2017 Winter Speakers Series (for the record)

NSC Speakers Series – 2017 Season

February 1, 2017 – April 19, 2017*

This series of talks is open to the entire sailing and boating community of Ottawa, is volunteer run and is donations-based. Donations support the NSC Legacy Fund. This is one of the best kept secrets of winter for sailors and boaters!

*NEW talk added: April 19 Fraser Robidoux

Feb 1 Captain Steven Parry : Chartering Sailboats in Greece, Croatia & French Polynesia

A licensed commercial Captain & licensed Travel Agency manager now residing in Ottawa, Steve speaks at such venues as the Toronto & Chicago International Boat Shows as well as the LA and Ottawa Travel shows. Steve has been in the sailboat chartering business for over 20 years and his presentation will include details on the destinations, sailing certification requirements, safety and damage deposits required on the boats.

Although Capt. Parry’s agency specializes in brokering bareboat charter yachts and selling sailing tours all over the world, his ‘in house’ tours & flotillas in the Aegean are unique cultural sailing vacations in Greece, his second home.

Feb 8 Andrzej Ostrowski : Towing a Telstar 28 Tri to Florida and Sailing to the Bahamas

NSC member Andrzej and wife Ela took an 8 week sabbatical to tow their NSC based Telstar 28 trimaran to Florida and then crossed the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. They sailed to Alice Town, Bimini and then across Grand Bahama Bank to Chub Key and on to the Exumas. Their turning point was Norman Cay.

The highs and lows of this multi week trip will be recounted. They will pass on their experiences such as time for the various phases of the trip, costs & recommendations for other sailors intending to do the same.

February 15 Matthew Bastian & Fred Horst: Towing to & Sailing the North Channel

Brothers-in-law Matthew & Fred, along with their wives, have been towing their sailboats, a Bayfield 25 and a Hunter 26, to the North Channel for 4 consecutive seasons of sailing. They will share their experiences, both the joys and the challenges. They will cover topics such as where to launch, re-provisioning and anchorages.

February 22 Tony Wright: A Sailboat Charter in Thailand

NSC member Tony and his wife Margaret continue to learn from their flotilla and bareboat chartering experiences. It all started with a small 22 ft sailboat in Germany. Since then they have had adventures in Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Florida and the BVI’s.

Tony will recount their most recent experience chartering a 39ft Catamaran in Thailand. Tony will share how they prepared for this trip, what went right and what went wrong. Lots of photos will illustrate the exotic coastline and surprising discoveries along the way.

March 1 Ron Schute & Doris Parolin: Preparing for Your Sailing Adventures Beyond the Ottawa River

Advantage Boating is celebrating its 25th year of business operating out of Ottawa, Kingston, and locations around the world. Advantage Boating has organized and coordinated sailing vacations for more than 20 years and have just returned from their largest 10-day flotilla in the British Virgin Islands with 38 sailors.

Ron and Doris will help demystify what you need in terms of skills and certifications (ICC and other) to sail your own boat or a charter boat and to join major “big boat” races, on your own or with others in beautiful locations around the world. Various options will be explored on how to build your boating knowledge, sailing skills and confidence levels to realize your sailing dreams.

Whether you are interested in relaxed cruising with your family and friends, or you wish to get a taste for competitive ocean racing, your sailing options and opportunities are endless.

March 8 John Rakos: Sailing in Australia

John is a long time NSC member who has been sailing winters in Australia for the past 5 years. John’s presentation will include notable personal sailing experiences gained entirely from no-cost crewing, land accommodation costs, charter costs & recommendations from his Australian sailing friends on where to charter.

March 15 Kirk Robertson Sailing a Tanzer 26 Ottawa to Nova Scotia 2016

BYC member Kirk Robertson will describe the experience of sailing the great Eastern Canada waterway and provide recommendations for other sailors considering that route.

March 22 Peter Falus : Lord Nelson’s Trafalgar Fleet

A discussion of the design & performance of the ships in Nelson’s fleet at this historic naval battle. Peter, an avid amateur marine historian, gave a fascinating presentation at NSC last year on The History of Rigging, which was our most “ intellectual” presentation of the series. Peter is an architect from Montreal who has sailed in many locales and currently keeps a sailboat at his home on the shores of Lac des Deux Montagnes. His experiences have included supervising the re-rigging of a replica of one of Christopher Columbus’s ships.

March 29 Greg Dargavel: 2017 Racing Rules of Sailing – New Quadrennial, New Rules

Greg is a Sail Canada National Judge and Regional Race Officer. He raced many major Lake Ontario Races in his competition days and is still immersed in racing on the national stage as a judge and race official. Still he finds time to add to his beer glass collection by racing on Lac Deschênes. He’s looking forward to using the Revised RRS at the Canada Summer Games this year.

In the year following the Summer Olympics World Sailing releases a new rule book. This is that year. After 4 years of discussion and then decision-making at the world level, find out how changes to the Racing Rules of Sailing will affect you on the water & off.

April 5 Bob Hussey & Sherry Galey: Escaping winters by Cruising Florida & the Bahamas

Bob and Sherry spent five winters cruising their Hunter 356 along the East Coast of Florida and in the Bahamas. Prior to that they trailered their Hunter 260 from the NSC to cruise southern Florida including Miami and the Florida Keys.

Practical tips will be offered on both ways to experience winter on a boat. Bob will describe their adventures trailering the surprisingly spacious 6,000 lb 26 foot Hunter with a swing keel allowing anchoring close to shore. It could also be ramp launched.

They will review their change to a 36 foot Hunter, including the buying process in Florida, upgrades and summer storage. Life aboard & adventures in Miami, Eastern Florida & crossing the Gulf Stream to cruise the Bahamas Abacos region will be explored.

Sherry is a photography enthusiast who sells her photos internationally, mainly through Getty Images. Her photos and videos will illustrate the presentation. She will also hand out “boat friendly” recipes for drinks, appetizers and meals that worked well for their sailing trips.

April 12 Uncle Al & Panel: Dinghy Racing Strategies

Uncle Al is a leading racer and official in the international Wayfarer organization with an international reputation. Al will provide an overview of the key strategies for racing success.

He will be joined by NSC’s Mario Poirier who recently was on the Race Committee for the International 14 Worlds in France. Mario will draw on that experience to comment on where racers must focus, in world class races, from the viewpoint of the race officials.

April 19 Fraser Robidoux and Crew: Sailboat Race Crew Training

Sailboat racing is an exciting sport with a crew pushing themselves and their boat to maximize performance in races at the club, regional, national & international levels.

This presentation will use slides & handouts to provide an overview of sailboat racing including the racing rules, racing strategies/tactics and the roles of the various crew members.

Topics will include trimming the sails & rig for speed, placing crew weight optimally on the boat, the art of flying a spinnaker downwind & on reaches, crew roles when leaving the slip and returning, and safety on board during races.

May 27 The Ropeman (Art Grant) Splicing Workshop 1.30pm -**new date

Art, who provides so many of us with both advice on the best choices of “ropes” to supplying the “ropes” at discount prices from his well -equipped trailer & inventory is a master splicer and, as he has done for many years at NSC when he comes with his trailer of ropes for sale, he will teach you his techniques for use on your sailboat. This is always a fun and satisfying workshop. This year timed to coincide with the NSC yard sale. which will start around 9 am, with the workshop starting at 1.30 pm.

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2017 Speakers Coordinator: James Kelly.
Web page updates by : Tony Wright.

Page updated: 2019-01-29.