Ontario Sailing University
Mar 22, 2018
Heading over to The National Yacht Club, in Toronto, to hear Thomas Fogh speak about boat speed and sail trim, I was unsure of what to expect. As a young sailor, knowing of all Thomas’ achievements I’ll admit I felt a little intimidated.
Thomas is both a top tier athlete and coach with top three World Championship results. He was a member of both the National Sailing Team and the Ontario Sailing Provincial Team. As if that isn’t impressive enough, Thomas is a certified Sail Canada Coach and has coached at the Pan Am Games, Canadian Youth Championships as well as many Canadian and North American Championships.
Now, in conjunction with Ontario Sailing, Thomas has arranged a series of lectures across Ontario. After ten attendees, part of the fee is rebated back to the clubs for their own sailing training, or whatever they may chose. His goal is to bring his broader mandate of lecture topics to Sail Ontario clubs, focusing on all boat types.
Thomas Fogh
Back to Boat Speed and Sail Trim! I was pleased to arrive and see a full crowd, with at least forty members and guests in attendance. Even more exciting for my millennial self was the extraordinarily broad age range of the attendees. Everyone was more than friendly, and as I got talking to many of the guests, I learnt that many of them were young, club members with their own boats! In an industry where as we know, demographics are a top concern it was inspiring to see so such a diverse group of sailors learning from a young coach!
Thomas’ lecture was informative and to the point. His delivery was welcoming, and his expertise shone through. He involved the crowd in many ways, such as showing us opposing sail set-ups and asking us to try and identify what needed to be changed.
Overall great talk, great club and even greater folks! Thomas’ father’s motto will now forever be stuck in my head “when in doubt – let it out!”.
We have all of Thomas’ workshop dates are listed here in our calendar: https://canadianboating.ca/events/calendar
– Amelia Morris
