|
Home
Up
| |
ALGOMA SAILING CLUB AWARDS 6 SAILORS.
Press Release:
Six sailors were recognized and received sailing awards at the recent 2017
Algoma Sailing Club's Christmas Banquet and Awards Night. The awards presented
were for winners of the club's sailing races, spirit, and special service to the
club.
This years trophy precipitants are as follows; (from left to right.)
Peter Hatton: Club Service Award.
Jack Rice: Spring Series River Race Trophy and Overall River Race Trophy.
April Kernagham (ASC Commodore): Spirit Award.
Philip Routh: Summer Series River Race Trophy and Club Service Award.
Gerry Neave: Fall Series River Race Trophy and Richards Landing Race.
Norm Rippon (ASC Vice-Commodore): Spirit Award.
Neil Trudel, ASC Fleet Captain.
The Algoma Sailing club promotes its activities in 3 key areas; organizing and
sponsoring in July the North Channel Race Week (5 days) starting at Richards
Landing and ending at Hilton Beach with overnight stops in between, the Can-Sail
Boom Sailing School in August for adults and children, and the Local River
Races. (For more information or to register do visit the clubs website at
www.algomasailingclub.com)
The Algoma Sailing Club schedules 25 sailing races each year, with 21 local
races in the St Mary's River starting and ending at topsail island, consisting
of the Spring and Summer series on Wednesday nights, and the Fall series on
Saturdays. Four long distance races are also scheduled with 2 races on Lake
Nicollet (south of the sugar island ferry), and 2 races all the way down to
Richards Landing (overnight).
"Locally the racing fleet is quite interesting to watch from the Sault's
shoreline as some of the public have discovered and they enjoy watching on race
night as the sailboats tack up and down the river depending on the wind's
direction. Sailboats need to tack and turn the front of the sailboat left or
right as they cannot sail directly into the wind and thus the sails also must be
pulled over and winched to the other side of the boat. The crews of each
sailboat work fast as they can to re-adjust the sails to order to regain the
speed lost during each tack. Some of the good locations to watch are on topsail
island, pine street marina, or on the waterfront boardwalk at the former General
Hospital site.
The speed of the races can vary. Sometimes when going upriver they can be a tad
slower against the river current and the normal westerly winds. If a south or
east wind rears then the race tactics must also change but with fewer tacks.
Going downstream when the wind is at your back (on a run), the sailing can be
slower and thus you have to extend all your sails out as far as you can to catch
all the wind.
With sailing its all about the angles sailed to catch and direct the winds onto
the sails to push the boats. Sails basically act like an aircraft's wing, but
without a propeller. The front jib sail (on a reach) can also help direct more
air onto the mainsail to increase speed but there is a fine balance between the
two. Even here on the river the winds change constantly in directions and
strength due to the terrain, shoreline and buildings". Says Neil Trudel the ASC
Fleet Captain, who co-ordinates the races throughout the season. "Overall it's a
great way to have some fun, relax, or to improve your sailing skills by being
competitive by learning how to sail faster (or race) against others. Overall
just being out on the water away from the summer's heat is really great.
Some of the races become a tad more exciting when the large freighters are
passing through, as you have to plan ahead as to which side of the freighter and
river to remain on, until the freighter passes you by. Only then will you
discover your position in relation to the other sailboats to see if you have
lost or gained any ground.
The club has a great spirit. It really pulls all the members together and
showcases their willingness to help each other and new members. Even the social
committee helps out by cooking up a storm with their famous pre-race meals to
fuel everyone up prior to the races. If you are interested in how to sail, then
do contact us. Come on out, as we always need crews. The club has open moorings
for a few more boats to join."
|
