Etchells Fleet #3 AGM 2010

I had a good time meeting the Etchells sailors at their recent AGM. I must say that beer and wings help a lot. The Etchells sailors are a great Montreal fleet, and in the midst of winter, even hangin' is a good time. I really did enjoy their company. These gatherings are important events for the quality of our sailing. If your one design class, or sailing buddies are having a meeting, share the news. It will raise your profile, but hey we all just like to know with who, and where we can sail! Thanks Scott Lawrence for the news! I have some great photography of the local Etchells racing scene by Luka, and I'll post them periodically to keep us anticipating the upcoming season. - Ralph, Montreal Sailing

On Tuesday January 5, Montreal’s Fleet #3 Etchells sailors gathered at Clyde’s in Pointe Claire to usher in the New Year, furtively watch two hockey games, and conduct their Annual General Meeting. Attendance was at an all-time high, due either to the free beer and wings, or to the presence of special guest and Montreal Sailing blogger extraordinaire Ralph Stocek, or to the fact that the Montreal Etchells fleet enjoyed perhaps the most successful year in its history.

Highlights of 2009 included:

• The Etchells Canadians, which were hosted at Hudson Yacht Club as part of HYC’s 100th anniversary celebrations and drew boats from Montreal, Toronto and Lake Champlain, 
• The Quebec Championships, which were held at Pointe Claire Yacht Club in mid-June and won by Pierre Jasmin and crew on Vivace, 
• And HYC’s Labour Day regatta, in which 11 Etchells competed, with CAN 1089’s Scott Lawrence and crew taking both line honours and first place on corrected time at Saturday’s Long Distance race.

At the AGM, Fleet Captain Allan Gray outlined some of the local Etchells regattas for 2010, which will include the Quebec Championships, to be held in Hudson at the beginning of June, and the Lac St. Louis Challenge Cup, which will be held later in the summer at PCYC. A special effort will be made this year to get some of the sailors from the Lake Champlain fleet up for these events.

Other regattas in the planning stages include a Ryder/Americas’ Cup challenge involving the Montreal and Toronto fleets—a new event that will combine two days of team golf and two days of match racing—and a CanAm challenge between Montreal and Burlington fleets.

Fleet 3 also officially welcomed its newest member, Stephane Arsenault, who is sailing out of Pointe-Claire, and tried to confirm rumours that there would soon be another boat appearing at the start Mark in Hudson….

The Fleet is also planning another get-together this winter at David Lowther’s country place in the Laurentians—a day of skiing followed by a pot-luck dinner and a racing rules quiz. Hopefully we can get this organized for the end of February.

For more fleet info, we encourage you to contact either Fleet Captain Allan Gray at bethunegray@sympatico.ca, Fleet Secretary Scott Lawrence at scott.lawrence@videotron.ca, or simply to sign up to receive email alerts at our website, www.etchells-montreal.org.