In a Nutshell
Welcome J-Towners to the new sailing season! This year's Executive is so gung ho to fill you in on all that's happening at the club this year, that I hardly need to write an intro - so, without any further ado, read on!
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Commodore's Message
Let the fun begin! Sailing season has started!
Surprise! Surprise!: - We have the best clubhouse! We have the best parties! We have the best membership! Let’s face it, we’re the best club! This is the nicest time of the year for me, the very beginning of the season. Sure the water is a tad cool, but who cares! Just jump in a Laser or hop on to the Hobie and there’s nothing like it!
Memberships:– Yes that’s right! I have got to rally you guys to sign up for another year of sailing, and racing, and drinking, and parties, BBQ’s (all that boring stuff) so come on guys, and sign up! There is the early bird special to save a few bucks so take advantage of it.
Volunteers: - Last year saw an awesome level of volunteerism in J-Town. Thank you for that. Lets keep this enthusiasm on a roll, we have an amazing club and it’s all your doing that has made it that way – Keep it up guys! Because without you, we wouldn’t survive.
For our returning newer members: - If you are one of the newer members from last year and want to get a head start, then sign up for some skill building classes or the Bronze 4 course later in the year. Both of these clinics are a BLAST! (And it will improve your skills no end.) But be sure to come down and rediscover that bit of magic that got you started into this sailing business.
Friendships: - That’s what it really is all about! Whether you race or like to social sail, it’s renewing old friendships for the followings season, and knowing you are going to make even more new friends for the coming year. This, and the fact I have a passion for sailing is what keeps me and a lot of other people hooked on J-Town.
Well that’s it from me. With the full season ahead, my message to the membership is, Let’s have some fun and go sailing!
Paul Chandler - Commodore, fridaystreet@bellnet.ca
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Membership
As I was driving home from work today along the Gardiner Expressway, the sun was starting to set and I looked out over the lake longingly and realized that in three short weeks, the sailing season starts.
Retaining and recruiting members is the focus of my portfolio and to this end, various activities are planned and in process. A new display board has been purchased and a promotional video is being produced by talented members. You will be able to get your first glimpse of them at the Spring Fling on March 30th. Something new we are trying this year is setting up a promotional display at the Mountain Equipment Coop on April 8th. Several members have volunteered to talk to customers about the club throughout the day. We are also asking to have our link added to various web sites that may attract new members. New J-Town sail wear is being designed and will be available for purchase soon. You could be a walking advertisement for J-Town! Don’t miss out!
You should have received a telephone call from one of your friendly club members by now, not only inviting you to rejoin but also asking for your ideas about maintaining a welcoming atmosphere and a passion for sailing.
Once again, Mark Pomerantz has agreed to coordinate the Open House schedule and he may be approaching you to help out. Open Houses will start on April 1 (no that’s not a joke!). If it’s a nice day, why not come down to the club early before your shift starts as there’s always someone wandering off the bicycle trail looking for information.
I have always been impressed by how friendly and welcoming members at J-Town are and expect that this tradition will continue. I think that it is a trademark of our club and a sign of our passion for sailing that we’re often the only club that has people around working on the boats, the clubhouse, the gardens or just hanging out!
Remember to join early and save $25 before May 1st. Looking forward to an early start to the sailing season!!! See you on the water.
Suzanne Young, Membership Chair, suzanneyo@hotmail.com
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Race Events
Welcome to 2006!
The race schedule has been set with Friday Night Races beginning on May 5 and Harbour Masters beginning on May 21. Some of the other highlights of the Albacore racing season include
o North American Championship @ RCYC on June 10 - 11
o The Ontario Championship @ Peterborough on July 1 - 2
o J-Town Regatta on July 22
o Canadian Championship @ Nepean on Sept 15-17
… for detail of other Albacore events check the Canadian Albacore Association web site or hit the calendar link on the J-Town site.
J-Town hosts a number of Albacore racing events including 3 Friday nights , 3 Harbour Masters and the Women's Helm races in June. We will be soliciting volunteers for the committee boat for each event over the next few weeks. We will arrange for a workshop on race management for all volunteers and we will try to pair up newbies with old salts when we schedule committees. Along with the satisfaction of helping out, you will find that watching races from the committee boat gives you a new and valuable perspective on racing.
Along with the Albacore events, J-Town also hosts a Laser Regatta on the August 5th long weekend.
As we think about a new year of racing, I am thinking about the format and content of race training. All sailors (Albacore & Laser sailors, old salts & White Sailors alike) are invited to participate in our weekly sessions. We are fortunate to have highly skilled and successful racers who volunteer their time for race training. Our race training covers all of the usual subjects such as starts, overtaking, mark rounding and the impact of weather on race strategy and tactics. As much as possible, we make sure that sailors get out on the boats and practice these skills. All that said, I welcome feedback from members on how the program could be improved. Are there subjects that you would like to see covered or expanded?
Please contact me with your comments and ideas (or to volunteer to help with races).
Chris Bennett - Race Chair, candcben@hotmail.com
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Social Roundup
Although sailing is the big reason for joining St James Town, we are planning plenty of opportunities to relax with new and old friends on our new deck and have special dinners and parties at our “cozy cottage”. In addition, the Social Chairs try to make work events such as “Docks In” a great kick start for the season. This year we would like to put more emphasis on recycling. So besides the new kitchen, the other small changes include less use of Styrofoam and better use of recycle bins. We are happy for any additional input to improve the social activities, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with any one of us.
This year we will continue to hold our key events such as
• the Spring Fling at the Paupers Pub where new and old member gather in anticipation of the sailing season;
• Wednesday night social sailing where the after sailing dinners are not to be missed. We will be rounding up volunteers all too soon and look forward to scrumptious dinners on the deck.
• Sunday evening informal potluck dinners
• Once the sailing season is full gear, it is Lobsterfeast time with of course fresh East Coast Lobster and a party afterward
• Another big event is the J- Town Regatta with breakfast, lunch and racing capped off with the White Sail party - organized by the new members with dinner & dancing under the stars.
So participate as a volunteer or just enjoy the events and parties throughout the sailing season at J-Town or feel free to come down to the club with a book or enjoy a drink at our cottage in the city.
Beverly Knight - Social Co-Chair, Beverly.Knight@ssha.ca
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Fleet Changes
Well were back at it again, sailing and fun times at one of Toronto’s best kept secrets. That’s right - the Outer Harbour, where life begins, so get ready and hold on!
This year the club has decided to replace two Albacores, which means that we’ll be purchasing two new ones - so please be gentle with them. In addition to the two new boats we will also by buying six sets of new sails. In the past we have traditionally bought our sails from North Sails. However recently we have had some problems with the quality of cloth and sail cut. This could be due to the fact that these sails are made offshore in Sri Lanka. Not to slight the Sri Lanken works, but perhaps we are losing something in translation. So, we have also decided to buy three of the sets of sails ( for comparison ) from Quantum Sails here in Toronto. Michael McNamara of Great Britain, who is a sail maker and reigning World Albacore Champion, designed these sails. Hopefully this combination of a local sail maker and design by a class champion will result in a superior sail. This is a trial and the club will definitely consider switching to Quantum sails if they turn out to be superior. So if you’re interested in check’n out these sails let me know.
That’s about it for now. I’m sure I could mention a zillion more things about fleet but I can’t remember them just know, so I’ll leave it with you - if you have any queries about fleet let me know and remember: we have work parties all of April so come down, help out and get keyed up for a new season of sailing.
Cheers,
Captain Kirk - Fleet, kirk@kirkmcgregor.com
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Educational Initiatives
Are you looking for a fun filled summer of sailing? I know I am - looking forward to seeing everyone and hoping that last year's White Sailors will be joining us. Just to entice you, Spring Tune Up is free to last year's returning White Sailors...Whooo Hooo! It will be two nights of reviewing knots (the important ones, I think there are only 2), rigging and the basic upwind and downwind drills. This will be offered twice in May.
We have a very busy schedule this season because we are adding another course to help sailors make the jump from White Sail III to Bronze 4. Called Skills Building, it's been tried in the past and was a big success and, since this year we will be testing people to be sure they are at the right level to take the Bronze course, we hope that offering and encouraging people to take Skills Building will help. Our Commodore, Paul Chandler, is a graduate of this program and he highly recommends it. Check out the Training page and Calendar for more information.
The club is also offering a weekend White Sail III class. So tell your friends who can't make it to the evening classes they have no excuse, they too can now learn to sail. This will be limited to ten people and will start in early May.
We have set tentative dates for Laser and Hobie Cat clinics.
If you are an Old Salt and would like to volunteer your time helping out with the White Sail classes, please call me at 416-465-3651.
Keep an eye on the sailing schedule to see when the courses start. If you have any questions or suggestions please e-mail or call.
Hope to see you all at the Spring Fling on March 30th. I obviously have to work a little harder if I think I've got a chance at winning the draw. I hear someone already has six people lined up to join the club!
Fran Steacy - Vice-Commodore/Education, fsteacy@hotmail.com
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The Video Sessions
Sometime last summer, second year member and professional film editor, Mark Acieri approached me about the possibility of shooting a training video for the club. Soon we had commodore Paul Chandler and Robert MacDonald lined up to drive the power boat, and Paul Borkwood to shoot the video (Paul B. is a cameraman for CBC).
The next step was to get a range of sailors to star in this little movie. Rob Koci was the obvious choice for Laser sailing. For the Albacore, Sean and Yara were recruited to demonstrate points of sail. Richard Piercey and I also provided high wind footage. Finally, Richard and I got out on the trapeze wires on a very windy day in October, as we completed our season’s filming on the Hobie 16.
The result: For starters, we had hours of raw sailing footage. From that we have created a 5 minute promotional video and are in process of creating a training video. Some of you may have already seen the promotional video. The training video should be a valuable compliment to the education program. Emphasis was placed on showing tacking, gibing, points of sail, capsizing/righting and rigging on both the Albacore and Laser.
Special thanks to Paul Borkwood and Mark Acieri for lending their professional expertise to this project and to Paul Chandler for lending his video camera.
Ed Young - Treasurer, edyoung@sympatico.ca
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House Improvements
In my short life as a James Towner, I have learned that the club has three
priorities; sailing, beer and food. That's why we take such good care of our
boats, why we bought a stainless steel, commercial grade beer fridge, and
why this year, we will be renovating the kitchen.
The executive has come up with a very user friendly plan. The back cabinets
will be replaced with brand new units and the front bar will be replaced
with a U-shaped counter section providing almost double the useable storage
and counter space of the old kitchen setup. It is the last piece of what
makes St. James Town the best all round community club facility in Toronto.
I know you already love the sailing, the cold beer and the friendly
atmosphere that we are famous for. Now you'll get it all, and a comfy
kitchen, too! .
Robert Koci - House Chair, robert.koci@rci.rogers.com
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Cats
Wasn’t long ago when you mentioned the two J-Town cats, people would think of those fuzzy things that Kirk feed. Well...it’s been two full seasons that we’ve had Hobie 16 catamarans at J-Town, and things are looking good for our two multi-hulls boats.
The 2005 season proved to be very successful for multi-hull sailing at J-Town. We trained several new skippers and frequently had the entire Hobie fleet on the water. We will again be offering Hobie sailing clinics this coming season (starting in June) for experienced sailing members who wish to try multi-hull sailing. For anyone wishing to become a competent Hobie sailor, I strongly recommend first becoming a solid sailor on the Albacores and/or Lasers. The responsiveness of these monohull boats makes them much better crafts to develop fundamental sailing skills.
Fun as they are, the speeds achieved on our Hobie 16s create a degree of risk that does not exist on our Lasers and Albacores. As such, safety must remain the number one priority when sailing the Hobies. Because of their wide platforms, these boats are very stable in light and medium winds. However, because of the large sail area (nearly twice that of an Albacore) and lack of manoeuvrability they can be very tricky to handle in heavier winds. They also require more weight and a different technique to right when capsized. Please refer to the Hobie skipper guidelines in the Members Handbook (and downloadable from the Resources page) for details on Hobie skipper qualifications.
Ed Young - Treasurer, edyoung@sympatico.ca
