clipper - queen city yacht club · 2002. when she and eriks became members, they bought the shark...

CLIPPERJune 2018

The magazine of Queen City Yacht Club

QCYC CLIPPER JUNE 2018

BOARDCommodore Jacqui Cook [email protected] Commodore Genia Vanderkruk [email protected] Commodore Graham Dougall [email protected] Captain Keith Aldridge [email protected] Russell Sergiades [email protected] Nansi Thomas [email protected] Chair Thomas King [email protected] Andy Oakes [email protected] Joanna Kidd [email protected] Sandy Mandel [email protected] Martin Hodgkinson [email protected] Chair Keith Nunn [email protected] Mark MacRae [email protected] to Sail Robert Eckersley [email protected] Chair Trevor Brisco [email protected]

Past Commodore Ron Mazza [email protected]

Manager Laura Vanek [email protected]

COMMUNICATIONSThe Clipper is published four times a year: approximately May 1, June15, August 15, and October 1. Contributions may be submitted tothe publisher via email at [email protected].

While an effort will be made to publish submissions, the publisherreserves the right to edit material for length and suitability.

Clipper Editor & Publisher Mark MacRae [email protected] Copyeditor Heather Jackson [email protected] Layout Glen Newbury [email protected] Quick Clipper - Moderators Jim Neundorf & Victor GranicWebmaster Arleigh Crawford [email protected] Keith Nunn [email protected]

From the EditorMark MacRae [email protected]

The air is warm and the water temperature isslowly catching up. In this issue, I hope youenjoy reading Part Two of Richard Slee’s historicallook at Women at QCYC. I was pleased to hearthat Part One of his article prompted severalmembers of the Club to want to add to the story.I feel like there is a fantastic oral history whichincludes many other contributions and accom-plishments by women at QCYC, and I would liketo encourage those with stories on the subject tocontact me because I would love to run a “PartFour” and more in August and/or October and getthose stories into the Club record.

PHOTO CREDITSCover Nick Mather

P7 Steve Behal (picture of Mary Partridge)

P10 Heather Jackson

P11 Nick Mather, Peter Broecker, Whit Webster

P14 Yevgenya Roshtainsky

P19 Susan Thomas

P20 Yevgenya Roshtainsky

JUNE 2018 QCYC CLIPPER PAGE 3

This is Part Two in a series of articles that grew out ofresearch I did at the request of Mark MacRae forhistorical articles for the Clipper . Part One, published inthe May Clipper, gave a history of the first 105 years ofthe participation of women at QCYC. This part will offerprofiles of our three women commodores and two otherwomen who, without holding the highest office, madeespecially notable contributions to the Club. Part Threewill tell the story of the Women Skippers Race. (Theremay also be a Part Four, as indicated in the final sentenceof this one.) It is fitting to reflect on the history ofwomen at QCYC this year, as it marks the centenary offemale suffrage in Canada.

The information in this article is drawn from rosters and Clippers, supplemented by interviews and personalcorrespondence.

The Women Commodores of QCYCCommodore Moira Coull: 1997-98Moira served as Junior Club Chair for three years startingin 1993. In her first year, after a fire in the Junior Club,she had to build everything up from scratch because allthe equipment had been stored in the garage by thebridge. She worked closely with Genco and the insurancecompany to replace some of the fleet, and with RCYC togain access to their pool for swimming tests. Shecontinued the tradition of the Rubber Ducky Dinghy Raceand dance which had been started in 1990 by the formerJunior Club Chair, Bobby Peat, and John Moorhouse.

Women at QCYC Part 2By Richard Slee


In 1995 Moira was elected Vice Commodore; there werealso three other women on the Board. In her first year,she formed a Safety Committee. In 1997, in her first yearas Commodore, she introduced Board meetings wheremembers were invited to bring concerns; appointed a newcaterer (the old one had skipped without paying taxes);negotiated a new lease; opposed powerboat races in the

harbour; andpersonally washedand stained theceiling in therestaurant. (But shehad to use the ViceCommodore NorrieMacdonald's yacht,Born Free II, toreview the fleet atSailpast in 1997.)In 1998, whenMoira was the onlywoman on theBoard, a committeewas formed toreport on amandatory workhours system: theirconclusions werereported in the

November Clipper and approved at the AGM that month.As if that were not achievement enough, during her termof office the Planning Chair introduced a five-year capitalbudget, and the Club got both an official and anunofficial webpage.

Moira was a strong supporter of the history of Queen Cityand tried as often as she could to stick with tradition andmaintain the culture of the Club while still building itsreputation as the friendliest club on the Lake. AsCommodore she had QCYC host the twelfth Set Sail forHope--a fund-raising event for Camp Trillium, a camp forchildren with cancer--which up to that time had usuallybeen hosted by RCYC. Another first was her invitation to

the Council of Commodores to QCYC in 1998. The Clubhad apparently never hosted the Commodores before as itwas feared that transportation would be an issue. Itwasn’t, and the meeting was very successful.

Moira Coull studied at the Ivey School of Business and atRyerson University, worked as an Integrated NetworkSenior Manager at TELU, and retired from Bell Canada asDirector of Business Internet High SpeedProduct/Marketing Management. Moira and her husbandJohn had been coming to the Club for years in the 70sbefore joining; at that stage, they raced with Bobby Peaton his Viking 28. They became Associate members in July1987 and lived on Ward’s Island, finally becoming Seniormembers in 1989 with their boat Scott Won, a Tempest.In 1991 their daughter Shannon taught in the JuniorClub. In 1992, in her first year as Chair of Junior Club,Moira introduced a successful adult sailing program whichwas continued in 1993. In 1993, she had senior membersinvite Junior Club members to crew on Wednesday nightraces. Kristen Coull, another daughter, started driving ourtenders in 1996 and became a captain in 1997. John andMoira acquired a 42-foot custom-built C&C that had beendamaged in a bad fire, and restored it. They called herGenevieve. In 2003 they moved to Cherry Valley in PrinceEdward County, and continue to sail Genevieve out ofPicton. They wrapped up a four-year sail “The Down EastCircle Route” at the end of the summer in 2016. For theblog of their trip go tohttps://www.sailblogs.com/member/log.

Commodore Pat Whetung: 2010-11Pat Whetung, another top contributor to the Club,became an Associate member in 1995 and a SeniorMember with her boat One More Time in 2000. Also inthat year she joined the Board as Secretary. She served atotal of eleven years on the Board, six of them on theManagement Committee. She was Secretary for two years,Treasurer for four years, House Chair for one year, ViceCommodore for two years, and finally Commodore in2010-11. She organized the Boat Show booth, the 2006Heritage Day (after the clubhouse fire), the 120th


Anniversary Celebration in 2009, the Tuesday nighteducational seminars, and an informal crew bank. Patregularly participated in member-run social events suchas Christmas Tree Decorating and Ground Hog Day.

As a sailor, Pat took part in many QCYC activities,including Club races, LORC races, CORK (three years), theWomen’s Sailing Association weekly races, and otherregattas (LORC, C&C Owners, NOOD Regatta 2004/05/06,Lake Ontario Short Handed Races, and AHMEN). She wasalso Skipper of the first all-women crew in the LakeOntario 300 White Sail division. The flags displayed onher boat at Sailpast are a testament to her success. As acruiser she has sailed Thailand (two trips), New Zealand,and the Thousand Islands (two years).

Pat is third-generation Japanese and a fully-fledged,card-carrying person of Indian Status. She grew up insuburban Toronto and attended several Toronto schools,finishing with the University of Toronto where she tookundergraduate courses in Accounting, Management, andEconomics. She also owned and operated a manufac-turing, wholesale/retail and fine art gallery familybusiness on the Curve Lake First Nations Reserve whichemployed over five hundred workers with fiftymanagement staff. This included building the WhetungArt Gallery. For twenty-five years Pat was an agent forCanadian artists from coast to coast, specializing inNative Art. She ended her working life at the McMichaelCanadian Art Collection, and retired from that job in2002. Pat also sat on Provincial advisory committees tothe Premier and consulted on economic development onfour reserves across Canada.

As Commodore, her philosophy was, “If the Board isn’tworking for the current and future members at alltimes… then what is our purpose?” A major initiativestarted during her tenure and led by Ron Mazza, thePlanning Chair, was planning for the building of a newlearn-to-sail facility. During her time as Commodore therewere surveys to track membership demographics and toidentify any shift in membership preferences. She insistedon transparency, with careful communications, and

encouraged member involvement. She also built up thecash reserve with a balanced budget and then came inunder budget. While shewas Past Commodore, shestarted planning for thenew mast crane includingdisassembly, finalizing thebudget and construction intime for spring maststepping. There was alsothe Snug kitchenreplacement, starting thetax appeal process withPast Commodore JimThorndycraft, and coordi-nation of the annualrevision to the Members’ Handbook. All in all, a busy andsuccessful term of office.

Commodore Jacqui Cook: 2017-2018Our current Commodore, Jacqui Cook, joined the Club in2002. When she and Eriks became members, they boughtthe Shark Knot Jaffs, but in the fall of that year, theyresold Knot Jaffs and bought Hot Tamale, a Pearson 30.The whole family had looked at a number of boats, buttheir son liked the “cave” quarter berth. In 2008 theybought Wild Jasmine, a Tartan 37, as they one daywanted to go south.

In 2006 Jacqui joined the Board as Membership Chair fortwo years. She felt this was a great way to know themembership; with new members, she could greeteveryone by name. She was also Treasurer for five years.The new approach to budgeting was a real challenge: "Weknow how much money we are going to have by May andthen spend it over four months." She became ViceCommodore in 2015 and Commodore in 2017. Jacqui hasparticipated in the Marine Railway replacement, apple-sauce rationing at Pig Roast, and the Tom Sawyeresquepainting of the water system uprights at the moorings.(She tells the story of how she got paints of differentcolours and she'd start painting, and someone would


come along and ask what she was doing, and they wouldjoin her and start painting–kids included.) She alsocreated the online banking bill payments, did a newmembers’ survey, and coordinated the booth at the Boat Show.

She married Eriks Rugelis in 2000 and is the proudstepmother of two great people, Karina and Martins.Jacqui is currently a professor at George Brown College inthe School of Marketing, Centre for Business. Before thatshe was a Senior Marketing Manager, mostly fortechnology companies.She worked at TucowsInternet Services,Simware, at iStar, andthe first Canadian ISP--where she met Eriks.She was also VPMarketing for theWomens' Network andbefore that was withTelesat. She has anMBA from McMasterUniversity but is alsoproud of holding theGirl Guides CanadaCord, the highest honour a Guide can earn (she had tocollect lots of badges). She unfortunately spent her firstyear as Commodore fighting the rising tide of floodwaters, I might add rather successfully! In her ownwords, “Through our combined efforts we saved theclubhouse, fixed the grounds and marine yard, fixeddocks and tires, held fabulous events, raced, ate, drank,and had a rocking good time.”

Women Who Need MentioningLeaving the Great Women theory of leadership, I need tomention a few women who were not Commodore butmade significant and important contributions to QCYC. AsWayne Lilley states in the Centennial Book, “If womenhad been given short shrift for some time at QCYC, thetrophy presentations on Awards Night 1988 proved they

had arrived: long-time race committee stalwart KayWalker was awarded the Jack Albertson Trophy foroutstanding service to the club.” This was a trophydonated by the late actor Jack Alberston, a cousin ofGeorge Annand, Commodore 1960-61. It would not bewon again by a woman until it was awarded to Gail Smithin 1997. Kay Walker, who had joined the Club with herhusband in 1950s, served as coordinator of the RaceCommittee into the 1990s. Marlyn and Norrie Macdonaldremember how they were saddened to hear of her deathin March 2013: “In her day, Kay scared the bejeezus outof many a neophyte racer at Queen City and many of uslearned the art of racing boats much more quickly thanwe might have, just to avoid her wrath. Just the decibellevel of her voice was enough to send you running. Shewas, indeed, one of the characters of the club and theIsland community and her dedication to the racecommittee at QCYC was exceptional; Kay came out in allkinds of weather and made sure she gave us the bestcourse to make the race interesting and challenging.”

I have already mentioned Mary Partridge; however, muchmore needs to be said. When Mary and Wayne joined theClub in 1983, they decided that Mary would be the seniormember since she didn’t mind going to meetings andWayne had no patience for them. “At the time there wereonly two other female senior members in the Club andonly senior members were permitted to vote at the AGM,”says Mary. That left many active women members withouta voice in Club affairs--a situation made worse if thecouple’s male senior member died or they split up.

As QCYC Membership Chair at the time, Mary was deter-mined to broaden the membership and encourage betterparticipation at meetings and volunteer activities bygiving spouses of senior members full voting privileges.At the 1990 AGM she spearheaded a motion to approve a“Senior Membership Unit” category. This was aprogressive move and gave QCYC a contemporary imagein the sailing community. “In subsequent years, the clubwas invited to consult with many other clubs who werealso seeking to develop a more modern membership


structure,” says Wayne Lilley. In the late 1980s thefemale spouses of senior members were doing much ofthe volunteer workat the club. As anexample, he pointsto the researchand planning workdone on the 1889-1989 QCYCCentennial book,which he wroteand Steve Manleydesigned.

Mary held thepositions ofMembership Chair(1993, 1994,2000, 2001,2002), Treasurer(1995 and 2000), and Planning Chair (2006 and 2007), atotal of nine very productive years on the Board. One ofher early initiatives was to pioneer the Club’s presence atthe annual Toronto Boat Show. QCYC became the firstyacht club to put up an information display there,infusing the membership with new pride and energy inthe winter. Although the booth was pricey, it paid foritself with new recruits to the Club. Mary was successful,during both terms as membership Chair, in rebuilding theQCYC membership base. “People just didn’t know aboutour small club,” says Mary. Its uniqueness is its locationon the Island. I knew that if you told our story, theywould come.”

ConclusionOne of the things that became obvious to me readingthrough reams of historical materials, is that womenmust have played a huge role in supporting the Club thatwas not recorded for posterity. That has in part beenrectified in the last thirty years by writers like WayneLilley and others who contributed to the Clipper.

The history of the first hundred years of the Club is

marked by a continuous series of assessments, bonds anddebentures, the last ($175) being charged to members inthe summer of 1993. Since then we have had to myknowledge no special assessments. Could it be that theparticipation of extremely qualified women on the Boardled to better financial management and control? I believethat in part that it did, though I also have to admit thateasier financing through the banks and the diligentefforts of men like David Hall, who was Treasurer in 1992-4 and 1998, Commodore in 1995-6 and again in 2002-3when he implemented floating docks–a move thatincreased membership significantly and put us on asounder financial footing.

It is amazing to realize that in this decade, if the ViceCommodore Genia Vanderkruk is elected as Commodore in2019 and serves through to 2020, women will haveserved asCommodorelonger thanmen at QueenCity YachtClub.

My next articleon Women atQCYC will beabout theWomenSkippers Race.

I have decided to add a fourth part for publication inOctober. If you know of a woman who has made a signif-icant contribution to QCYC, please let me know [email protected].


CommodoreJacqui Cook [email protected]

Sailpast was such fun. The boatsof our Club looked very inspiringas they sailed past Wild Jasmine. Itwas cold and blustery but thatdidn’t dampen our fun.

I have a very small update on our decade-long fightwith MPAC about our tax assessments from 2008, 2012,and 2016. MPAC settled with the clubs in the Bluffersbasin and have been in touch with our lawyers--WalkerWest Longo--to say that we can expect an offer ofsettlement for the years 2008 and 2012. However, theydid not give a deadline for when they will forward theoffer. The Club has been paying taxes all along basedon the disputed assessed values. Hopefully, we will begetting some type of refund in the future.

Over the winter, Joanna Kidd and I cooperated onproducing a contingency plan in case the 2017 floodlevels returned. Fortunately, while the Lake is higherthan average, it is twenty inches lower than the levelof 2017 (as of late May). I also attended meetings onthe Club’s behalf with the TRCA and Parks Toronto. TheTRCA stated that last year their expertise was morerelated to river flooding. They learned that lakeflooding has very different dynamics and have under-taken to improve their knowledge about lake flooding.The Parks Department is undertaking a multiyearplanning process to improve the resiliency of Cityassets to high water.

Earlier this spring, I asked members to send mepictures about the 2017 flood. Peter Ashby sortedthrough the submissions and has created a verybeautiful collage that captures the spirit and resiliencyof the Club in the face of that threat. I have given thepicture to Thomas King, the House Chair, to find aplace to hang it in the clubhouse. Thank you, Peter, forusing your artistic eye to produce such a beautifulcommemoration.

Speaking of beautiful, I want to thank the manymembers working to make our clubhouse beautiful:painting the siding and the window frames, refinishingthe front doors, repainting the sign, repairing thedecking, the north patio and the south patio stones,repairing and painting the fountain and making ourgardens and pots beautiful. It was a great deal of workby a number of people. We look marvellous. Thank youto everyone.

The Government of Ontario has new legislationaffecting not-for-profit corporations. The Board hasapproved the creation of an Ad Hoc committee thatwill review the legislation and produce a report abouthow it may affect our Bylaw 1. The results of thisreview will be communicated to the membership.Changes to the Bylaw can only be made with amembership vote. Therefore, you will all be informedabout the results of the review.

At the time I am writing this report, the racers are justreturning from the ABYC Open regatta. We had manyboats participating and have taken an impressivenumber of flags. We are in a challenge with ABYC aboutwhich club can get the most boats to participate in acombination of the ABYC Open and the QCYC regatta.We have won Round One. Let’s support Dan Smith andhis team this fall at the 2018 QCYC LORC Open Regattapresented by Flagship Software Ltd.

Just a little more work...

After 2017, this won’t stop us!


Vice CommodoreGenia Vanderkruk [email protected]

With a successful Sailpast, theseason has officially started.Despite the cool and dampweather, we had a great turnout. Ithink the biggest issue of the day

was that your Vice-Commodore apparently led the fleetpast the Commodore’s boat in the wrong direction--upwind instead of downwind--and took some good-natured ribbing about that.

We have filled our complement of maintenance staffwith the addition of Aaron Alexandre, who will help outon weekends. Unfortunately, our new head captain,Michelle, has resigned her position. I thank Michelle forthe time she spent with us while we were getting ourfleet boats ready for the season. The managementcommittee is now discussing options for this role. Inthe meantime, all fleet staff continue to report to ourclub manager, Laura Vanek. Any questions or concernsabout our staff should be discussed with Laura, me, oranother member of the Board.

We did experience some operational issues with ourfleet of club boats this spring, due to delays in plannedrepairs on the Algonquin Queen II, unexpected repairsrequired to the Freddy M., and some dramatic weatherevents. Thank you to the Fleet Chair, Keith Aldridge, forworking through these issues with the help of QCYCmembers and professional mechanics. As we heard atthe Spring Meeting, communications regarding plannedand unplanned events which impact our members’ dailyenjoyment of the Club, are very important to themembership. We will consider how we can better relaytime-sensitive information to our members, given thatour current communications tools are quite manual. Iwould encourage members to sign in to the website, asthere is a lot of information under the Members Onlysection, including monthly reports by Board members,minutes of Board meetings, and other items of interest.

The May 5 work party was a great success, with a greatdeal of work done on our clubhouse and grounds. Themassive painting project, the resetting of patio stonesat the south entrance and on the north side of theclubhouse, and the beautiful work done by our residentgardeners have brightened up our Club after last year’slong flood. The contribution of time and talent is animportant part of membership at Queen City and helpsbuild a strong community. Thank you to all those whoparticipated in the day. Please remember to record thetime you have contributed, either online in theMembers Only section of our website, or on the paperforms available in the lobby. There are many opportu-nities throughout the season to help out around theClub. You can find out about opportunities through theQuick Clipper, from the Job Jar on the website, bycontacting the office, or by speaking to a member ofthe Board.

As advised last season, we have new procedure forhandling propane tanks: you may keep a propane tankhooked up to your barbecue, but extra tanks must belocked in the compound by the north gate. Our mainte-nance staff and most fleet staff have been certified tohandle tanks and can retrieve your tank for you. Thesechanges were brought about following an inspection ofour property last fall by Toronto Fire Services (TFS) andthe Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA).Your cooperation is appreciated.

Finally, as we proceed through the season, please feelfree to contact me if you have any suggestions aboutimproving our operations.


I would like to thank everyone formaking Sail Past a success,notwithstanding the rather coldand damp conditions, especially:

• Gary Hoag for taking the Flag Officers on the Reviewof the Lagoon

• Laura Vanek and the Club Maintenance and Fleet staff

• Mary Partridge for providing handouts for the newwording of "O Canada"

• Nicholas Cianciotta for the AV

• Pam Mazza and Fran Ford for the flower settings

• Sherry and Simon of The Cove@QCYC, and their staff

• The children who participated in the Flag Lowering

• The Flag Officers and Board members

• The pipers

When you read this, the QCYC Top Gun Program, underDan Smith, will have started. Thanks to Dan and histeam for organizing this.

Here are some of the key remaining events for the 2018Sailing Program:

• June 30, July 1-2, Canada Day Weekend Cruise:nearly or now filled

• August 4-5-6, Civic Weekend Cruise

• Saturday, August 11, Women Skippers Race: see itemin this issue

• Saturday, September 8th: QCYC REGATTA!

The Wednesday-night-crew bank has signs of life thanksto Louise Stewart. If you want to crew or are lookingfor crew, please email [email protected] .

More details will be available on posters at the Club,and in the Clipper and Quick Clipper.

The Sailing Program only happens because of the hours put in by many volunteers. Thank you everyone! We can always use more help for

• Cruise Co-ordinators and Assistant Cruise Co-ordinators

• Jury

• Race Committee--on water and onshore

• Race Committee equipment and vessel maintenance

• Trophy Custodians

All hours done for the Sailing Program are eligible forrequired Member Contribution hours.

If you’re interested in helping in any way, pleasecontact me.

Unfortunately, it’s never too early to think aboutawards nominations, so see www.qcyc.ca/social/awards.

An Island tradition that is of interest to and attendedby QCYC members is the Blessing of Boats/Bicycles andthe following Strawberry Social at the Church of St.Andrew-by-the-Lake on Sunday, June 17: seehttps://www.standrewbythelake.com/strawberry-social.html.

Feedback, comments, or suggestions are appreciated:[email protected].

Rear CommodoreGraham Dougall [email protected]


I would like to start by sayingthank you to all the members whocame out to the work party andwere supervised by Paul Lehal and

Ashley Kirwan.

A real big thank you to Paul’s son Devin for hisspraying of the Club and painting skills. There were alot of members working on the Club. I cannot mentionthem all but there are a few I would like to give aspecial thanks to: Martin Hodgkinson for planning theday; Linda, Heather, Ben, Tatiana, Roel Vanderwal; andWill Harney for his spraying talent (I understand hetook a special course in Moscow just to learn thetechnique).

There are many more who were involved; you know whoyou are, so thank you as well. Thank you to the ladieswho worked at cleaning all the windows.

I would also like to thank Laura Vanek, our ClubManager, for finding the new pillows for the Snugonline and getting them on sale as well. RickVeenhuizen for the time he put in working on the deckbefore he had to leave to repair his daughter’s roofafter that nasty wind storm.

Thank you to everyone who participated in movingsandbags and then cutting them open to replace thestones to form a ramp.

Thank you to Peter Broecker for his help in repairingthe east walkway with me. To Tony Karahanas and hiscrew who rebuilt the Pig Roast area--thank you. Nowwe have a great place from where to sit and look at theCity in comfort.

I would also like to thank Paul Horne for working withthe plumber to get the water on in the Snug, as well asworking on the drains under the walkway, up to hisknees in water.

Thank you to The Cove for all the items that were onthe menu so early in the year and for all the hard workthey have been doing to try to make this year specialfor us all. On our first race night, the food wasexcellent and very little time was wasted at the barwaiting for drinks.

Cinco de Mayo night was a Cove night, put on for us byCove Productions. Thank you to Simon and Sherry.

There is a lot more to do around the house includinggoing under the clubhouse to move sand away from thejoists, damage caused by last year's flooding. We havemore painting to do. We have soil to put down andgrass seed to plant, to name only a few.

Last but not least I would like to thank our staff, whohave kept our Club and washrooms clean and continueto keep the lawns looking great.

HouseTom King [email protected]


So it seems that I was a tad tooenthusiastic with the ideasexpressed in my first Clipper report.I was gung-ho to recruit new

members and suggested all kinds of ideas, including anopen house, a marketing campaign aimed at condodwellers, and a boat-share program, among others. Iwas under the impression that our numberswere shrinking and that we had an unusuallyhigh number of empty lagoon spaces. Perhapsmy initial strategy to keep my eyes and earsopen and my mouth shut for the first threemonths should have been for six months.

In the past weeks, I have learned that we areactually quite healthy. We can accommodatemaybe two or three smaller boats and we havea strong roster of associates, drysailers,students, and honorarys. That said, newmember recruitment will continue to be in theforefront of my efforts. However, I am goingto expand my role. Rather than focusingentirely on new recruits, I want to focus onour current members, and am launching twoinitiatives.

Firstly, I have initiated a study to develop a club demographic. In order to plan for thefuture, we need to know who we are. I’mtalking age, diversity, distance to dock,occupation etc. If anybody has someexperience in this area, please reach out to me.

My second initiative is to have scheduledfacetime sessions–your chance to tell mewhat’s on your mind. To kick it off, our big

event, New Members Night, is coming up on June 9th. Ipropose "Old Members' Morning". Join me on the redchairs in front of the clubhouse at 10:30 (in the Snugif the weather doesn’t cooperate) and let’s have a chat.

MembershipSandy Mandel [email protected]


We had a great turnout for the May5th work party and many clean-uptasks were accomplished. The highwater of 2017 meant that some of

the Club’s normal maintenance work was delayed andwe needed some catching-up this year. The wind stormon May 4th added even more tasks to our list, so thelarge turnout and the enthusiasm of our members werevery encouraging. The Members at the Work Party:

• Painted the West side of the clubhouse (South sidecompleted on 12 May)

• Laid a new patio on the North end of the clubhouse

• Cleared sandbags on the North and South ends of theclubhouse

• Raked and bagged all the leaves from Fall

• Cleaned up the gardens around the clubhouse

• Cleared boats from the front lawn

• Laid patio stones at the South end of the clubhouse

• Laid new decking at the South end of the clubhouse

• Launched two Member boats (Mio Marie and Inchyra)

• Hung pictures in the the clubhouse

• Cleaned and placed the trophies in the clubhouse

Some additional tasks were added due to storm damage

• Old yellow dock corralled and tied up near bridge

• Trellis at South end of the clubhouse repaired

This was our first work party using the concept of“Work Party Project Managers” and I want to thank thePlanning team of Ashley Kirwan and Paul Lehal for theirenthusiastic support in making the concept successful.We will discuss their experiences with Project Managingand we are actively seeking new Work Party ProjectManagers in future.

Members who want to contribute to the Club can accessthe “Job Jar”–a list of tasks needing volunteers whichis posted on the website so that members can accessand find tasks that they want to take on, or tasks forwhich they have the necessary skills. We will also usethis list as input to a “Job Fair” which will be held atNew Members Night on June 9th to attract members tovolunteer and assist the Club. Note that the SailingProgram has a comprehensive separate Excel list ofvolunteer tasks for Members wishing to be involved inracing--a great way to assist the Club and gain raceexperience.

I also want to thank the Committee who prepared areport back in 2016 with the objective of making thebest use of the time volunteered by the members andensure that the most critical tasks for the Club arecompleted first. If you want to volunteer as a WorkParty Project Manager, please email me [email protected]. I am sure we will have some morework parties this season, there is still much to be doneso volunteers are still needed.

PlanningMartin Hodgkinson [email protected]


I'd like to thank all those memberswho have contributed their time toassist me with the many tasks wehave undertaken so far this

season. Without your ongoing support the jobs becomemuch more daunting. As we continue to replacemooring tires with moorings balls around the lagoon,we will begin resetting the moorings to accommodatethe changing makeup of the fleet. Blue section will beaddressed when the new order of mooring balls arrive,as a number of moorings are missing the basic essen-tials required to properly secure a vessel.

All in all we're pretty full! There are a few slipsavailable in Blue for smaller boats, but all the big boatslips are occupied and there are eager members waitingin the wings to pounce on the next available dock.

There is a lot more to Moorings than just the slipsthemselves. Decking and plumbing need ongoingmaintenance to ensure they continue fulfilling oureveryday needs. If you have an issue with yourmooring, please contact me directly so we can ordermaterials and facilitate the necessary repairs.

Leadership is always appreciated. If you see a problem,let's get it fixed. There are many items around yourmooring that can be fixed independently, like deckingor a leaky faucet, for example.

The deconstruction of Yellow dock will probably be themost labour-intensive moorings job of the season, andone that I'll need a hand to organize. It's constructedmostly of wood, with tires as the primary flotation. Thetires will need to be removed and disposed ofseparately. It's not quite big enough to bring in ademolition team with explosives but we will havechainsaws, sledge hammers, crowbars and other heavytools for your enjoyment.

So far, so good for the Moorings Chair himself.Everyone has been very supportive in both their helpfulactions and their kind words throughout my transitioninto the role. It's been an opportunity to work side byside with many different members on a number ofprojects. It has been a chance to get to know themembership on a personal level, swapping stories,exchanging ideas, growing. For me, life is a tuition forlearning! Someone else wiser than me said that and Itry to apply it to my everyday life.

Deb and I were pretty green when we joined QCYC. Daysailing on Lake Simcoe was the extent of ourexperience. Ten years and three boats later, we'vesailed Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the Gulf of Mexico, theAtlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson River,New York Harbour, and the Erie Canal. Had we notjoined the QC and been surrounded by those that had,and listened to those that shared we’d still belandlubbers, and incomplete. Dwight and CarolHamilton, Rick and Wendy Hardy, Ed and GeniaVanderkruk, Ian Trites, Lawrence Concannon, JimThorndycraft, Paul Horne, Buffy McPhail, TerryHofkirchner, Rob Hupfield, Will Harney, Kris Coward andothers have answered many a question over the yearsand told many a story about their cruising exploits. Theanswers guide the path, and the stories feed the dream.

It’s the self-help, self-start, self-aware community thatmakes QCYC what it is. People know when they come toQCYC that it's a sailors' club, a Yacht club, a place ofexperience and knowledge because at the QC we don'tjust talk about it, we get it done. Thanks again foreveryone’s help and support. See you at the next workparty.

MooringsAndy Oakes [email protected]

At the Spring AGM, I was giventhe strong impression that manymembers would like to be betterinformed about what is

happening at the Club. I thought it was a good time forme to detail all the various ways that the communica-tions team tries to do just that.

ClipperIf you are reading this, then you’ve found it. The officialClub magazine comes out four times during the sailingseason and is where you will find articles and photossubmitted by you and your peers, as well as updatesfrom Board members when they have things to share.

Quick ClipperThe twice-weekly official Club email list comes outregularly every Monday and Thursday (and thenadditionally as needed for emergency, time-sensitivematerial). You’ll find quick announcements here fromBoard members or the chairs of committees about manyClub-related topics from ticket prices for upcomingevents to reminders to dispose of your expired flares.Occasionally Board members may also announce thatthey have posted something more substantial formembers to read on the website.

QCYC.caSince the relaunch of the Club website last spring, Ihave worked diligently to keep separate the public faceof the Club from the private content that is only ofinterest to members. On the public side of the site you’llfind lots of information about the Club, including officehours, race results, learn to sail registration, etc. Whenyou login using your member account you’ll find thingslike the online Roster, Job Jar and Member HoursSubmission form, and the Notices to Members. I want to

highlight the Notices to Members especially, as Icontinue to encourage use of it by my fellow Boardmembers. Already our Secretary has been posting Boardmeeting minutes and Board member reports on amonthly basis. And after the feedback at the SpringAGM, she has agreed that Board member reports can bepublished right after the meeting they are presented at,though meeting minutes still must be delayed a monthas they aren’t approved until the following meeting. Ifyou are especially keen to know the most up-to-the-minute details of what each Board member is up to,those Board reports are as detailed as it gets.

Twitter (@QCYCTOG & @QCYCTOR)Our Twitter moderator posts lots of event notices, fun photos and comments in 280 characters or less.Occasionally it is also used to make time-sensitivenotices.

Facebook(facebook.com/qcyctoronto)Here you can find public ads for Learn to Sail, and forevents at the Club that are open to non-members.

I should also mention that there are a couple ofunofficial groups that I do not administer but thatnevertheless are useful or fun for our members. There isa closed facebook group where members tend to postfunny or interesting sailing stuff. Also the QC Gybe is anunmoderated member-run email list where members ofthe Club are free to post anything they wish that theyfeel might be of interest to other members. Finally, ifyou want to crew or are looking for crew, there is thecrew bank, now run by Louise Stewart: [email protected].

PAGE 18 QCYC CLIPPER JUNE 2018

CommunicationsMark MacRae [email protected]


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