Spring is breathing down our necks, which means it’s soon time to trade your snow shovels for tillers at your cottage in the city. Good news: while your wallet is taking a beating everywhere else, we’ve frozen or reduced KSC membership and training costs for 2026. We even added a cheaper $295 Young Adult (18-30) tier, so tell your younger sailing friends!
Better yet, despite keeping things cheap, we bought a brand new RS 16 Catamaran. It’s paws have not even been in the water yet! That makes three of them in the fleet, meaning less time waiting on the beach and more time flying a hull. We own the fleet, you do the sailing—no towing, no launching fees, no hassle.
The New Registration System
We finally bit the bullet and built our own store. Why? Because it saves us a massive amount on credit card processing fees, meaning significantly more money actually stays in the club to buy fun things. It also hooks directly into QuickBooks, which is going to make Gen’s (our purser) life infinitely easier.
Here is how you register this year:
Checkout our Membership Page for details on different categories we offer
Create an account on our site. You will enter all your personal and family details there.
If you own your own boats, you will also add your private fleet details to your account.
Head over to the KSC Shop to buy your 2026 membership and purchase your storage for the year.
Note for families: You can create an account for each adult member and link them to your main account so everyone gets our emails. If they don’t want to make their own account you can stuff their details into your own account. It is critical that all family members are entered into the portal!
Upcoming Events & Socializing
We have a shiny new Events Page and a Public Calendar to keep track of the chaos. Go check it out, and if you have any suggestions or would like to volunteer to help organize, reach out to Serge, our social director.
Launch Day: April 25th
We need all hands on deck to drag the fleet out of hibernation. We work rain or shine, so bring gloves, appropriate workwear, and power tools if you’ve got them. We’ll be flipping Quests and Fevas, assembling Lasers, moving powerboats, and wrestling the dock into the water.
This is where we put on clean shirts, act perfectly normal, and convince the public to join the club or take an Adult Learn to Sail course (which gets them 50% off their first year of membership). Tell your friends to come check us out!
If the new website process gives you any technical headaches, email me and I’ll sort you out. For general membership or pricing questions, hit up Mike our training director.
In just two short weeks, our Wednesday race night series will start. I’m here today to convince you to come out! No experience or competitive spirit required, our race nights are mostly just an excuse to hit the water and have some fun. I first started racing when I was taking learn-to-sail as an excuse to get some extra practice time on the water between lessons. Even though I’m not a competitive person, I had a lot of fun, and have been coming to the race nights ever since.
We have a nobody left ashore policy, and if you’re interested in getting out on the water then we’ll make sure it happens! Details on how it works below, but let me start with some reasons you should come out racing:
It’s the safest time to sail – there are lots of other friendly boats around in case you get into trouble, and even the most competitive KSC skippers are happy to abandon a race to help out someone in trouble
It makes you a better sailor – the person out there with 15 or 20 years experience will know so many tricks and tips to improve boat trim, handling, and stability, all of which translate to a safer (and faster) boat. They’re always happy to share knowledge! Learn the difference between “sheet the jib in” and “sheet the jib in 3 inches, and open the luff of the main”. Even if you’re a solo sailor, you can watch how Ken trims his sail, check how you have yours trimmed, and compare what the boats are doing side-by-side.
It gets you out on the water more – let’s face it, if we wait for “the perfect day” to go sailing, we’ll never go. It will always be too cold, or too hot, or too calm, or a tad-too-windy, etc. Having a regular “I’m going sailing, even if conditions are not perfect!” event in the calendar encourages you to get out more, and make the most of your membership.
Fantastic people – I’ve been racing at KSC for 15 years now (since back when I didn’t know a tiller from a mainsheet) and met so many good people, and good friends. And every year I get to meet new people!
Post-sail BBQ – For many people, the sailing is fun, but the most laughs are had on the deck afterwards, when we enjoy a drink and a burger
It’s free – who doesn’t like free things, right?
Okay, you convinced me to come out… how does it work?
Show up at the club by 5:30 or 5:45 on Wednesday afternoon. You can *probably* show up even a bit later than that, but past 6:00 is getting a bit risky if you’re looking for a partner
If you’re new, then start talking with people, especially people who look like they know what they’re doing. All the veteran racers are happy to take new sailors out, or (if their boat is already full) are happy to point you towards another veteran racer. Our goal is to give you a great racing experience. If we can convince you that racing is fun, that means you’ll keep coming out, and we will have a bigger fleet to race against later in the season!
Sign out a boat and start rigging it up
At 6:00 on the first few race nights, I’ll hold a “skipper’s meeting” on the deck. I’ll remind anyone who forgot over the winter what the rules were, and anyone can ask questions
It’s a good idea to try to hit the water by 6:15 at the latest
The first warning signal goes at (about) 6:30. The first race night or two we might be a bit later while the sailors and Race Committee figure out the routine
We do a 5-minute start for most boats, with a head start for some of the slower RS boats. We’ll cover the start sequence at the skipper’s meeting, but a quick summary is below
Sail the course around the marks – a counter-clockwise triangle, followed by an upwind/downwind leg. If you’re new to racing, the skipper can explain the start sequence and will talk about right-of-way and tactics throughout the race
I had some more questions…
Q: How long are the races? A: We try to set a short course so the first person finishes after about 20 minutes. This means the last person usually finishes after about 30 minutes. Add on a 5-minute start, and you can expect a race to go about 35 minutes between first-gun and final finish. This lets us get in as many races as we can before the sun starts to go down and the wind dies. We might get 4 races in a night in June, but only 2 by end-of-August
Q: I can’t be at the club until 6:30 or 7:00. Can I still race? A: Yes, but it might be harder to find a partner and you’ll probably miss the first race of the night. We try to match up skippers and crew before 6:00 so they can hit the water and be on the race course by 6:30. If you sail a single-hander (Laser, Byte, etc) this isn’t a problem, but if you want to sail a double-handed boat then you might want to make arrangements with a partner to meet you at the club at a specific time.
Q: If I start sailing with someone, can I change partners later? A: Yes! We score sailors, not boats, so there is no problem sailing with one person some week, someone else the following week, and sailing solo another week.
Q: What if I miss some races or race days? Can I start racing later in the season? A: No problem! We have some people who only attend one or two race nights a year. Of course, the more race nights you attend, the more chances you have of racking up good placement scores for the end-of-season totals, but you can still miss a lot of races and be scored a “perfect season”. I can talk season totals
Q: Do all the different types of boats race together? A: Yes. We (mostly) don’t handicap different types of boats, and just race them all as one big fleet. The exception are the RS boats (Quests and Fevas). We give those boats a 3 minute head start because they are a bit slower in most conditions, and because the new sailors tend to prefer those boats. This makes it a better contest between the new sailor in the slower Quest, and the veteran sailor in a Laser.
Q: How does scoring work? A: There’s a long answer, but I’ll give you the short one. 1 point for 1st place, 2 points for second, and so on. Lowest total points at the end of the night (or the end of the season) wins. If you don’t race, you score 1 point higher than “last place” in that race. For every 3 races sailed we drop your highest score, so if in 6 races you placed “1st, 1st, 3rd, 2nd, 8th, 8th” then you score a total of 7 points (we drop the 8th place finishes, which are probably races you skipped).
Q: Any tips? A: The boat in the front is Steve. Follow Steve, he knows all the tactics to make the best speed.
Q: What if I’m in front of Steve? A: Please, tell me how you did that – I’d love to know!
Q: What does the start look like? A: There is a power boat (Race Committee, or RC) near a buoy. The start line is between the two. RC will raise/lower some flags and make a sound (whistle, air-horn, etc) as the start of the race approaches
5 minutes before start – one flag goes up
4 minutes before start – second flag goes up
3 minutes before start – RC waves a temporary flag – RS Quest/Fevas can start
1 minute before start – second flag goes down
at start – first flag goes down, all other boats can start
Ideally you want to hit the start line, at full speed, on starboard tack (for right-of-way), exactly as the flag drops. This is easier said than done. A stopwatch helps.
Q: I had more questions. Who can I speak with? A: Your sailing director (me) can be found at [email protected]. I’ll also be at most of the race nights – look for a bald, slightly overweight guy with a beard, or ask someone “Can you point me to Jason?” Fair warning though — once you get me talking about racing, you’re not going to get me to shut up.
This year we’ve decided to introduce an early bird discount on memberships, which expires May 15th. Sign up for membership & boat/trailer storage before then to save some money!
For 2025 we have the following training programs:
Adult Learn to Sail – 3 sessions available May to June including weekday evening and full-day classes.
Junior Learn to Sail – 7 sessions available July to Aug full-day (9-4:30) classes.
We also added a Wet Feet program for children aged 6-10 years old. This program is designed to engage this young group of sailors by teaching them about sailing boats, water safety, and fundamental movement and balance skills in SailQube dinghies. This week also includes fun games and activities in a day camp environment.
Like prior years, there will be a 50% discount on single or family memberships when signing up for one of our Adult Learn to Sail courses.
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.
Your KSC Sailing Director here with some updates about racing the year.
First of all – if you’ve never been racing, come on out on a Wednesday, and we’ll get you in a boat! It’s a great excuse for a sail, it is totally laid back and friendly, and we have a ‘nobody left ashore’ policy. Show up at the club somewhere been 5:30 and 6:00, and we’ll match skippers/crew on the fly. If you want to sail, we’ll make it happen! New sailors welcome!
Ken, Steve, and Olivier/Tom (behind Ken’s sail) at the start line for Race 1
Looking for Organizers/volunteers – 12-Mile-Island, Cat Regatta
We have tentatively set dates of Saturday July 13 for the 12-Mile-Island race and August 10 for the catamaran regatta. If you have an organizational bent in you, or are otherwise interrested in helping out, please contact me at [email protected]. The organization isn’t that difficult, it’s mostly get word of the event out to likely participants, and figure out if you need support like a race-committee (and if so, who’s going to do it).
Wednesday Race Season
Our annual weekday series is well underway. Once again, we’re aiming for short courses with lots of short races. The first couple of race nights went great (getting in 7 races over the two nights) but the 3rd race night was cancelled due to lack of wind. Hopefully we’ll get some luck in the coming weeks. Steve, Ken and Mike have taken an early lead (full standings below) but it’s not too late! We discard results for one out of every the races, so even if you’ve missed a few weeks, had a bad night in the standings, or anything like that then the scroring system automatically doesn’t count your worst results
Quest/Feva Head Start
Last year, we noticed that the RS Quests and RS Fevas were often at the back of the fleet. This might be because the boats (especially Feva) are a bit slower than the Lasers and cats, but also they tend to be favoured by the recent learn-to-sail grads and by sailors bringing families/guests out. Either way, we figured we’d give the RS boats a bit of a head start this year. It gives the veterans in their fast-and-fancy boats a challenge (can I catch the RS boats?) and it gives the RS boats a fighting chance to celebrate a victory, instead of be resigned to the back of the fleet. Mike and his family were the first winners in a Quest, taking the 3rd race. We might tweak the system a bit later in the season, but so far people seem to be liking the system.
Welcome to the KSC Racing Season, Wednesday nights this year, starting June 12.
I’m Jason, your sailing director this year at KSC, and I’m here today to convince you to come out racing. Racing at KSC is exceptionally informal, and is more “an excuse to hit the water” instead of a real competition. No expereince nessessary (racing experience or even sailing experience), and it’s all about fun. Oh yeah, it’s free too!
So, what you need to know:
Race starts at ~6:30 – I recommend you show up at the club sometime around 5:30-5:45, rig up, attend the skipper’s meeting at 6:00 and hit the water to sail for the race course
We tend to get in a large number of short races. So if you miss the first race, it’s no big deal
Nobody left ashore policy is in effect – if you want to sail/race, we’ll get you in a boat. Students welcome!
Food/beverages on the clubhouse deck after racing
I’ve updated our general purpose “Racing at KSC” document with details for interrested racers, but don’t worry, there’s a skipper’s meeting if you have any questions. Alternativly, just look around for someone who looks like they know what they’re doing – the verteran racers will bend over backwards to help you out and to make sure you have fun out there.
The wind forecast for this week looks nice, with a base wind of ~7-8 from the SW, and some stronger gusts building as the night goes on.
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 2024 and Gas Shed Roof Replacement
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.
Open House 2024
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.
SailPast 2023
OnSaturday, 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.
Installation of the new floating dock 2024
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 thegas 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.
The snow is gone and before you know it we’ll be back on the water for the 2024 sailing season! We have a few updates and some important dates to mark on your calendar.
Registrations are Open
Just a reminder that membership and training registrations are open, you can signup on our website. We have the following training sessions available:
Adult Learn to Sail – 3 sessions available May to July including weekday evening and full-day classes.
Junior Learn to Sail – 9 sessions available July to Aug full-day (9-4:30) classes.
Family Learn to Sail – 1 session that overlaps LTS3 & JLTS2 which allows parents to learn along with their kids.
Launch Day – April 20th
Our 2024 Launch Day has been scheduled for Saturday, April 20th, starting at 9 am.
We need all current & past members on deck for this event where we’ll pull the boats out storage and prep the grounds for the upcoming season. There’s lots to do but it goes quickly if we have lots of help. Like every year, this will take place rain or shine. Be sure to bring gloves, boots and workwear with you. We will be removing the boats from the clubhouse, prepping boats with masts and rigging, and hauling some of the boats to the beach. The dock will wait for a later date (see below). A potluck lunch will follow, if you would like to bring something hold tight, more details will be sent soon.
Public Open House – May 4th
The 2024 Public Open House has been scheduled for Saturday, May 4th, from 12-4pm.
The open house is when we invite members of the public to come check out the club and see what we’re all about. If you’re available that day, come on down to the club and bring along any of your interested friends or family. We’re located at 1610 Sixth Line Road along the Ottawa River.
New Dock Delivery and Installation – May 11th
Thanks to a Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) Capital Grant, the club was able to purchase a new T-shaped floating dock. The new dock is tentatively scheduled to be delivered and installed on Saturday, May 11th.
Wednesday Race Nights
This sailing season, Race Nights will be held on Wednesdays starting June 12 until August 28(weather and water levels permitting) so you’ll want to put it in your schedule now. The 1st race usually starts around 6 pm so you’ll want to arrive early on race night to select and rig your boat, and get out to the race start in time.
