CLIPPER The Magazine of the Queen City Yacht Club October 2012 By Genia Vanderkruk Awards — Jacqui Cook and Fred Mayerhofer Profiles — Island Activities — Savanna’s Survival Story — A Superior Day — 125th Anniversary Editor's Note/QCYC Info Editor’s Note Q C Y C Board 2012 Communications Commodore Moorings The Clipper is published four times a Richard Slee, [email protected] Ken Owen Steve Gigiel year: May 1, June 15, August 15 and [email protected] [email protected] October 15. Contributions may be sub- This is our fourth and R 905 567-7224 R 416 243-8465 mitted to the publisher via e-mail at last issue of the Clipper Vice Commodore Grounds [email protected] or commu- for 2012. If you have any Steve Hills John Heath [email protected] suggestions or ideas [email protected] [email protected] While an effort will be made to publish please let me know. I R 416 203-1032 R 905 294-8342 submissions, the publisher reserves the right to edit material for length and suit- would like to thank Ar- Rear Commodore Membership ability. leigh Crawford who did a Graham Dougall Stephanie Swatkow great job on the art de- [email protected] [email protected] sign and layout for this R 416 233.2277 R 416 203-0706 Clipper Editor and Publisher rather large issue. We Fleet Captain Planning Richard Slee have yearend Board Gary Hoeg David Kent [email protected] Updates that will let you know what your Board [email protected] [email protected] R 416 238-6190 R 905 471-5492 R 416 207-1877 C 647-294-6190 did this year (they did a lot of work). We also have articles from our Rear Commodore, Graham Treasurer Entertainment Jacqui Cook Geoff Heathcote Dougall on safety and awards. There is also a bit Clipper Art Design and Layout [email protected] [email protected] Arleigh Crawford from myself on our 125th Anniversary celebra- R 416 250-5532 R 905 822 3803 tion activities this year. [email protected] Secretary Learn to Sail 416 322-5266 Genia Vanderkruk Eric Whan We have interviews with long time members, Past Commodore, Fred Mayerhofer and Treasurer [email protected] [email protected] R 416 535-2581 R 416 531-6594 Quick Clipper -Moderators Jacqui Cook that I hope you find as interesting as Jim Neundorf I did. Geoff and Lesley Heathcote still have some House Chair Yard Chair Ron Mazza Randy Benoit and Richard Slee wonderful events coming up this winter. Look at [email protected] [email protected] Geoff's article and the posters in this issue includ- R 416 203-0996 R 647 401-2233 ing the Winter Events on the back page for the Webmaster Manager Communications details. Nina Nakajima recounts a dream trip on Mark MacRae Don Ferguson Richard Slee R 416 274-7741 "Blue Hour" that she and her family took to Lake [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Superior and if you prefer a bit of excitement and 416 203-0929 R 416 238-6190 an ocean adventure read "Savanna's Survival C 647 294-6190 Story" by Captain Dave Mathews. Past Commodore [email protected] In a recent article about Doug Millar I mentioned Pat Whetung R 416 366-2345 an anchor our members dug up year ago. I erro- Advertising neously identified this as the one by the Algon- The Clipper offers members and quin Bridge. David Pitcher has set me right. The Members Rates Non-members Rates non-members of QCYC a cost- one that is there now was found in the Harbour effective way to reach an audience of by a RCYC race boat driver when it stuck on his SINGLE ISSUE/4 Issues SINGLE ISSUE/4 Issues avid sailors. anchor, and was delivered to the bridge by David Ads should be submitted as digital 1/8 page $30/$80 1/8 page $60/$160 Pitcher and a friend. It was originally on the west files: eps, tiff, jpg (for tiff/jpg ensure side of the bridge and was painted by member 1/4 page $55/$150 1/4 page $110/$270 300 dpi). Frank Horne. When the west side of the bridge 1/2 page $100/$270 1/2 page $200/$516 For information on placing ads for (Continued on page 9) the Clipper, please contact Richard Full page $180 Full page $360 Slee, [email protected] Algonquin Island Tel 416.203.0929 E-mail [email protected] Queen City Yacht Club Box 401, Terminal A Fax 416.203.0931 Restaurant 416.203.9007 Toronto, ON M5W 1C2 Website www.qcyc.ca 2 Board Updates reality of long distance passages. Our vague, romantic dream about spending our retirement Rear Commodore Commodore anchored off a deserted beach drenched in end- Graham Dougall, [email protected] Ken Owen, [email protected] less sunshine and cooled by gentle tropical breezes was tempered by the endless stories As I write this, the 2012 Early in 2000 Deanna (some retold many times over) of Queen City members who had done it before and by cruises season is about to close, and I were contemplat- hopefully with the suc- ing what we would do on Lake Ontario to the Thousand Islands, again cesses that have hap- in our retirement. We made simpler by the advice offered by experi- pened to date. were on a beach in the enced cruisers. Caribbean somewhere And that is what Queen City is about. New Key Points and that season’s cruis- sailor or old timer, cruiser or racer. It's about Wednesday night ing community was sharing experiences, learning new skills, realiz- racing has increased floating by off shore ing dreams. I’m grateful for all the people along participation , with a giving us inspiration. the way who helped us prepare for this adven- maximum of 47 We thought – why not ture we’re on. Without Queen City I’m sure it boats try this sailing thing? Looks like fun. So we would not have been possible. When it's over, Once again we have dinghies racing and came back, enrolled in the Humber College we’ll be back, sharing our experiences with hopefully this will continue and experience Keelboat Cruising program and learned how to anyone who cares to listen. In the meantime, growth sail. Today we find ourselves with our boat in follow us on our blog (www.sailblogs.com/ The increased number of racers in the Annapolis getting ready to head into the ICW member/adventuresonallure) and let us know Women’s Skippers Race forced a split into on our way to the Bahamas for the winter. what you think! (Continued on page 4) What happened in between? Queen City hap- pened. As newbie sailors our learning curve was steep but it was made much easier by the help we received on under- standing what it means to manage and maintain a sail- boat. You know, all the stuff they don’t tell you about in the cruising magazines. There was no short- age of opinions and advice from a wide range of perspectives. Spare parts were donated, reading material was shared and hands were dirtied in the process of our education. I was taken on as race crew on several boats which helped me understand sail trim, seamanship and the 3 Board Updates two starts the Champion of Champions to find people qualified to run the boat the night The QCYC LORC Open was the only Splitting into multiple starts, with winner before a scheduled shift. This situation eventu- LORC Open Regatta to increase its num- selected by ally became untenable. As a result another bers and we had a small revenue surplus Lowest accumulated corrected times candidate was found who was capable of pass- There were two official cruises that were for the same number of races ing the exams, but required greater boat han- well enjoyed The Cox Sprague, Rindererle B or dling experience. In hindsight it might have CHIPS3 systems http:// been better to pair this individual with experi- None of this could have happened without the www.rmsail.org/Race_Mgt/ enced crew to assist in the operation of the boat. tremendous support and contribution of mem- Scoring.shtml, with the potential for This certainly would have eliminated some of bers who volunteered their time. Upwards of 30 a tie the problems encountered when handling the individuals have contributed work hours, with Something else lines or helped in the docking of the vessel this number being on track to tip the 800 hour especially during windy conditions. Our re- mark. I would appreciate your feedback at the Partici- cently issued “Safe Manning Document” from We all must extend our gratitude to Nick pants meeting. Transport Canada now requires us to sail with certified crew, which should help address these Mather and Brian Chapman for their ongoing My usual end of season tirade on safety is in efforts in prompting the QCYC Open Regatta. weaknesses and provide for smoother operation the On Water Safety Corner in this issue of the of the tender in the future. Related to our staff- I can’t thank enough everyone who helped. Clipper. ing problems is the fact that we tend to pay our Captains less than they can earn elsewhere. The Sailing Committee can use more! I’m par- I would encourage racers to think about attend- ticularly concerned about the cruising program ing one of Ontario Sailing’s Race Management On more than one occasion we lost staff to as no volunteers have stepped forward to help.