Photo: Bob Thayer

Editor's Note

Yes, the water in our great lakes is down, once again, however, it doesn’t seem to be a record low, which is the important news! It could be worse! Hopefully, our readers were fortunate enough to have sufficient depth at their club or marina to launch their boats.

We did make an effort to speak with someone in authority so that we could report effectively on the water level expectations for the coming season. Apparently, there is not a “Neptune of the Waters” at any level of “city hall” that I could find! The message from those who seem to know is clearly stated, we must just, “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

Our friends on Veleda have done just that, having spent the winter season comparing “cruising by sailboat vrs RV” in this months’ Pearls from the log. Excusme, which is now back in home port after two years of cruising, share their anchoring preparations and
techniques which we all will come to appreciate at some point in time!

While you are at anchor this summer, you need to read “Saving Sailing” by Nicholas D. Hayes, which is reviewed on page 42. Just maybe your world will tilt in a pleasant
direction. And last but not least, if you are a fan of the “Tall ship”,many will be gracing the Toronto Waterfront during the upcoming July long weekend, a sight not to be missed!

All in all, some fine reading about stuff we love. Boats and messing about on the water. Enjoy! the season!

John F Grainger

over the

TRANSOM

of Hope &

Glory

“Saving Sailing”

The Story of Choices, Families, Time Commitments and
How We Can Create A Better Future.By Nicholas D. Hayes
Foreword by William F. Schanen 111 Published by
Crickhollow Books

This book is far more than another “How To Manual” ; it is a book to be read in your cockpit on a lazy Sunday afternoon, to reflect with and maybe read passages aloud to your partner, “They will think you wise.” It is a book that makes you say to yourself “Hmmmmmmmm? Maybe I should re-read that passage?” and you will.
I found myself only half way through and realized I had started quoting Mr Hayes at club meetings as well as in the bar afterwards. Do our “Learn to Sail” program’s really drive children into a life long sport, boat ownership and towards our clubs or drive them away? The short review, is go out and buy the book from your friendly
local bookstore. Read it, re-read it and have a great summer mentoring your family and friends. The lessons in this book transcend sailing, with practicable ideas for
parents, grandparents and those who value the concept
of community. In a culture that has embraced luxury
SUV’s, social networking sites, tattoos and predatory pop stars, saving sailing has never been more essential.
Market researcher and avid sailor Nick Hayes discovered that participation in sailing in the United States has declined more than 40% since 1997-and a staggering 70% since 1979, the same probably holds true in Canada. To learn why enthusiasm has waned, he
interviewed more than 1,200 sailors worldwide over a period of several years.

Hayes found that although post- World War Two prosperity and the advent of fiberglass boats had boosted sailing’s popularity in the post war decades, increasingly scarce leisure time has seen a growing number abandoning lifelong, family based activities and “Choosing to let the time pass” with unfulfilling spectator
sports and electronic media. Instead of sharing recreational pastimes with their children, Hayes asserts,” too many parents have become taxi drivers and cheer leaders” and if kids are enrolled in a sailing programme, parents involvement ends at the club gate.
The best way to get people into sailing and keep them interested, says Hayes, is the time-honoured relationship of a capable mentor and a keen apprentice. “Mentoring is teaching infused with leadership” mentoring may center on a principal skill or a capability like sailing, but its mastery isn’t exclusive to the skill
or technique, but to the broader understanding of what makes the skill or technique valuable and relevant.
‘Saving Sailing” scores high for readability, beautifully capturing the essence of why we sail: Sailors often speak of the mythical, the sublime, the magical things that they see and feel while sailing, the potential of a
boat to go faster when the wind it produces adds up to more than the wind around them, or the feeling of trust
and triviality that can only come on a small boat clawing upwind far out of sight of land and under a sky full of stars. The rhythmic pitter-patter from the swell at the aft underbelly of an anchored boat at night. Sailors will often say that they are in heaven, here and in this time. This book will make you reflect on why you sail and it will make you think of who will be sailing your boat after you
have docked it for the last time. Will it be your grandchildren? maybe a stranger? Or will it be left to rot in its cradle; forgotten, just another chattel to be disposed off ?

Enjoy the read, it is available from most bookstores and online.

John F Grainger

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