Staff
Calling all aspiring sailors: the Rendezvous Yacht Club wants you!
The RYC will try again to host a two-day new crew program on June 20-21 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., which is aimed at giving interested participants hands-on training aboard sailboats and in the classroom.
The cost is $40 ($35 U.S.) and includes a 2009 membership to the RYC, which meets for community sails each Wednesday night over the summer (weather permitting).
“We first ran the new crew program in 2007 and had 12 participants, [but] last year it was poor weather early in season,” RYC vice-commodore Peter Engberg noted.
“We are trying to reverse the trend here as our sailing club is shrinking.
“Rainy Lake is a great lake to sail on,” he enthused. “Participating as new crew, you get to basically sail for free and learn as you go.”
Engberg said the program, which failed to generate enough interest to run last summer, allows you to get your feet wet and see if sailing is right for you.
“After a few seasons, if the participant likes it, they are competent to skipper their own boat,” he explained.
“Someone who starts sailing this way avoids getting into boat ownership money until they are sure it’s the sport for them.”
A maximum of 12 people will be accepted for the new crew program. It is intended for adults, but a teenage son or daughter will be accepted with the enrolment of an adult.
For more information, log onto www.rycweb.org, or contact Engberg at 486-1329 or Diane McCarthy at 1-218-283-1060.
To register, send payment to the Rendezvous Yacht Club c/o P.O. Box 6, Fort Frances, Ont., P9A 3M5.
The club was founded in 1978, and merged with the American Rainy Lake Yacht Club back in 1993.
“We now have members from the United States and Canada, making ours a truly unique, international yacht club,” Engberg noted. “Our club hosts a number of cruise weekends where several of the club boats sail to a destination on the lake and [stay] overnight.
“It’s a great way for the new skippers to learn the navigation of the lake,” he added.
