefit of the people of Ontario, particularly when a non-profit benefits from public funding, as we do. We need approval by 2/3rds of those who attend.
You can find the Articles of Amendment on our Website here.
Motion No. 2 that you will be asked to vote on is: “a Motion to approve the Articles of Amendment in the form presented and included with notice of meeting of the Members”.
ACTION
We look forward to seeing as many voting members as possible at the Virtual Special Meeting. If you are an Adult member with Honorary, Family, Single, or Student membership, you have a right to vote.
Each voting member is permitted to serve as proxy holder (hold the right to vote) for one other voting member who is unable to make the meeting. A simple email confirming this must be sent to Olivier, our Corporate Secretary, before the Special Meeting begins. This must contain instructions to the proxy holder who may either be instructed to vote at will, or may be given specific voting instructions for Motion 1 and Motion 2.
Questions relating to Bylaws can be sent to Tim, our Vice Commodore, who was heading up this effort. Questions relating to the updated Articles of Incorporation can be sent to Deb, our Commodore.
AUTHORS
Many thanks go out to Tim Stahl, our Vice Commodore, who took on the Bylaws task with input from Jean Mullan, Liz Prentice-Muir, and Deb McPhedran for the Articles of Incorporation.
Our social director Tom is putting together a few outings this winter while we wait for our warmer weather to return. He also has a number of events planned throughout the summer but more details to come.
If there is enough interest, sometime in March he will be organizing a snowshoe outing in Gatineau, which will take members for a 1hr guided loop ending at a nice bistro. If you’re interested in joining them please let Tom know.
2023 Annual Meeting & Highlights of the Year
This may have been a first: the meeting was held at the Britannia Yacht Club due to a “scheduling kerfuffle” at NSC. Sweet digs! We spent little time admiring, and got down to business.
Commodore Corinne oversaw a Very Very Good year. A few of the highlights touched on at the Annual Meeting below. The entire 2023 KSC AGM presentation can be found online here.
Financial Statements
KSC Financials are looking healthy, and we have hopes and dreams to build on this going forward. There were some minor issues with the CRA but the purser will have those sorted soon. We’re entering into 2024 in a very strong position in no small part due to the grants awarded to the club.
Grants
Fantastic news, we look forward to delivery of our new floating dock in the spring of 2024. The Ontario Trillium Foundation is generously funding this essential infrastructure to support community need for access to recreational facilities on the waterfront in Dunrobin/West March. We call for a party to recognize this OTF Grant in the spring! See the news item on our previous post: New Dock Coming in Spring 2024.
Harbourmaster Steve and Training Director Ken shared instructors’ feedback that the club’s RS Quests were easily the most popular, versatile family-friendly boats that KSC owned, and we could do with more. Having two more would allow members to sail their favourite boat recreationally even while classes were going on. We invested in number four in September, and we have applied for an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant to purchase the fifth. We’ll know by late February.
KSC has received over $146k in grants over the last 3 years, huge thank you to the volunteers who’ve made that happen!
Membership
Membership has grown! Counting every single head, KSC membership stood at 135… a recent record! Another reason we really need two more RS Quests. Single & Family memberships are up this year, and a new member survey results were positive overall.
Comms/Web
Lots of website cleanup and a new membership/training sign-up form was setup for 2023. There are quite a few website updates planned for 2024, if you see any pages that could use some sprucing up please contact Devin our website director.
Site
Members re-shingled the clubhouse roof in a single weekend in late September. If we’d known it was going to be such a source of merriment, we’d have done it sooner. Shout-out to Capital Services of Stittsville who provided much-appreciated expertise and labour-saving heavy equipment. We were fortunate on the day of the big push, in that the winds were as low as they could be at 0 knots gusting to 2… Great for roof work… Tragic for sailing.
Hydro-Ottawa first teased us by installing new poles in April. Then we waited…In Hydro’s defence, the May derecho redirected their manpower, and then they went on strike for 3 months during which time KSC was not a high priority. But, in early November, Hydro completed the final touches, energized the lines, and voila! Hydro is back.
Training
Learn-to-Sail adult and junior training programs went extremely well with seasoned instructors Heidi and Connor at the helm, both of whom are moving on in their lives and careers. Our pleasure at this is bittersweet, as we will miss them and their calm expertise. New instructors will be needed for next year, if you know of anyone who would be interested (and has their CANSAIL training certificate) please contact Corinne & Carla, the new training directors.
Also if you notice new green tags on the board this is a new category for members who’ve completed their first cat sailing course and are eligible to sail the RS Cat 16s. Once they have some experience on those they can take a more advanced cat course to get their red tags for sailing the Hobie 18s.
Harbourmaster
Fleet renewal has had a very positive impact on the club & membership. A RS Quest was purchased at a steep discount at the end of last year and as mentioned we are applying for another grant to purchase our fifth Quest this year.
KSC also welcomed a sporty 470 to the fleet at the end of the season. This boat was a donation (thank you!) and enthusiastically refurbished. It’s a technical boat, and a blast for experienced sailors.
The RS Cat 16 has had warranty repair to its hull and will be back for 2024 season.
A very sweet white Kevlar canoe was donated to the club, and is another item available to all members. On low wind days, it’s an option if you aren’t in the mood for low-wind practice.
Social
Social Sailing events contended with the full range of challenging wind conditions, high to low, but we enjoyed outings to Aylmer Beach, Pinhey’s Point, and Twelve Mile Island to boot. One particularly memorable September event was cannily re-branded as a high wind monohull training session, with plenty of capsize recovery practice. Beehive manoeuvres, anyone? Sailpast offered fine winds, and Commodore Corinne continued the grand tradition of offering a non-denominational, even secular blessing to the fleet as it sailed past under fine control. The new tradition of BBQ suckling piglet was repeated, and as every part of the animal was well-received, we’re likely to continue. Tony’s roasting program is spectacular. After dinner, two facilitators, Bianca and Barbara, arranged entertainment and made certain that we got to know each other a little better. Bravo: we’d like a repeat!
Sailing
There 6 race nights and 11 races total, unfortunately weather didn’t cooperate well this year but fingers crossed for the 2024 season.
The absolute sailing season this year extended for a total of 204 days (almost 7 months), from April 15 to Nov 4 inclusive. October 27 would have made a spectacular last day, with winds gusting up to 28 knots. Only one experienced sailor ventured out and enjoyed 4 near capsizes in a Laser, discouraging the pair of wafflers on shore. That might have been the last day, but the water was still warm enough for obsessive types in wetsuits who ventured out November 4 in forgiving winds.
KSC Members Facebook Group
If you haven’t yet joined our private Facebook page, consider it. The name of the page is “Kanata Sailing Club Members” and is available to past/present members. It’s where you can post KSC experiences and news you want to share, or announce your interest in having company when heading out sailing / hiking / skating, whatever.
Make sure we can recognize your name! If KSC knows you as Paul, but your Facebook name is unknown to us, lend us a hand figuring out the connection. If you’ve requested to join and we haven’t replied please send Mike our membership director a reminder.
Governance Items
Outgoing Directors: Ken, Rob and Mike
We are losing two long-term directors, Ken Skublics and Rob Zgraggen, who merit standing ovations for their outstanding direction at a difficult time.
You may not have known this, but Rob opened members’ eyes to the dire straits we were in, in the “before-times”, calling for action in no uncertain terms. The club appreciates his directness, as it was so valuable in challenging times. Rob served as Purser for three critical years, starting in 2020, and hands over a healthy reserve to the incoming board!
“Not so much a directorship, more of a lifestyle choice” is a fair description of the KSC Training Director’s role. Ken served as Training Director for four years, and training, you should know, is the front-line mission for the club. Things happen that must be handled, and tough calls made, and Ken was there with the swift well-balanced decision. People needed information, often the same information more than once, and Ken made himself (patiently) available. To give you an inkling of the job, two people will be taking it over now that he’s retiring from the position. If we could just remember the details of his decision-making process and bottle some of his reliability, we’d be solid.
Ken, and Rob: thank you both so much for setting us up for success. What we do with that generous set-up is up to the new board now.
Mike Reece is formally leaving the Sailing/Racing Director position, but we hope he volunteers to return in future to implement his plans. This year, he had to focus on immediate issues, and hand-off this year’s racing agenda to Acting Sailing director, Carla Millar. We so appreciate that Carla stepped in to run the racing program in 2023, not to mention her design of the newest trophy. We’re fortunate that Carla has agreed to second our new training director this year. As mentioned above, that’s a big ask.
Worthy of note is that three new/relatively new club members with plenty of experience, either sailing or board position experience, have agreed to join the new board: Tim, Genevieve, and Olivier. We are very excited to have them. Sailing (aka Racing) is also looking very interesting with Jason returning to direct us. Corinne and Carla will brilliantly cover training challenges, starting with finding new instructors. If anybody knows a potential candidate, do not hesitate to reach out to them.
Let’s welcome back returning board members Mike, Tony, Tom, Steve and Devin in the same roles, but now to fulfill their plans for world domination.
Strategic Planning Committee
Anne-Marie Miller: Lead
Genevieve Segu
Corinne Civalleri
What do we cherish most about the club, and should we make moves to preserve those aspects? Can you see particular challenges ahead? Where do we want to go from here? We’ll hear from the members of this committee in 2024, asking us questions like that. The aim is to tap into members’ knowledge, inspiration and hopes to guide the club’s direction the following five years: 2025-2030.
By-Laws Committee
Tim Stahl: Lead
Liz Prentice-Hudson
Jean Mullan
Deb McPhedran
Our by-laws, articles of incorporation, and related policy items require updating to meet current governance requirements. We’re highly motivated to complete these, particularly the bylaw update, to retain control of the details, and prevent the application of boilerplate government-authored bylaws instead. You’ll be hearing from this committee too, as special meetings will be required for your votes.
Safe Sport Team
Carla Millar: Lead
Olivier Clerc: Screening Officer
Treat others well. Don’t be inappropriate. There are safeguards in place, and rules and repercussions around this matter. The club will continue to advance a respectful sport culture that delivers quality, inclusive, accessible, welcoming and safe sport experiences.
Looking Forward to 2024
With the line-up of volunteers above, and all the generous ongoing volunteer efforts we continue to enjoy, the Kanata Sailing Club is poised for a sparkling 2024!
To all members and their loved ones: Fair Winds and Following Seas! See you on the water!
Deb McPhedran, Commodore
(And a huge thanks to Jean for her help putting this newsletter together -ed)
Land acknowledgement
The Kanata Sailing Club is located on the traditional, unceded territory of the Anishnaabe Algonquin nation. We are guests on this land, and commit to honoring these peoples, lands and waters.
You can learn to sail with your kids this summer! Our Family Sailing Week classes are the best “stay-cation” under the sun (and on the water!). Family Sailing Week #1 starts July 11. Class #2 starts August 2.
Due to strong demand, we’ve added another Junior Learn to Sail course. These are open to kids ages 8 to 15. No previous sailing experience is required.
The Kanata Sailing Club (KSC) is pleased to announce its Open Regatta, on Labour Day weekend, September 5th and September 6th, 2015. The regatta is open to both KSC members and members from other clubs and will have 2 classes (Albacore and Laser). Registration will be at the KSC Club House on Friday evening September 4th, 2015, from 18:00 to 20:00, and on Saturday morning September 5th from 09:30 to 10:00. Cost is $25 per person. More details, including the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions, are available here.
The Kanata Sailing Club is pleased to announce its fifth annual Open Catamaran Regatta, Saturday, August 15, 2015.
This event is open to both KSC members and members from other Clubs. All types of catamarans are welcome to compete. There is no entry fee for this event. Food and beverages are BYO.
Registration will be at the KSC Clubhouse, Saturday morning, August 15, 09:00 to 10:00.
The summer-series for Monday Night Races wraps up Monday, August 31. The winds have been very good this season – let’s take advance of the warmer-than-usual August we are having and get out there!
Get your kids on the water this summer! KSC is offering an additional Learn-to-Sail session this summer for junior sailors (8 to 15 years old). Session 2 of our popular Junior Learn-to-Sail (JLTS) is full, but you can still register for JLTS3 which runs the week of August 3.
Please check out our training page or contact the KSC Training Director, at ksc.training@gmail.com for more information.
It’s not too late to learn to sail this summer! KSC is offering an additional Learn-to-Sail session this summer for adults and youth 16+.
This program is designed for first time, or less experienced, sailors and leads to certification of up to the CANSAIL 2 standard. This permits graduates who decide to become members of KSC to use any of the boats in the club’s fleet of dinghies.
Please check out our training page or contact Tom, KSC Training Director, at ksc.training@gmail.com for more information.
Here are the program details:
DATES: July 21 – August 20, Tuesday and Thursday evenings
(Note: some make-up classes will be available if you have vacation conflicts.)
TIMES: 5:30 – 9:00 pm
Note: If you join KSC, as a trainee, you receive a 20% discount on your membership plus we will give you the discount on training!
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