Weather shmeather

Oct 12, 2023

One of our primary duties here at OnBoard is to chronicle the weather and its effect on the collective disposition of the boating community. It’s probably not helpful to point out that last week here in Ontario we had the AC on while this week the furnace is chugging. And haulout is Saturday, likely in driving rain.  Is this fair?

You’ve heard it all before of course. Why couldn’t Canada’s founding fathers (mothers?) have located the place in San Diego or South Carolina where we’d get less wind chill and a longer boating season.  It’s an incredible tribute to our True North spirit that we can get so much out of a brief six month season that we can manifest a full year’s enjoyment out of this truncated boating allocation.

Of course, we never tire of bitching about it. To be honest, it somewhat defines us. Tubing, cockpit parties, Wednesday night racing and coastal cruising screech to a halt each year when the Jays bomb out of the World Series. But by next spring we’re back at it with unbridled gusto.

Contributor Richard (D.) Mitchele and I were discussing the recent passing of Ced Gyles who served as commodore of RCYC and contributed mightily to our boating landscape. D shared a photo he took in 2017 of three passionate long-time 8-Metre skippers now passed – his dad Dick Mitchele who owned Thisbe, Joe Balogh of Quest and Ced Gyles who cherished Norseman.  “I took this shot in 2017. Those dudes raced each other for fifty years.” Not only that, but they also kept up their boats, which dated back to the 1920s, were made of wood, and were continuously pummeled on the racecourse. That’s dedication, especially in our ghastly climate.

John Morris
Online Editor

Related Articles

Video Gallery

Bennington 22 MSB

By Andy Adams

If you’ve already had firsthand experience with a pontoon, you will easily understand the appeal of the Bennington 22 MSB. But if you haven’t, let’s start by reviewing a few of the reasons why pontoon boats have become top sellers in markets across North America.

Pontoon boats began in the early 1950s as basically four steel drums lashed to a frame. They were not unlike the log rafts of ancient cultures and not much more sophisticated at first.

Read More

Destinations

The Best of Two Worlds

By Mathew Channer

Interior British Columbia might not be as famous for recreational boating as Canada’s Great Lakes, yet it is no less a world-class boat­ing destination. The mountains offer their own flavour of marine adventure with their series of long, deep ribbon lakes, and there is perhaps no area that embodies this more uniquely than the iconic Okanagan basin in southern B.C. One could be forgiven for assuming this valley was purpose-built for nautical fun, with a few delightful perks thrown in to make the area entirely irresistible (wine-tasting, anyone?).

Read More

Lifestyle