The EYC sailing school has published its schedule, but a new addition for club members is a Saturday afternoon race team schedule for youth that we have secured a coach for if there is interest (cost will be reasonable and determined by how much interest there is). Please respond to me if you think you have teens that would like to get some coaching on race techniques and competitive sailing.

And the fun does not stop there. The Alberta Sailing Association (ASA) is hoping to get more people interested in becoming race officials. This is a great opportunity if you're interested in competition and would like to participate in the judging or as a race official. There is a short online course you would take.

What are the benefits of any of these undertakings? Besides joining an elite sport that allows travel across the province, the country and internationally as a competitor, it would give you a chance to earn scholarships if you plan to attend a University on the coastal waters of Canada or the US.

As a Race Official you get the chance to participate in events, should you rise to that level and see the world from the deck of a boat. but even just locally you have an opportunity to travel to local regattas and participate, rather than just be a spectator.

Think about it and if you would like to get more information, contact me at dal@edmontonyachtclub.ca, your local ASA board member.

– Thomas Kelm

Harbour Master Mark Vanderlinden is selling his 1973 San Juan 24. You can write to Mark for details, harbourmaster@edmontonyachtclub.ca.

Past Commodore Thomas Kelm, pastcommodore@edmontonyachtclub.ca, wrote to us with this update:

The Edmonton Yacht Club has been a longstanding member of Sail Canada through the Alberta Sailing Association (ASA). This allows us to offer Sail Canada recognized sailing instructions at our new sailing school. In order to give EYC more exposure at ASA, I have volunteered to join their executive on the board as secretary. I hope that with more direct involvement, we can find out what else ASA can do for us as a member club, to further our sailors that would like to compete in the sport at the provincial and maybe even national level.

I would also encourage everyone in the club that would like to know more to send me their questions or have them prepared at the AGM [Jan 26], when Stacy Gibb, the current ASA president will join our AGM to learn more about EYC and what our plans are.

This is a time when we as a club can look at the various options to grow the interest in the sport and with it our own membership numbers to ensure we stay viable and healthy for the next 100 years. (In case you have forgotten 2023 is our centennial!)

Thomas

Many EYC members have trailerable sailboats, yet they cannot be pulled out at Seba Beach because the lake water is so shallow there. One doesn't want to back a truck a hundred feet out into the lake to position the trailer (and it probably is a bad move, ecologically).

EYC's Bob Iveson has put together some kit to overcome this problem. We took photos from two separate operations (from two different years) and put them on this page to show how it's done.

Need a photo here of the hitch extender, on dry land, with no straps attached. Also need photo of straps and shackles.

Before putting the extender in the water, connect one of the straps to the its receiver. Note the rope holding the strap securely to the receiver:

Here's the other end of the strap:

In this case, the crew chose to push the trailer into the water before attaching the trailer to the extender's hitch:

You have to guess, "Where is the deepest water, so we don't have to push the trailer out half way to Coal Point?" Sometimes we guess it's immediately north of the south dock:

Sometimes it seems like the work of pushing the empty trailer out far enough to float the boat onto the trailer is never going to end. Sometimes you can "cheat", putting the bow in contact with the trailer and using the trailer's winch to haul the boat fully onto the trailer. Tip: early in the process, put a solution of dish soap and water onto the trailer bunks.

This boat and trailer is on its way to the shore:

Generally, at some point you'll run out of "runway" and have to remove a strap or two, back the truck closer to the shore and pull some more:

So satisfying!

Past EYC Commodore Neil Sutcliffe wrote to us from Okanagan Lake. Neil is "not getting much sailing in, due to the fires and poor weather (too hot & no wind, too cold & no wind, too smoky to see what kind of wind...).

"Pretty nuts how fast these fires travel. Yesterday we saw a little bit of smoke and a bit of flame on the south flank of Mount Law, By 6.00 pm it was an inferno climbing up the south flank of the mountain and along the valley towards West Kelowna. They hit it hard though. At one point 60 fire trucks, six water bombers and four helicopters plus a couple of large aerial tankers dumping retardant. Can’t imagine how difficult it must be for the firefighters in this terrain and these conditions."

Neil says he is reluctantly putting Radical Chic up for sale. Here is the PDF with all the details. The email address contained in the PDF is unclear; try nsutcliffe@shaw.ca.

The race will take place August 21 and 22, 2021. We're looking for volunteers to help run the race (free pizza!). Write to Fleet Captain Michael Morris, fleetcaptain@edmontonyachtclub.ca, to volunteer or for details about the race. Check back here for the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions.

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!