The Winter Speaker Series starts Wednesday January 15th 2020 with The Voyage of the Yacht Dal (see below), and continues every Wednesday into April. We have a full program planned based on feedback from the survey conducted in November.
In the survey responses, you asked us for more first-hand accounts by local sailors of their exploits in Canada and beyond. You also wanted to hear about other daring and exotic adventures on the water. You wanted the Ottawa Fire Service to present how they perform their first-responder mandate on the water. We had requests for a session on boat maintenance and repair. Talks about racing, foiling and having fun going fast! We have had a great response from expert presenters, and are pleased to tell you that we have all of the above planned in the series.
The very first presentation on Jan 15 will be the Voyage of the Yacht Dal. This is a tale of an adventurous crossing of the Atlantic from Poland to Chicago in a 28 foot wooden boat to attend the 1933 World Fair. They almost did not make it, but Andrzej Bohomolec and his two companions managed to repair the boat that had almost been wrecked by a hurricane while they wintered in Bermuda before continuing their journey.
At age 19, Andrzej fought for Poland’s independence in the First World War. Later he fought against the Nazis and the Soviets in WWII. Finding himself a persona non grata in the Moscow-imposed Communist regime in Poland, he emigrated to Canada and became a rancher in Calgary. A book of his adventures was published in Poland to great success. It was recently translated into English and edited by Ottawa resident Irene Tomaszewski, who will be here at NSC to give the talk along with Andrzej’s step-son, Anthony Keith. The translation is available from Octopus Books in Ottawa.
We are delighted that the Embassy of Poland is supporting this presentation. The First Secretary will represent the Embassy at this talk.
The galley will open at 5pm, so come early for supper and drinks, and then stay for the presentation which starts at 7.30 pm. All are welcome, and there is no fee for admission. We will merely request a small voluntary contribution to the Legacy Fund (supporting youth sailors).
The full 2020 schedule may be found here.