Sturgeon Lake Sailing Club
SLSC offers Sail Canada’s CANSail curriculum programs for children aged 8 to 17
Our morning program runs 8:30 am – 12:30 pm. It offers a safe and fun learn-to-sail program for all levels of sailing ability. We teach and develop basic sailing and racing skills. But more importantly, our sailing instructors teach confidence, perseverance, and teamwork, while also having a ton of fun.
For sailors that want to learn some advanced skills, we also offer the Race Team option, which runs on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. There are two levels to choose from: Learn to Race and Sr Race Team.
COVID-19 Protocols:
For the upcoming 2025 season, SLSC will maintain the latest COVID-19 protocols as outlined by the Government of Ontario, along with the guidance provided by Sail Canada and Ontario Sailing. As the Covid-19 situation evolves, so too will our guidance.
Summer 2025 – Newsletter #1 Week 1: June 30th-July 4th
Finally the day we’ve all been waiting for has arrived! I won’t lie, this newsletter has been on my mind for months. I’ve been counting down the days until we’d all be back together, sails up and summer underway.
For the past two weeks our instructor team has been busy reviving the club and bringing it back to life for the 8 weeks ahead. No corners were too dusty, no boats too heavy, no lagoons too seaweedy, and no lessons unplannable, not with our team. We can’t wait to welcome all the sailors, new and returning, to the club on Monday morning for the beginning of what will be the most exciting summer yet, so bring it on SLSC 2025!!
In regards to our wonderful team, I’m super happy to be able to introduce them all to you:
This year we have three new additions to our team:
Arielle Dowling, Samantha Taylor and Kyla Tremblay. Each one of them has grown up through countless summers sailing at SLSC and have been preparing all year to become awesome instructors!! Samantha will be taking on the Wetfeet for the first 3 weeks of July before moving to the CANsail 1 team for the last 2 weeks of August. Kyla will be taking over as the Wetfeet coach following Samantha for the last week of July and all of August. And Arielle will be joining the CANSail 1 team for the entire summer!!
Now for our returning instructors we have:
Suki Salter heading up the CANSail 1 group alongside Arielle.
Shannon Kidd will be returning as one of the CANSail 2 instructors with Malcolm Hill, also returning, to be the other half of this CAN 2 duo.
Next for our CANSail 3 dream team we have Sam Breyfogle and Jake Rix-Wilson. Returning for their 3rd summers coaching, we couldn’t be more excited for these two to be leading the day program as well as the afternoon Learn to Race program!
For our Assistant Head Instructor we’re lucky to have Cooper Wright joining us again for his fourth summer! Cooper will be helping out with CANSail 4/5 ‘s, Senior Race Team and floating around the other levels where needed!
And I (Ava Simpson) will be the Head Instructor as well as the CANSail 4/5 Instructor and Senior Race Team Coach. Cooper and I started WetFeet together in 2013, coaching in 2022, and are now so excited to be your super cool and awesome Leaders of the Sailing Program for summer 2025!
We’re so grateful to be a part of it again, and we can’t wait to spend the next 8 weeks teaching, learning and making memories with all of you!!!
P.S if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out at: [email protected], we’re always happy to help (especially if it means a few minutes in the shade answering emails)
Tuesday Movie Night..?
This year as you may have heard, we’re switching up the schedule from our usual movie night! We’ve noticed that captivating the attention of our younger sailors with this movie night business has been getting harder, so instead of a movie night this week we will be having a games night!! Ever wanted to play more than 1 morning game at a time? Raft war in the evening? Well don’t worry because something along those lines will be happening depending on the weather! We will start this night at 6:30pm and pickup is around 8:30pm. Bring some extra change for candy as our backshedders will be selling some!!
I know this is a new event and uncharted territory but don’t worry we aren’t getting rid of movie nights completely, just switching this up a bit!
There will still be a scary movie for anyone 13 or older starting around 8:30pm!!
Wednesday Fun Day & Pizza Lunch!!
For the newcomers, every Wednesday we steer away from the typical program structure and have a FUN DAY!!!! Fun days are a different theme each week and involve all the sailors being put into teams with other sailors outside their regular CANSail groups, to engage in games and activities that put their sailing skills to the test and more importantly to win bragging rights and occasionally something sweet!
This Wednesday, as tradition demands, is Dumping Day, also known as Pirate Day! Have no fear, despite its name, we won’t be encouraging any actual piracy. Instead it’s the most important fun day of the summer (eye patches optional, but recommended, enthusiasm mandatory).
Dumping Day is actually our most educational fun day as it teaches sailors how to capsize their boats safely and confidently, and how to wright them like pros. It’s all about safety and building confidence, and of course, absolutely pirating (capsizing) other boats… strictly with the enthusiastic consent of your fellow sailors, of course.
Pizza Lunch
Pizza lunch is another perk of Fun Days, and it means that instead of worrying about what to feed hungry sailors after club, we will feed them instead! Included in registration, pizza lunch orders are taken during morning attendance and the pizza is brought to the club after some intense sailing! The options are pepperoni, cheese, vegetarian & hawaiian(gluten free options can be provided but please let us know!). This means that club ends around 1:30 instead of 12:30, giving everyone ample time to enjoy their pizza!
Friday Dance
This Friday is the PJ Dance!!! Every Friday night we have a dance at the club, it starts at 7pm and ends at 9pm. Make sure to bring 2$ for entry, and extra change for pop, freezies and candy sold by our backshedders. You are required by SLSC LAW to be dressed to the nines in your coolest PJ outfit, and the best costume will win a prize!
Bike Path
This is a note to any of the sailors that usually take the bike path. It’s not looking to be in the best shape after the storm so we would like to advise you to take the road until we have got the all clear. Taking the road does mean that sailors need to be much more aware of the cars on the road and wearing helmets is strongly advised!!!
Don’t Forget!!
Just a few final reminders before we close the first newsletter of the summer!
This week is looking to be pretty hot and sunny, especially tomorrow, so we ask that all sailors bring plenty of water to the club!! As well please remember your lifejacket, close toed shoes, sunscreen, a hat, some snacks, and a towel!
We can’t wait to see everyone tomorrow!!
Ava