Sailing
A tale from the 1970's as presented by a former member Rene Bischof.
One day Captain Steve Burridge brought a friend to 15th Field. He introduced his as a Lieutenant Commander from HMCS Discovery, the Naval Reserve Unit at Stanley Park, who invited us to join their Sailing Club.
Nobody was too interested, but I had always been curious about this and so I went to Discovery next Sunday morning and started my sailing career. They had four boats there called “Sailing Dinghies” which had one mast, one beam and two sails. They were very heavy but also quite forgiving and I picked up the necessary skill quite quickly and enjoyed my times on the water very much.
Dave Levien, a member of the Band and future Regimental Sergeant Major, was at that time living with me and joined me a few times as he had done some sailing in his native New Zealand.
Every so often we held a regatta and competed against each other mainly for bragging rights but I do recall a regatta in Victoria where we competed against Navy teams and of course go soundly skunked.
That of course didn’t deter me and when I found out about the Canadian Forces Sailing Championship in 1973 held in Halifax I submitted mine and Dave’s name and we got accepted. Flight by Service Air, room and board there provided. Great!
Unfortunately Dave just got himself a new job and couldn’t make it so I asked another member of the Sailing Club to take his place. He was a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer who had been my mentor and teacher at the club. He also had friends in Halifax and welcomed the opportunity to see them at no cost. The change was accepted with no problems and off we went to Halifax.
Not a direct flight though. We spent the night in a barrack at CFB Trenton with a bunch of Cadets who all night long ordered one small pizza per kid instead of getting together and ordering one single big one! Well, whatever.
Next morning we carried on to Halifax where we found out accommodation to be on board HMCS Fraser which gave me an idea of Navy living, three high with about two feet space next to the rack. At least our meals were in Messes.
The first day we could get used to the boats and the wind conditions and while we were tootling around we saw a big sailing vessel leave the harbour. I identified her as the “Bluenose” but my crew member didn’t agree. However with the help of a dime and once she had all her sails up I was confirmed right. Helps to know what you carry in your pockets. Alas, that turned out to be about the high point of the whole weekend.
There were several races and we did alright. Unfortunately during one of them I miscalculated and we bumped into another boat. The rules specify in this case either disqualification or we could make two 360 degree turns and carry on. This we did and after the race I went to see the skipper of the other boar and told him about our part of the deal. At first he agreed with this, but came back twenty minutes later and told us he would protest and so we lost this one race in a big fashion.
Because of this, not very sporting, if you ask me, we wound up last of all participants. Or, as I explained to the Admiral, first, if you looked the other way. He totally agreed and congratulated us on our showing.
That was my only National competition and all I brought home was a nice certificate. I still have it and every once in a while I look at it and smile.
One day Captain Steve Burridge brought a friend to 15th Field. He introduced his as a Lieutenant Commander from HMCS Discovery, the Naval Reserve Unit at Stanley Park, who invited us to join their Sailing Club.
Nobody was too interested, but I had always been curious about this and so I went to Discovery next Sunday morning and started my sailing career. They had four boats there called “Sailing Dinghies” which had one mast, one beam and two sails. They were very heavy but also quite forgiving and I picked up the necessary skill quite quickly and enjoyed my times on the water very much.
Dave Levien, a member of the Band and future Regimental Sergeant Major, was at that time living with me and joined me a few times as he had done some sailing in his native New Zealand.
Every so often we held a regatta and competed against each other mainly for bragging rights but I do recall a regatta in Victoria where we competed against Navy teams and of course go soundly skunked.
That of course didn’t deter me and when I found out about the Canadian Forces Sailing Championship in 1973 held in Halifax I submitted mine and Dave’s name and we got accepted. Flight by Service Air, room and board there provided. Great!
Unfortunately Dave just got himself a new job and couldn’t make it so I asked another member of the Sailing Club to take his place. He was a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer who had been my mentor and teacher at the club. He also had friends in Halifax and welcomed the opportunity to see them at no cost. The change was accepted with no problems and off we went to Halifax.
Not a direct flight though. We spent the night in a barrack at CFB Trenton with a bunch of Cadets who all night long ordered one small pizza per kid instead of getting together and ordering one single big one! Well, whatever.
Next morning we carried on to Halifax where we found out accommodation to be on board HMCS Fraser which gave me an idea of Navy living, three high with about two feet space next to the rack. At least our meals were in Messes.
The first day we could get used to the boats and the wind conditions and while we were tootling around we saw a big sailing vessel leave the harbour. I identified her as the “Bluenose” but my crew member didn’t agree. However with the help of a dime and once she had all her sails up I was confirmed right. Helps to know what you carry in your pockets. Alas, that turned out to be about the high point of the whole weekend.
There were several races and we did alright. Unfortunately during one of them I miscalculated and we bumped into another boat. The rules specify in this case either disqualification or we could make two 360 degree turns and carry on. This we did and after the race I went to see the skipper of the other boar and told him about our part of the deal. At first he agreed with this, but came back twenty minutes later and told us he would protest and so we lost this one race in a big fashion.
Because of this, not very sporting, if you ask me, we wound up last of all participants. Or, as I explained to the Admiral, first, if you looked the other way. He totally agreed and congratulated us on our showing.
That was my only National competition and all I brought home was a nice certificate. I still have it and every once in a while I look at it and smile.