Head Instructor The final week of July approaches – (where has this summer gone?!) – but as we wave goodbye to the month, we can enjoy arguably the greatest week hosted by the SLSC. Featured in the seven days to come: a celebration of produce, a dance from the past, and our monumental home-court regatta. Regattas Yesterday, … Read more
We had a terrific second week of sailing club, and we’re rounding the corner around the summer’s upwind mark as we speed through the first quarter of our season. Incredible things are coming up; regattas near and far, a legendary fun day, and the instructors are hosting a dance!? What a cliff-hanger — read on! Tuesday … Read more
What an excellent first week at the SLSC! We had a massive amount of sailors registered; we were only missing the winds in our sails. Four days of dead wind and one day of too much. The inconsistency in our weather patterns is only one of the many charms of a summer of sailing … Read more
Our first Sunday Afternoon Races will be taking place tomorrow… this Sunday afternoon! It’s always a hoot. Typically, “Sunday Afts” (which is what the kids call it) starts at 1PM. However, we are sharing the date with the Sturgeon Point Union Church’s 100th Anniversary — an epic milestone in this village’s history. So as to not cause … Read more
Long-winded introduction “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails.” I was stuck in irons all winter. Sails were luffing. Couldn’t bear off. Nor head up. Sometimes going backwards. It was a cruel and heartless season, and I only found warmth in the notion that the summer at Sturgeon is just a … Read more
The legendary Bill Callahan once sang, “In conclusion, leaving is easy when you’ve got someplace you need to be. I’m giving up this gig for another season.” The heartbreak in these lyrics seems to strike hard this time of year. A Sturgeon Lake sailor tends to wonder how they manage to live ten months of … Read more
This penultimate newsletter is a special issue indeed, coming to you live from Kingston, Ontario. I sit before my computer screen a worn-down, sunburnt man, and while my fellow coaches and sailors nap after a hard day’s work on a windless lake, I can’t help but admire my own dedication to this self-appointed position of … Read more
The sixth week of the 2014 SLSC season is the smoked meat of a regatta sandwich. On both weekends, the club has or is about to host some major sailing events. The summer may be winding down, but it’s hard to hear the ticking clock with all this commotion around us, as the clubhouse acts … Read more
“August” is the most frightening word of the summer. This simple term implies that there is in fact a limitation to our delightful season. But is the glass half-full or half-empty? Those optimists will joyfully declare that the summer’s achievements add up to a half-full cup, allowing space for another half to be filled with warm … Read more
The summer has finally warmed up, both in spirit and in weather. Our July has been unseasonably chilly, but the inconsistencies that Mother Nature has thrown against us have only fuelled a profound resiliency against the cold and sparked a sailing passion that the most ferocious storm could never pummel. Let us turn toward the … Read more
We are officially one quarter of the way through our summer together. There are many who complain every time the idea of a diminishing summer is mentioned, but I think we should see it as a milestone for everything we’ve accomplished so far, as well as everything that’s on the road ahead. The sailing … Read more