Winter Sports at Prince Edward Yacht Club
Feb 28, 2019
One of the best things about living out here in Victoria British Columbia is boating 12 months of the year. As an ex-pat from Ontario I love sending pictures of my adventures on the water to my former club members at the Prince Edward Yacht Club.
– Bob Nicoll
Highest Points for a ringer
Even in the dead of winter you just can’t keep Prince Edward Yacht Club members off the water. Welcome to the PEYC Chili Bonspiel.
Each January the Prince Edward Yacht Club in Picton Ontario holds its annual Chili Bonspiel (also fondly known as the “Toilet Toss”).
This annual event which takes place on the ice in front of the yacht club is the highlight of the winter season. Five rinks are prepared with curling marks at each end. Holes are drilled into the centre of the rings and toilet plungers are placed upside down in the centre of each ring. Participants are given three toilet seats. The light weight open-ended toilet seats, shaped like a horseshoe are distributed to teams of two players that compete in a round robin tournament. Players toss the toilet seats down the ice in hopes of landing in the circles or ringing the toilet plunger. So essentially the game is like a combination of curling and horse shoes. Every team gets to play at least two games before they can be eliminated.
The event this year was scheduled for Sat., Jan. 26. The event relies heavily on the weather cooperating and there was a lot of worry this year as the temperature kept fluctuating and we went from snow storms to rain in the week leading up to big day. The organizers worked right to last minute getting the rinks ready and the forecast for the Saturday was blowing snow. But, fortunately the weatherman was wrong and the day was perfect (cold, sunny and calm).
This year 42 teams of two joined the fun. Participants included young children, grandparents and all ages in between. Play started at noon and continued until about 5pm when the winning team was declared.
As well as players there were many spectators on hand to cheer everyone on. By the end of the day 150 lunches were served. The food was donated by club members and their guests. There were about 20 slow cookers of Chili and soup and a large table of desserts for everyone to enjoy.
Everyone agreed it was a terrific day and they all look forward to enjoying it again next year.
Contributors: Gord and Gail Fox
