Sail Past is next Sunday June 10th. Let's do our club proud and have an empty harbour and all hands on deck.
Remember that there may be people who would love to get out on a boat for the occasion. Over the years we have had various boats that had standing invites - space allowing - for crew - even novice crew. Last summer we had none. Let's see if we can resurrect this kindly practice.
Now what has this to do with the Olympics?? We are proud to see that David Wright is bound for England sailing laser!! He had his start at HYC, as David's bio makes reference:
David was born in Montreal in 1981. From a very early age you could always find David near water. His parents were members of Hudson Yacht Club, and David loved going there to play on the beach or go Laser sailing with his dad.
When David was 6 years old his dad bought a 29ft cruising boat and they competed regularly at the weekend and evening yacht club races. Generally David would helm and his dad would trim the sails. His father recalled that David was never willing to give up - even when miles behind David insisted on finishing the race.
When David was 10 he entered the Hudson Learn to sail program earning his learn to sail levels. At 13 he joined the Hudson Yacht Club race team and raced a Laser radial, though it was quite a lot of boat for a small sailor.
David has returned to HYC as coach at several FruitBowl events in recent years. We had a chat at one of them. He told me when his Dad's boat was not racing at HYC, it was Ray Anderson who took David under his wing as Ray had done with many many others. David asked me to say hello to Ray and to thank him, which I did at the time.
A standing invitation is not for every boat or every skipper, but if you do - let us publicize it here - and who knows - you may be hosting the next Olympian.
And if you would like to encourage David, link to or go to his campaign site.
