Big turn out at Fundraiser rocked by Sharx

Last night's fundraising party for Oliver Bone and Stéphane Locas was a big success. The team were beneficiaries of a big turn out supporting their campaign to compete at the Olympics this year. Bone and Locas are Canada's entry in the 470 class. A large and appreciative audience were entertained by the Sharx, who played a lot of boomer stuff. The Sharx, including a good number of local Shark sailors, pumped out hits from the 60's through early 80's by the Stones, Van Morrison, Styx, and even a bit of Elvis. A popular Jin Frati showed his versatility playing percussion, flute and sax. William Shishakly showed his dark, brooding brilliant persona, never leaving the stool in the second row, but playing colourful licks on lead guitar. Keith Rasmussen kept the audience swaying and the hot babes dancing with his rhythms. The evening's concert was delayed by last night's hockey game shown on a large screen. While the crowd did cheer the Canadians on, I still had to wonder if showing the Habs's last game was really essential. Could it be the Sharx star status, the big time, has led to a prima donna complex of its 8 members. Aren't rock stars always late? Was this really hockey mania? Anyway, the crowd did seem to want it all, as I noticed quite a few Habs jerseys interspersed in the crowd with Gill sailing attire. The large turn out also showed that sailing is still enjoyed across the age spans. There were plenty of young dinghy jocks in the audience, yet also a strong turn out of older sailors as well from the ranks of Tanzer and Shark classes. BYC of course came out in strong numbers but the support for Bone & Locas as well as the appeal of the Sharx was evident across a large and varied crowd. Good on the lovely "Redhead" and everyone responsible for a great event and raising a good number of bucks towards Beijing!

- Ralph, Montreal Sailing