Tag Archives: events

Race night in late season

KSC Awards and Race Results

Events, , , , ,
Commodore Corinne Civalleri presenting the KSC Founding Member’s Award to 2018 recipient Tom Saunders, Past KSC Director of Training. Congratulations and thank you Tom!
KSC Founding Member’s Award Trophy awarded to 2018 to 2023 recipients at Annual Meeting!

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.

Congratulations Mark Cooligan – 2023 Winner of the 12-Mile Island Circumnavigation Challenge for the Single-handed Monohull and Catamaran trophies

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:

  1. Steve Harrington
  2. Carla Millar
  3. Mark Cooligan
  4. Liz Prentice Hudson
  5. Jean Mullan
  6. Jason McKenna
  7. Annie Miller
  8. Rob Zgraggen
  9. Mike Lepard
  10. 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.

Carla Millar presenting Steve Harrington and Mark Cooligan with 12-Mile Island Race Day trophy

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:

  1. Steve Harrington and Mark Cooligan
  2. Ken Skublics
  3. Rob Zgraggen and Bianca Helmus
  4. Frank Boyaner and Jean Mullan
  5. Heidi Cloutier and Connor Quinlan
  6. Tom Neumann and Xiong Xue
  7. Stefan Bilan
  8. Eric Andrews and Devin Linnington
  9. 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.

Lone boat on a distant shore

KSC Fall Update

Events, News, ,

Hello Sailors!

Closing Day

KSC closing day for 2023 will be Saturday, October 14th starting at 9am. This is where we move all the boats up from the beach and ready the clubhouse for yet another long winter. As we always say, many hands make light work so please do your best to show up and help out! This event is rain or shine, bring some gloves and dress for the weather. We’re also looking for volunteers to don a wet suit and help haul in the dock, I’ll be sure to bring mine but could definitely use some help.

Like most years we are going to have a potluck afterwards so bring along your favourite food items. We’ve created a spreadsheet for members to add what they are bringing so we can take stock:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TA6zs60O70NDq-b7WGYR_Gx5vOt_Lgk0f0LLyBDwZXg/edit?usp=sharing

Call for Board Members

The directors had a good discussion about this topic and we wanted to acknowledge the tremendous effort our members are making to help out. From major site renovation projects to small housekeeping tasks, it’s you the members that keep this club going. So a huge thank you for all that you do!

This year we have a number of board members that will be exiting their roles, and we are looking for anyone that would be willing to jump in and help out. Since it may not be obvious what each director does, here’s a brief description of each:

  • Commodore – The captain of the ship, this role helps bind the whole organization together and keeps us moving in the right direction. Ultimately responsible for the safety and security of the club.
  • Vice-Commodore – Pulling in the big bucks with all the grant applications, this role is mostly to fill gaps in the org and help take on tasks which don’t have an obvious owner.
  • Membership – Looks after our members of course, this role is for making sure everyone is happy and keeps track of who is joining and how to get more people to sign up.
  • Training – An important job in a teaching club like ours, this role hires the instructors and keeps our training classes running year after year.
  • Site – Handles all the hardware that isn’t stainless, this role keeps the clubhouse and the land it sits on in tip top shape.
  • Social – Our official event planner, this role coordinates events and works closely with the Sailing and Membership directors to keep our members active in the club.
  • Harbourmaster – Boats boats and more boats, this role keeps our fleet on the water and in ready-to-race condition.
  • Purser – Fundamental to the operation of any non-profit, this role keeps tabs on the credits and debits and ultimately signs all the cheques.
  • Website & Communications – Separate positions that have been commonly held by the same person. This role manages our KSC website and sends out all these perfect communiques, always on time, and with absolutely no spelling or grammatical mistakes at all.
  • Sailing – The perfect job at a sailing club after all, this role works closely with the Social director to coordinate special sailing events and organizes the weekly race series.
  • Corporate Secretary – Also fundamental for a non-profit, the secretary is responsible for recording important decisions and cataloguing the corporate history of the club.

If any of these sound like something you can help out with, even if not officially or even if a board member is still occupying the role (like me!), please reach out to our commodore Corinne. You can make a big difference to the operation of our club, and the directors would really appreciate the help.

Annual General Meeting

On that note, the KSC AGM will be held at the Nepean Sailing Club, Harbourview conference room on Thursday, November 23rd starting at 7pm. This event is where we review the operation of the club for the last year and gives the membership a chance to voice their opinion on the handling and direction of the club.

We will be hosting the event in person and by Google Meet, meeting link & call-in numbers provided in the event link above (click the date). Feel free to come early and have a bite to eat and a pint with the other early birds. The Harbourview room is next to the pub on the 2nd floor.

If you have photos of sailors or other happenings around the club, please upload them to our drive and we’ll present them at the meeting as well as find a place for them on our website:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-9GtSXcBfYIlifiGXiab1hF6ehMCvE8m?usp=sharing

Financial reports and previous AGM minutes will be provided before the event to review.

Steve & Mark won the '23 12mi island race

12 Mile Island Race

Events, Sailing, , , ,

Last Saturday’s 12 Mile Is race (held July 22nd) brought with it warm sunny skies with highs of 25c and winds from the west northwest at 10 kts. The wind pouring in from up river promised to also deliver gusts of 20 kts throughout the day and the idea that rounding the island would give the sailors the ability to cut loose and fly downwind back towards the club. With 9 sailboats all vying for bragging rights and the top winning prize, the weather didn’t fail.

The first to cross the start line was Steve and Mark in the Tasar. They did not disappoint as they beated up river towards the island in just under 2 hours. The 50 minute ride back gave their tense and tired muscles a much needed brake as they soared back and planed downwind to a 4th spot elapsed time finish just behind the 3 catamarans. Their sailing handicap placed them at the head of the leader board with several boats yet to finish.

Rob and Bianca in the Hobie 18 repeated their first place elapsed time result from 2 years ago. The wind didn’t allow for any dining on board this time as it was all hands on deck to deal with the winds. The handicap pushed them back into 3rd place while awaiting the other results.

Heidi and Connor, our fearless sailing instructors, very quickly took over the lead on their way up to 12 Mile Is. in the Hobie 18. As they approached the island, they pondered “How does one exactly gybe this beast anyway?” Having not yet read the Cat sailing manual, Connor resorted to a type of “parkour” sailing style as he threw the tiller extension one way around the back of the boat while simultaneously diving under the boom and catching said tiller on the other side. With thoughts of capsizing swirling in her head with each of these maneuvers, Heidi suffered a trapeze wardrobe malfunction and found herself launched and landing on her skipper Connor in the middle of his parkour maneuvers. A miraculous third place finish would have to suffice for the time being.

Frank and Jean, sailing the stylish RS cat, set out with hopes of an exhilarating ride, planing and surfing their way back to the club. The winds delivered but denied them their lunch experience on the water except for a quick snack of boiled eggs that Frank exclaimed was “the best thing ever!“

Ken, racing in his Laser, streamed across the finish line in quick time, shortly behind the Tasar despite the death roll practices he performed on the way back to the finish, proving again that one can be ejected from a laser and make it back in the boat in just under 1 minute.

Stephan, in the “Bomb” Bombardier, settled in for a full day’s sailing along with his construction cooler filled with a days allotment of food. Finding himself hungry before arriving up river to Pinhey’s Point, Stefan reached for 1 of the many items packed away in his cooler only to have his boat simultaneously give up both hiking straps. While tumbling upside down into the water, Stefan could only think of one important thing: My Cooler! A few successful man overboard maneuvers brought back the food bin into the boat, while Stefan faced some tricky sailing for the rest of the trip without any hiking straps.

Tom and newly qualified sailor Xiong set out in the Quest for the challenge of rounding 12 miles Is. With Tom sporting an old but new bright orange Dry Top, it was sure to allow us the ability to spot him where ever they sailed on the river. He was heard exclaiming that it was now “his new best friend.” This is Xiong’s first rounding. Congratulations are in hand.

Eric and Devin brought up the rear in the other Quest. The two red heads left in a pale condition when they set out only to return in a lovely shade of “pink lobster” upon arrival. 5 hours and 30 minutes in the sun was a challenge to both but they made it safely back to the club. Well done.

Special thanks to Jason who escorted the flotilla as far as Pinhey’s point in his sporty Musto.

Results including Portsmouth Yardstick Handicap

  1. Steve Harrington and Mark Cooligan
  2. Ken Skublics
  3. Rob Zgraggen and Bianca Helmus
  4. Frank Boyaner and Jean Mullan
  5. Heidi Cloutier and Connor Quinlan
  6. Tom Newman and Xiong Xue
  7. Stefan Bilan
  8. Eric Andrews and Devin Linnington

Carla Millar
Acting Sailing Director and Event RC

Steve & Mark won the '23 12mi island race
Eric rounding 12mi island on the RS Quest
Rob & Bianca on a H18 headed to 12mi island
12mi Island
Tom & Xiong on RS Quest headed to 12mi island
Steph on his Bomb headed to 12mi island

2023 SailPast and BBQ 🎉🍖🌅

Events,

Saturday, July 15th is the date for the Kanata Sailing Club’s party of the season, our annual SailPast. This event is held after the first training sessions have been completed, so we have an opportunity to meet and greet our newest Blue Tag sailors.

Timeline:

Noon: Choose your boat, rig and decorate your craft with streamers, balloons etc. Dress yourself as you like

2 pm: Cast off to SailPast our Commodore

Then enjoy the rest of the afternoon on the water!

5 pm: gather on the deck for “cocktails”

6 pm: BBQ Dinner! Rumour has it that a suckling pig is being prepared, along with Salads and Dessert

Details:

RSVP Social Director Tom at [email protected] ASAP so we have a head-count for food

Indicate alternate food preferences to Tom and arrangements will be made

Pay in cash for the BBQ to the Social Director

$20 per adult; $10 for 18s and under

BYOB and the club provides a selection of non-alcoholic beverages

2023-05-31 Spring Beach

KSC Spring Update 🌼🍃⛵

Events, News, ,

Hello everyone, just a few quick updates from your KSC board of directors.

Dock Install Sat June 3rd

Calling everyone who’s able to help! We’re bringing the big dock down the ramp and anchoring it on the beach. This usually requires a bunch of people as it’s very heavy and difficult to maneuver.

If you’re free please come down to the club and help us move it this Sat, June 3rd, around 10:30am. If you bring a wet suit Ken will be very happy to have some help positioning the dock in the water!

Summer Race nights every Tuesday

Weekly Race Night will start on Tuesday, June 13th, and run all summer.

These race nights are great fun and a great way to improve your skills. Our top racer, Steve Harrington, will give an overview of racing rules and strategy (e.g. races are won and lost at the start line) before we venture out on the water for some actual racing. Our instructor crew will run the races, and the two main rules are, nobody left standing onshore, and have fun. Tom Neumann has graciously agreed to supply hamburgers and beer for afterwards (please bring some cash if you want a burger and beer). The session will begin on the beach at 5:30 pm. Learn to sail students welcome to participate as crew.

Power to the Club Coming Soon!

If you’ve been to the club recently you may have noticed a bunch of new hydro poles installed. That’s right, we’re going to have power restored to the clubhouse soon! Stay tuned for more info.

Boat Rigging Refreshers every Saturday

Boat rigging refresher sessions at 1:30 pm on Saturdays throughout June.

Power Boat Tutorial Session Jun 24th

Power boat tutorial session at 4 pm on June 24th – you need your Personal Craft Operator Card (PCOC) to participate!

Duty Day Sign-ups are Live

All active members should sign up for their two duty day shifts on our website.

Sister Sailing Club Events

There are some upcoming events hosted by the Nepean Sailing Club for consideration (see NSC website for registration):

Members helping during Launch Day

Launch Day Next Saturday 9am-3pm

Commodore, Events, News,

April 22 is Next Weekend!

Start thinking about your best chili recipe for the potluck, and email Tom soon at [email protected] if you plan to bring one.

We hope to see plenty of members, old and new, at the club working together to start getting boats and the clubhouse ready for the new sailing season. This event takes place rain or shine.

To bring:

  • gloves and work wear
  • battery powered tools if you have ’em
  • items that you volunteered to store over the winter 

Our exciting plans for the day:

  • Flipping and rigging the RS Quests and Fevas
  • Moving Lasers & Bytes out of the clubhouse and assembling their dollies
  • Taking the Optis out from under the deck to the beach
  • Moving the power boats down to the beach
  • Getting the dock setup in the water
  • Potluck chili when we wrap for the day (BYOB if desired)

We’re fortunate that certain resourceful members have offered to lend us their generator for keeping chili crock-pots warm. That’s right, no hydro as yet, but watch for brand new overhead lines as you drive down the club access road!

Looking forward to hitting the water and the new deck with everyone. See you next weekend.

2022 Sailpast

2023 Spring Updates

Events, News, ,

Registration for training and membership is open for the 2023 sailing season. There are still lots of youth training slots open but these tend to fill up quickly, be sure to sign up early!

Our 2023 launch day has been scheduled for Saturday, April 22nd, starting at 9am. We need all hands on deck for this event, 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 work wear with you. We will be removing the boats from the clubhouse, prepping boats with masts and rigging, hauling some of the boats to the beach, and assembling the dock in the water.

The 2023 Public Open House has been scheduled for Saturday, May 6th, from 12-4pm. 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 say hello.

Club boats on the beach

KSC June Update

News, , ,

Upcoming Events

Powerboat Training

We will be hosting powerboat training for those who have their PCO license already but aren’t familiar with our boats. Training will be held Friday, June 24th, at 6:30pm.

Social Sails

Various members will be hosting informal social sails this summer, starting with a sail to Aylmer on Sunday, June 26 for lunch at the new Le Bateau restaurant. Boats will leave at 11am for the ~30min sail over to Quebec.

This is the perfect opportunity for those who aren’t comfortable sailing by themselves to partake in a group trip. Whether solo, on helm, or as crew, all members who want to go will have a spot.

If you’re interested in organizing an event of your own feel free to contact me and I’ll gladly add it to our calendar and the next newsletter.

Race nights

Race nights are picking up again, starting this week they will be held every Wed at 6pm sharp. Be at the club early to rig the boats and get on the water before the race starts! Our training staff will be onsite to conduct the races so members can focus on the perfect jibe.

New Boats Arriving Soon

Fortunately our little club has scored a major win: we’ve secured funding for several new boats!
Everyone on the board is quite excited to announce the good news, however we’re not allowed to reveal all the details just yet.
Very soon you’ll hear more about the new vessels and the large improvement they’ll have to our training fleet.
And I can’t think of another sentence that starts with “A” but the funny formatting should be enough 😉

Catamaran Training

For those of us who don’t have our red tags yet, Ken is gauging interest in a cat training session this summer. Contact Ken if you’re interested in signing up for red-tag training, this is a one day training course that has a nominal fee.

Duty Days Going Old-School

Due to some technical difficulties with the previous calendar service, the board has decided to go with a more old-school approach to the duty day sign ups. The next time you’re at the club check out the pin-board for the duty day calendars:

Duty Day Signup Forms
Just put your name down for morning or afternoon on either Sat or Sun. Remember that all members are required to come help out for at least two half-day sessions.

Smaller Sails for the Bytes

Carla & Steve have been hard at work on a side project to get smaller, more controllable sails for the bytes. These are now ready and should be easier to sail for those members who are smaller in stature. A huge benefit is that they look and feel like a laser sail so should be more familiar than the usual byte rigging.

RS Quest Rigging

If you haven’t made it out to the Sat afternoon rigging sessions that Heidi has been hosting, you can find a nice rigging video up on our website here.

As always, if you have any comments/concerns, do bring them up with our board of directors.

That’s all for this week, see you out on the water!

Reminder: Public Open House This Weekend

Events, News,

Just a reminder that the public open house is this weekend, Saturday May 7th.

From 12-4pm we open the club up for anyone to swing by and checkout what we’re all about. Come see the new boats, check on the progress of our deck reconstruction, and hear about some exciting (and semi-secret) new things happening this summer. Looks like the weather will be absolutely perfect Sat & Sun so it’ll be a nice day to simply get out of the house and get some fresh air.

We encourage all new and past members to come by and help out, we’ll be starting around 11am to setup the tent. This year consider asking a friend or family member if they want to come join you and see the place, you never know, they may end up liking what they see!

Also a quick shout-out: if you know any teenagers or young-adults that are looking for laid-back summer job (who isn’t!), reach out to Ken, our training director. He’s looking for a new beach-boss to help with our junior training courses this year. Which by the way are almost completely filled, the last few spots are in the Junior Advanced training program.

See you at the club!