Spring Thaw (mostly)

Charles Waterman, Chair of the Broad Reach Canada Board, welcomes your editor with a kitchen party beverage.

Apr 11, 2024

Last week we thought spring was in the air when suddenly there was a blizzard.  By this point, despite the generally mild weather in central Canada everyone had enough and was focused on launch, but snowstorm it did. Fortunately, my winter tires were still on (largely because I hadn’t got around to flipping to summers) and I was able to wind my way to the Mimico Cruising Club for the Broad Reach Spring Thaw.  A lot of other people saw it that way too so the event was packed.

The backstory is that last year, Broad Reach re-initiated the Spring Thaw Luncheon.  It turned into a reasonable success so this year the people at the foundation opted to pump up the event by moving it to a dinner.

The result was excellent and will likely become a strong tradition. Tickets sold out pretty quickly and thousands were raised for the foundation – obviously boating people know how lucky they are and are eager to share.  Have a look at the broadreach.ca site to see what this organization does for less privileged kids in the community by putting them on boats.

The Kitchen Party theme turned out to be quite a blast. The chowder was delicious, the band played on and shanties were shared. Melodie Schaffer shared the thrills and tribulations of her around-the-world race adventure and the silent auction bids built up.  All in all, a pretty sensational, if snow covered evening.