They sail together
         race together
captain and crew
father and son.

In command
     giving orders
          captain leads.
Under command
           executing orders
                 crew follows.
No discussion
no debates or questions
when
          finding the wind
           rounding a mark
           changing a headsail.

Race one, Dad captains.
Race two, son does.
Captain/Crew.

From the shore,
I cannot tell them
apart
in their matched, red, rain gear
coming home.

Margaret Iveson,
October, 1993

The captains and crew competing for the Rose Cup must be female. This summer's race will take place Saturday, July 17. Your registration must be in by 9:00 AM, skippers' meeting at 9:30 and the race starts at 11:00 AM.

Here are the official Notice of Race and the Racing Instructions.

After the sad news that the Northern Alberta Sailing College (NASC) will transition away from providing sailing lessons at EYC and the Wabamun Sailing Club, we are happy to announce the first weekend of lessons for EYC’s own Sailing School. Saturday, July 10, saw the morning class start out with 10 youth sailors, who will be joined by 2 more next Saturday for the remaining 4 classes. The adult lessons started with 9 students on Sunday. Classes will continue on the weekends of July 17, July 24, August 14 and August 21.

Spread the word if anyone would like to do drop-in classes. Details are on our website under Sailing School.

Our team of instructors are three seasoned sea cadets and former NASC instructors Samantha, Saylene and Curtis, joined by our own instructor-in-training Jonas Jack (Jonas is an accomplished dinghy racer).

You can help the school! We're looking forward to have another volunteer join as treasurer, helping Mike Morris and Thomas Kelm going forward as we plan a full summer of lessons next year to make our school a success and to elevate the profile of the Edmonton Yacht Club as a premier place to learn sailing and join a community of passionate sailors.

When the winds are strong from the east, it becomes important that boats moored to our docks are well secured. Wabamun Lake is 19 kilometres from end to end. Over time, a strong east wind generates lots of wind fetch.

If you've noticed Bob Iveson walking the north and south docks on a windy day, chances are he's checking mooring lines, fenders and gear that is not well secured. Bob has saved many of us grief!

EYC members or their guests can stay on the grounds in tents and trailers. Here is the process:

• The EYC member must email Hurry Inn director Pat Coffey, hurryinn@edmontonyachtclub.ca. In the email include:
  • is the reservation for the member's family or a guest?
    
  • the size of the tent or trailer
  • how many people
  • what nights they want to be on the grounds.
    
• If we can accommodate the reservation, Pat will pass on the info to the Treasurer, Don Simoneau.
  
• Don will send an invoice to the EYC member
  • tents are $20/night up to 4 people, $30/day for 5 or more
  • trailers are $30/night.
    
• The invoice, which includes payment instructions, is paid via Interac.
  
• Don tells Pat and the member that payment has been made.
  

After all that is done, the member or guest can stay on our grounds.

I'm really not into racing sailboats. I know next to nothing about making sailboats go fast and – I cannot emphasize this enough – our 1984 Mac may be the slowest boat on the lake. But I volunteered to help with the 2021 Spring Series Regatta, out of curiosity.

I got to drive the club's whaler, with its 40 HP outboard. This was a wonderful change from the MacGregor, and good experience if you ever have to help a sailboat in distress. Mike Morris and I set huge orange marker balls at various places on the east end of the lake, defining the race course.

During the race, we tied the whaler to the "committee boat", from which the race was managed. I was entrusted with a very important job, to press a button when instructed. It was more complicated than just that. One of the presses had to be longer than the others, thus making a longer loud blast. Mike made sure I was fully trained before the races started. 😀

I also learned some useful stuff during the race, as the other volunteers chatted about the way the competitors trimmed their sails, altered headings, etc, as they sought an advantage over the other boats.

I really enjoyed spending those hours with Fleet Captain Mike and the other volunteers. Also got to know Larry Loven, a long time EYC member and past board member. I knew Larry to see him but didn't know how very kind he was (and generous with food & bevs!) and how much he knew.

– Mark Gordon

Canada Day, July 1, is a Thursday this year.

It will help immensely if you tell us you are likely to attend. If it turns out you cannot come then we'll simply have a bit of extra food left over, but if you don't tell us...! Please write to Mark, webmaster@edmontonyachtclub.ca. by Monday supper hour.

Here's all the deets:

• Rain or shine!
  
• In light of recent, horrible news around residential schools, please consider a personal way of offering respect. We will have orange swatches for you to pin to your clothing.
  
• Free for members and our families. Bring guests for $5 each.
  
• Continental breakfast at the clubhouse begins at 9:30.
  
• Marg Iveson's famous, family-friendly, Canada Day Trivia Contest will start 10:30 (ish) and last about an hour:
  • Fun for both newer members and the Old Salts. Learn about EYC, Seba Beach and all things nautical.
  • You can use your smartphone to answer questions. But, many questions will require thought and exploration!
  • We recommend teams of 2 to 5 people. Come with a team already made up or we can match you with others.
  • In the past, winning teams have been made up of some very young sailors!
  • Points awarded if your team name is something clever and nautical. Past years' names include Beach Boys 2.0 (Ava and Amelia) and Something Clever & Nautical (the Jack boys of course 😀)
    
  • Bonus points awarded for attire related to Canada Day or with a nautical theme.
• Prepare to get wet!
  
• Friends coming with tents or trailer? They should write to Pat Coffey, hurryinn@edmontonyachtclub.ca.

This year's Spring Series Regatta ran June 12 and13. Here are the results:

1. Windswept, EYC, Skipper Paul Kantor; crew Don Thierman, Graham Hornig, Justin Goddard
   
2. See Dawg, EYC, Skipper Greg Gillingham; crew Don Simoneau, David Darlington, Bob Iveson
   
3. Arabesque, EYC, Skipper Olly Romanowkski; crew Mark Vanderlinden
   
4. Flyaway, SBYC, Skipper Dan Meade
   
5. Wee Beastie II, SBYC, Skipper Bonnie Reib; crew Duncan MacDonald, Leanne Vicen, Dan Letourneau
   
6. Bethena, SBYC, Skipper Andy Minty
   
7. Tobermory, SBYC, Skipper Joel McGovern; crew Richard Sclacter, Kate McGovern
   
8. Dreamfinder, SBYC, Skipper Craig Dirk; crew Michael Dirk, Jeff Foster
   

Thanks to Fleet Captain Michael Morris and his race crew for all their work!

This summer's Down the Lake race will take place Saturday, June 19. All the details are in the Notice of Race (with Registration form) and the Sailing Instructions. The wind forecast suggests a relatively short race!

If you have questions, write to Tim, commodore@edmontonyachtclub.ca (Mike's away).

Thanks to Mike Morrison for sourcing these videos. Members can write to Mike for info on using our 420s.

• How to rig (quick summary)
• How to rig (more detailed)
• Inspecting a 420 (very informative)

Details on how members can sign out one of our two 420s are inside the north entrance the clubhouse. Write to Mike at fleetcaptain@edmontonyachtclub.ca.

"It is in great shape & is fully outfitted for lake or ocean use. It has a brand new motor and many accessories. We are asking $16,500. This is a link to a flyer with more details and lots of photos." Flyer [PDF]

-- Thank you in advance. Wendy & Ken MacDonald

EYC's Sailing School is new in 2021. Classes will take place Saturdays at 1600, east of the clubhouse and will last 30 to 60 minutes.

Thoughts, comments & suggestions are welcome! Write to school@edmontonyachtclub.ca. We're also looking for more instructors.

Here are the training topics so far (chronological order TBD):

• Five knots every sailor should know
• How to use the whaler and its boat lift
• Racing
• PRHF
• Man overboard drill
• Anchoring
• Right of way
• Chart navigation
• Radio use (School is investigating certifying students)
• Sail tuning
• Docking & tying off
• Outboard maintenance
• Boat maintenance (fibreglass repair, other topics by demand)
  

The Spring Series races will be delayed until Alberta has moved to Stage 2 Reopening. That will ease restrictions regarding adult sports which should provide greater comfort and confidence to all participants and result in more boats and crew participating. We apologize for the short notice and hope you can join us June 12 and 13.

New this year, the Wabamum PHRF handicap system is intended to make races as fair and fun as possible by establishing a personalized PHRF for each boat. The last page in the link is the 2021 Yacht Registration and Equipment Inventory Declaration form. That's just a fancy way to say "tell us a bit about your boat," so we can establish a personalized PHRF Handicap for you.

Personalized handicaps will go a long way to leveling the playing field for all boats, whether your boat has the latest Go Fast gear or is just a Basic Boat™️. If you want help filling out your PHRF form, please contact Mike Morris (fleetcaptain@edmontonyachtclub.ca), Tim Bowles (commodore@edmontonyachtclub.ca) or Julius Nemeth (julius.nemeth@telus.net).

Click the button to get the documents!

Hello EYC members and welcome to the 2021 sailing season.  I hope this email finds you all well.

With the assistance of the Sunshine Bay Yacht Club we have been able to confirm with Alberta Health Services that we can function as a recreational facility within the current public health guidelines including placing in our docks. Shortly you will be getting the all call for volunteers from our Harbour Masters. It is absolutely critical that we conform to public health orders, first and foremost to keep everybody safe and healthy. We need to also remember that the docks-in procedure is a very public event and we want to give our neighbours and the Village of Seba Beach confidence that we are functioning safely.

What you can expect on the day of docks in:

1. We will be using the fewest possible volunteers to complete the work (but please come out if you can).
2. To reduce contact between members, the standing docks, the floating docks and the mooring field will be completed on different dates and the Harbour Masters are completing as much work as possible in advance.
3. Volunteers will be required to use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at all times including face masks (we will have some on hand but you can use your own if you would like) and eye protection.  You need to bring your own eye protection in the form of a face shield (ex, grinding mask) or safety glasses (ex, any from Home Depot or Canadian Tire). If you wear prescription glasses you will need to wear safety glasses over top of those.
4. Volunteers must bring their own food and drink, no sharing of supplies please.
5. The clubhouse will be available for washrooms only.
6. There will be a mandatory safety briefing prior to the work commencing.
7. Members will be asked to sign in as part of required contact tracing.
8. Volunteers will be asked the following screening questions.

Risk Assessment: Screening Questions

You must be able to answer no to all the following questions in order to participate:

1. Do you have any of the following symptoms which are new, or worsened if associated with allergies, chronic or pre-existing conditions: fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, sore throat, and/or runny nose?
2. Have you returned to Canada from outside the country (including USA) in the past 14 days?
3. In the past 14 days, at work or elsewhere, while not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment:
4. Did you have close contact with someone who has a probable or confirmed case of COVID19?
5. Did you have close contact with a person who had acute respiratory illness that started within 14 days of their close contact to someone with a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19?
6. Did you have close contact with a person who had acute respiratory illness who returned from travel outside of Canada in the 14 days before they became sick?
7. Did you have a laboratory exposure to biological material (i.e. primary clinical specimens, virus culture isolates) known to contain COVID-19?

Things are going to get better this summer.  We'll be watching for updates (along with everyone else I'm sure) and hopefully sometime this summer we'll get back to enjoying full use of the club again.
 
Looking forward to seeing everyone very soon,
Don Simoneau, EYC Treasurer & COVID-19 Committee Chair