Many thanks to all who participated in making the Calgary Chapter’s Annual Thanksgiving Rendezvous a success. The weather turned out very well, cool and mostly sunny, with a small shower Saturday morning. Special thanks to our prize sponsors this year; we appreciate your support for our club.
- UK Sailmakers [1], Sidney – Winner: Eve & Neil Crawston, Eve ‘n Keel
- Lindstrom Marine Ltd. [2], Maple Bay – Winner: Susan Bianco & Ronald Roe, Freedom
- Blackline Marine [3], Sidney – Winner – Doug & Marie England, Soulstar
- Royal Victoria Yacht Club [4], Victoria – Winner: Ian Mackin, Lolani
- The Hat Shop [5], Granville Island – Winner: Fiona Gregory, Kaimana
- Numerous small prizes (beer mugs, kitchen utensils, BCA 40th anniversary mugs) all donated by the Calgary Chapter of BCA.
The last official rendezvous of the year was held, as per usual, at Thetis Island Marina, October 12 – 14, 2019. There were 18 boats and 38 sailors in attendance, from Calgary, Victoria, Vancouver and Nanaimo. No BCA spinnaker this year so we made do with our BCA burgees! Unfortunately, this year we did not have a dedicated photographer either and the host forgot her camera so the pictures of the event are limited – those we have can be found here [6].
Mike and Heather posing for a photo post-race
Thanks again to Thetis Island Marina [7] for a warm welcome; this venue fits our Rendezvous needs very well:
- We had a great moorage rate: $1.10 per foot.
- There is no charge for use of the meeting room for the Saturday night BBQ (pot luck) as well as the Sunday morning breakfast pot luck. There was plenty of room this year as we had under 40 sailors for supper (the room is a little squeezed when we are more than that number).
- The marina handles the registration and payment for the turkey dinner that they supply for the group and the price includes tax/tip/meal all in one ticket which saves them and us from a lot of extra accounting and they do a fantastic job! The supper is outstanding.
- Again, this year the marina had their own Saturday Night entertainment (www.zonnis.ca) which was enjoyed by a few of the rendezvous members.
- The marina did have issues this year as their water purification system was down which meant they were trucking in water so there was none available on the dock and the shower time was very limited. No doubt this will be solved before the 2020 rendezvous!
New this year was a Treasure Hunt on Saturday afternoon. We had 5 teams participating (approximately 25 people) and the event lasted almost an hour! Some of the riddles proved elusive but eventually all teams finished the hunt. The winning team that solved the tasks/riddles/clues in the quickest time is pictured below! Congratulations to Team Celesoul (Cole [missing in action] & Joel Fox, Doug & Marie England, Myron O’Byrne, Caes Van Staal)! Drink tickets for all!
Team Celesoul, winners of the first annual Treasure Hunt
Back by popular demand again this year was the Boat Building from Garbage and Race competition which was won handily by Katrina & Spencer from Miss Zelda.
The winners! Spencer and Katrina Barnes.
Nine boats participated in the race and there is no reason to think that this event will not continue at future October Rendezvous! The winner of the best-looking boat was Sharon Simpson of Mustang Sally whose replica catamaran was color co-ordinated including sparkles and oyster shells!
Sharon with her beautifully decorated catamaran
We have already reserved space for the October 10-12 2020 Thanksgiving Rendezvous at Thetis Island Marina. Mark your calendars now; hope to see you there.
Photos of the event can be found here [8].