Sailing School Summer 2006 Wrap up

We had a fabulous summer with great weather, our largest enrolment ever and a wonderful instructor staff implementing old and new programs alike.  The LJYC sailing school has become THE place to be at the north end of Lake Joe and it is in large part due to the enthusiasm and expertise of our instructors who create a phenomenal atmosphere.  Thank you Leo, Mike F., Jeff, Liana, Lindsay, Megan, Mike R., Lisa and Heather for all of your efforts.  Thank you also to the Robinson, Larson and Foley families for hosting instructor dinners during the summer which gave us an opportunity to thank our instructors during the summer for a job very well done.

New Programs for our Youngest to our oldest sailors:  Our new Opti program for 8 and 9 year olds was originally offered for 4 weeks but was so popular that we ran it for all 6 weeks of the summer.  The Thursday Opti lunches were wonderful.  Thank you to all of the host families.

The adult week was a hit although we may shorten it next summer from 4 days to 3

Clinics, Coaching and Instructor Courses: 

1. Older sailors and instructors participated in the OSA Accesible Sailing Clinic run at the LJYC for instructors and senior sailors by Eric Cartlidge of the OSA.  This clinic gave us some new ideas for implementation during our modified sailing program with the CNIB.  (We actually worked closely with Eric designing our program last winter).

2. The Coaching Association of Ontario’s NCCP coaching clinic Level A was offered to our 15 year old+ members (thank you Fitzgerald family for the loan of your boathouse as the site of this course)

The Green/Blue Instructor clinic at the end of the summer which was so good that the OSA has asked us to host it again next summer.  We billeted 6 of the non-LJYC participants at the instructor course and living with these sailing instructors just confirmed that sailors are really a great bunch !  (wall to wall practice lesson plans on flip chart paper, ping pong on the dining room table, midnight swims to cool off and many promises to keep in touch in the future).

Racing:  The Thursday race series continued for all levels from Optis up to Bronze V sailors and was great fun.  Thank you to the Lighthouse Café for ice cream prizes and Susan Foley for much of our candy prizes and to Marc Wolff for organizing the rest of the prizes.  To win a prize, racers had to cross the start line.  Totally fun and delicious and a great learning experience as the youngest sailors chase the experienced racers around the course.  It’s the best way to learn.

We had 22 sailors racing this summer including three of our instructors – Lisa, Heather and Mike R. which was great to see.  We kicked off the race season with our junior racers racing at Muskoka Lakes Golf and Country Club.  These junior (Bronze IV) racers had some great racing as well as a lot of fun at lunch thanks to the hospitality of the Foleys on the way down to the MLG&CC race and the BBQ at the Gagnons after the MLG&CC race afternoon (Leo and Lisa were particularly entertaining to the racers falling off the banana boat at the BBQ).  Interclub racing continued in Parry Sound with our full race team in attendence.  Thank you to Parry Sound for the loan of your trailer so that we could take 7 of our 420’s up to the Parry Sound Race Day out on Georgian Bay.  It was a great day, especially the protest hearings (Marc and Harris, Lisa and Brett) and the pizza afterwards. We spent a fun afternoon racing The Kettles who we haven’t seen for a couple of years.  Our Flip Flop regatta, renamed the Muskoka 420 Challenge was amazing and a real testament to the endurance of instructors and sailors from LJYC, MLG&CC and PSSC alike in coping with the stormy weather.  The tent on Mike and Jeff’s crash boat was especially inventive and the enthusiasm of the MLG&CC kids in towing their boats up and back in the weather that we had was remarkable. We hope to expand this regatta next year.

We went to CORK Youthfest for the first time with 6 of our senior racers (Lisa and Brett, Heather and Harris, Charles and Mike R.), 5 instructors (Leo, Liana, Mike F., Megan and Lindsay) and 4 moms (Pat, Cathy, Susie and Carolyn – and Sammy as mascot), staying in residence at Queen’s University.  All of our racers did well (6^th, 13^th and 27th out of 35 boats entered) and it was a great time !  Two of our sailors (Mike R. and Charles) went to the CYA 16 and under Double Handed Eastern Canadian Championships at the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club and came 2^nd for all of Eastern Canada, earning an invitation to the Youth Nationals in Alberta which they did not accept.

Picnics and Treasure Hunts:  In the spirit of the old “Clay Bay Picnic” we had two Yoho Days where the entire sailing school (Opti to Bronze V) spent the day sailing to Yoho, picnicking and swimming and then sailing back to the LJYC.  It’s a fun day because rather than doing sailing drills or courses, we have a longer sail to an actual destination and then play in the water and on the trampoline and eat lunch for a few hours with our friends, under the watchful eyes of the sailing instructors. This was made possible in part by the addition of NLS certified lifeguards to our sailing instructor staff  (Heather and Lisa) and the addition of some senior sailing students (Brett, Jesse and Charles) as assistant instructors that day so that we could have proper supervision of our sailors at the picnic, especially in the water.  All of the sailors and instructors brought their lunches.  It is a credit to our instructors and sailors that everyone was safe, everyone had fun and the site was left immaculate after the picnic.  Thank you everyone.  Well done.

All of the morning sailors including the CNIB modified sailing students did a Pirate’s Treasure Hunt by sailboat to 3 docks collecting “loot” (candy/water guns/candy) and it was so much fun that we’ll do it again next summer.  (It’s also a good drill for practicing bringing a sailboat into and away from a dock).  Thank you to the Wolff/Withers, Massaras and Thrings for the loan of your docks for this event.

Wakeboard Clinics and Swimming Lessons:  Jeff and Mike F. who were offering wakeboard clinics on the weekends, ran two wakeboard clinics on weekday mornings specifically for the Junior Race Team.  Many of these same sailors dedicated the time and energy required to complete their Bronze Cross swimming level with Hilary – swimming in the mornings and sailing in the afternoons for a full week.  This level is important because it is all about safety around the water and lifesaving and as well, it is the swimming prerequisite for the Green Sailing Instructor Course.  All of this was coordinated through the sailing school and worked well.

Junior Sailing Banquet and End of Summer AGM and Corn Roast:  We held the annual Junior Sailing Banquet on a really hot August day at the CNIB and were able to use their waterfront, in part because we have NLS lifeguards on staff and so were able to play all of our favourite games (buggies etc) in the water.  The traditional Paper Plate Awards were really creative a hit as always thanks to the efforts of our instructors and Nancy Batchelor in organizing this event.  Heidi Watters and Chris Money organized a great corn roast/AGM/Awards BBQ in August.  Wow, what a great array of trophies !

New Funding allowed us to buy new boats, hire more instructors and expand our CNIB sailing program:  We received a large Trillium grant, which together with the capital fees from our members allowed us to buy new sailboats and crash boats.  Our boats and site people (Cara and Joe Finley) really cleaned up the site starting right with the spring clean up and continuing all summer so that we now have a new outdoor classroom, a new shed (thanks to Joe, Bob and Pierre for the doors and to Stu and Marg from the CNIB for pretty much building the shed and many hands for the painting) with hooks for knapsacks and all of the old “junk” has been cleared out. WOW, what a difference !

We received funding from the OSA and CYA to modify the White Sail program for blind and deaf/blind sailors and then two of our instructors (Mike F. and Lisa) and our senior sailors implemented this program at the CNIB camp, teaching White Sail 1 to the CNIB campers.  It was so popular that we are looking to expand this program next year and teach White Sail 2 to those participants who completed White Sail 1 this summer as well as continuing to teach White Sail 1 to new participants.  All participants received an LJYC t-shirt and successful participants also received a CYA certificate.

We also received wage subsidies from Canada Employment and Ministry of Mines and Resources this summer which enabled us to hire all of the staff that made our program so great.

Safety First:  Lawrie Badger invited the OPP Marine Unit and the Marine Patrol to speak to the older and younger children respectively and our instructors did a motor boat safety check one day.  We’ll continue to make the sailors who come to the LJYC by boat, very aware of all safety requirements next summer.

Outstanding Volunteers: Volunteers are the backbone of the LJYC and I’d like to thank all of the sailors who volunteered their time to get the sailing school open in the spring, the same sailors who helped to teach the campers at the CNIB the modified sailing program, the same sailors who helped with the Yoho Picnics to keep all of the children safe, the same sailors and the parents who helped with the Spirit of Muskoka Gala, the same sailors and parents who helped to paint the new shed (and got covered in blue paint in the process) and the same sailors and parents AGAIN who, after the instructor clinic, helped to put away all of sailboats for the winter.  We absolutely could not do it without all of this help. THANK YOU everyone !  You are the best !

Our 14 year old + sailors volunteered at the Spirit of Muskoka fundraising gala under the excellent supervision of Mike F.   Many of our adult members helped out with the silent auction, with special thanks to Morag for her silent auction acquisition efforts and special thanks to those adults who attended the event.  Over $400K was raised.  The ground breaking ceremony took place in early October and already about 25% of the buildings have been torn down with more to come and be rebuilt over the winter.  Thank you to everyone who helped out !

Great Community Support:  Gordon Bay Marine again very generously loaned us motors and helped us keep our crash boats up and running.  They also helped in a million smaller ways including pumping up our tires on our trailer, storing 4 of our 420’s on our trailer in their yard, allowing us to make lots of copies and send lots of faxes.  We could not run our program without them.  We bought our new sailboats from Georgian Bay Marine and they were outstanding helping us with the few problems we had this summer with our dollies (they got the manufacturer to replace all of the defective parts for free, by FedEx) and also Geogian Bay Marine helped with storage of our 4 new 420s for the winter, including towing them up there.

Jacqueline, the manager of the CNIB camp and her staff really help us out all summer long and we would not have the seamless operation that we do without their help and their welcoming us into their facilities (bathrooms, buildings and gazebo when it rains, photocopier for weekly report cards etc, kitchen for pizza, banquets and their beach for our Junior Sailing Banquet.).

Summer 2007:  We’re currently planning for next summer.  If anyone has any ideas, comments or some time to help out with the sailing school, please contact Carolyn Gagnon sailingschool@lakejoesailing.com.  I’d love to hear from you.

 

Happy New Year!

Carolyn Gagnon

 

 

Lake Joseph Yacht Club

Sailing for the whole family!