Dan and Theresa Godbout sailed their Beneteau 331 down the St-Lawrence to Baie Comeau and back to Kingston in June 2019. His talk will give you an overview and the highlights of this amazing 6 week trip.
Dan has been a member of Nepean Sailing Club since September 2003, but started sailing much earlier!
“My sailing endeavours started a long time ago at age 11. My father bought a Snark Sunflower from the Eaton’s catalog (for the younger crowd, this is the precursor of Amazon when Sears and Eaton had the monopoly on mail order) He taught both my brother and I how to sail and let us use the boat on our own several afternoons a week on a small city lake in Baie Comeau, as long as we kept our life jackets on. We complied and both enjoyed sailing; we were hooked.”
“I bought my first keelboat (Shark #138) in Summer 1985, sailing for 2 years from the Rockliffe Yacht Club. I sold the boat in 1987 and move to BC for work. I continued sailing dinghys (420s and Albacores) on Cultus Lake in Chilliwack and took a coastal cruising course and sailed a Bayfield 32 out of Vancouver. I moved back to this end of the country in 1990 and stayed away from sailing for several years (3 kids, one salary). I finally got back into sailing in 2003 when Doug Patterson convinced me to buy a Tanzer 22. I have sailed and raced “Sherrie” at NSC for 19 years. Although we were finally doing very good at racing “Sherrie”, I’m now a co-owner of a J22 “Jetstream” and am ready to get my ass kicked once again in the J22 fleet.”
Theresa and Dan acquired a Sabre 28 for cruising in 2006 and upsized their “cruising cottage” to a Beneteau 331 in 2012. They moved the Beneteau to Kingston in 2016 and enjoyed sailing Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands for 4 years. They brought the boat back to NSC in 2020 since they couldn’t go anywhere because of COVID but are quite happy to “sail the Ottawa River once again and enjoy cruising with friends.”
This presentation is part of the NSC Winter Speaker’s program, which promotes ongoing learning about all things nautical, as well as cruising and competitive sailing.
Our contributors and organizers are all volunteers, and they and our audience come from clubs and organizations bordering both sides of the Ottawa River.
The meeting is free to attend, but we ask that you consider making a small donation. All proceeds will go to the NSC Legacy Fund, which supports competitive sailing for youth and Able Sail members.
This is the link to register, and/or to donate: register here.
The presentation starts at 7.30 pm in the Harbourview Room. The Galley restaurant and bar opens at 4.30pm so that you can enjoy a meal and/or beverage before we start!
We will also be live streaming to our YouTube channel if you do not plan to attend in person. This is where you can also find recordings of previous Winter Speaker sessions. If you choose to attend by YouTube we recommend that you check in to the “waiting room” up to 15 minutes early to check your connection for good quality video and sound. We will be playing content that will both enable you to test, and provide useful information about upcoming events. During the live stream, you can use the chat function to ask questions at any time. The moderator will relay any questions to the presenter at the end of the presentation.
You can find the full Winter Speaker schedule here.
If you would like to volunteer as a speaker, help with the speaker series, or if you have any questions, please contact winterspeaker@nsc.ca.