Thank you for making Launch Day and the Open House such a success!

Save the Dates: June 8th for the Ontario Trillium Grant Recognition and Volunteer Thank You event and July 20th for SailPast!

Launch Day and Open House were a success!

Thank you to all the volunteers who came out on Launch Day (and other days) to lend a hand setting up the boats, the tent and readying the site for the sailing season and the Open House.

The Open House had unexpectedly glorious weather and we had a great turnout of volunteers to welcome our 50 or so visitors. The Club was a-buzz with visitors who came by to checkout our stories, our people, and our boats and site throughout the day. As a result we had quite a few new signups for membership & training. Don’t fret though, there are still a few spots left for Adult Learn-to-Sail training, and a few more for Junior training!

Save these Dates – June 8th and July 20th!

On Saturday, June 8th at 1 pm, we will be hosting a ribbon cutting for the Ontario Trillium Grant Recognition Event including cake and refreshments (non-alcoholic). Members are invited to join in the celebration. VIPs from local & provincial government, as well as from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, have been invited to the event. We will be celebrating the generous Ontario Trillium Foundation grant received for our new T-shaped floating dock!

Following this celebration, members will have time to go sailing and then join in another little get-together around 5 pm with snacks and a toast to our many Club volunteers. The Volunteer Thank You Event is to thank our volunteers who are dedicated to running the Kanata Sailing Club by signing-up for Duty Day, helping to prep the boats and site on Launch Day, taking on repair projects, fixing boats, serving on the board of directors, helping with administrative tasks or in many, many other ways. Everyone is invited: those who volunteer all the time, those who volunteer when they can, and those who will volunteer in the future.

On Saturday, July 20th, we will be hosting our Annual SailPast. This is an opportunity to welcome our newest sailors and members to the Club. We sail past our Commodore with our brightly decorated boats and enjoy some time on the water together before we settle in for the grandest feast – a traditional suckling pig roast, salads and treats. It is a well-attended event, and we invite everyone to join in the fun! Watch for an email update from Tom, our social director, closer to the date.

Key New Faces at KSC – Welcome Steven and Sam!

Steven Parry, Head Instructor of the Adult Learn-to-Sail Program, and Samantha (Sam) Boulton, Head Instructor of the Junior Learn-to-Sail Program, are both new to KSC and started teaching on Tuesday, May 14th.

Steven has worked as a skipper, guide, and flotilla leader. He has 3 decades of sailing stories from around the world and guarantees engaging, interactive, and entertaining training sessions. He has been teaching students in Buckham’s Bay for the last 2 seasons. He has his CANSail 1 & 2 Instructor certification along with a long list of other credentials, including ASA Keelboat & Intermediate Coastal Cruising Instructor, RYA Commercial Yacht Master, and ICC International bareboat license. He has been the Director and owner of a yacht charter brokerage agency for 30 years.

Sam comes with 2 years of coaching experience from Nepean Sailing Club and is a certified CANSail Level 1 & 2 Instructor. She was responsible for teaching students the fundamentals of sailing in a fun, safe, respectful, and inclusive environment. She earned her CANSail Level 5 (at the age of 14) and has raced competitively, including at CORK International. She just completed her 1st year of Science in Marine Biology at Dalhousie University.

Welcome aboard Steven and Sam to the KSC team!

New AED, Dock, Gas Shed Renos… and a 5th RS Quest!

The KSC and board of directors are always thinking about ways to keep our Club members safe both on the water and off. This year we have a new device, the AED. What’s that you ask? It’s an automated external defibrillator. It is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses life-threatening cardiac issues and can be used to restart a person’s heart if it has stopped beating. The AED will be placed in a highly visible location in the clubhouse. An AED training date will also be announced. Thank you to Tim Stahl for championing this safety initiative.

If you haven’t had a chance to come down to the Club recently, you will be very pleased to see the new T-shaped floating dock has been installed. The KSC was fortunate to receive a generous grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for a new dock composed of six lightweight sections plus gangway, with hand-safe connection points. This dock and associated coach boats enhance safe community access to the waterfront in this area.

When you come to the Club, you will also see a new roof on the gas shed. A big thank you goes out to Stephan Bilan and other volunteers who assisted. The project entailed raising the gas shed frame onto higher posts, stress-testing the structure’s integrity, reinforcing the roof and then the full re-shingling. Stay tuned for the next phase which will be siding and staining.

Why bother with all this repair? We could have bought a new shed. The answer is that KSC prefers to direct funds to new sailboats and accessories (spinnakers, better beach dollies, sailing storage!). Moreover, this is one of the ways we keep membership costs down.

Which brings us to the last but not least of what’s new at the Club. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive the OTF grant that we had hoped would cover the cost of the 5th RS Quest. Tragic. However, the good news is that the Club is doing well enough that we were able to buy RS Quest #5 out of current funds. This is one of the most family-friendly, popular boats in our fleet, and for good reason, as it is a wonderfully stable boat for newer sailors.

Bylaws, Strategic Plan, Club Rules, FAQs

Over the winter months, while the Club was asleep, the Bylaw Committee was hard at work and has updated the Club Bylaws to meet the new (2010) Ontario government regulations. The Committee members were Tim Stahl (chair) , Liz Prentice Hudson, Deb McPhedran, and Jean Mullan. The KSC board approved the final version which can be seen here, and this will be circulated to the KSC membership in advance of the Saturday, July 20th SailPast when we will ask for a membership vote on it. We’re pleased to formalize an unwritten part of KSC culture in these new Bylaws, in that the membership director is acknowledged to have broad discretionary powers, and a bonus: “Family” now includes all children still living at home, regardless of their age.

The Strategic Planning Committee was also hard at work over the winter.  Corinne Civalleri, Andre Violette, Genevieve Segu and Annie Miller (chair) met throughout the winter to develop the five pillars to guide our success for the the next five year period: 2025 – 2030.  The five pillars are membership, community, training, facilities (on shore and on water), and sustainability.  The Committee is currently fine tuning their document with a view to having their plan adopted by members’ vote at the Annual Meeting in the Fall.

The Club Rules and FAQs also needed modification to reflect the changes in the Bylaws. Behind the scenes, Mike Lepard updated the FAQs while Jean Mullan took on the task of updating the Club Rules with valuable input from others (Thanks, Carla!). The Club Rules will go to the board for final approval and then be posted to the KSC website. The FAQs are sent out to all new members as they sign up.

Did you notice how much was done over the winter? That’s because the sailing season is meant for sailing, and that’s what we’re going to be doing! We look forward to seeing you on the water, and at shore-side gatherings. This is your cottage in the city, your base for sailing the Ottawa River, and we hope you take ownership of all it has to offer.

Fair winds!