HISTORY OF THE CLUB

  It was 1985 when several ambitious sailors formed the Sylvan Lake Sailing Club.  It was a very small beginning, a few catamarans & dinghies and a couple of 24 ft cruisers.  We had no place to call “home” at this time.
  3 or 4 years later, the developer of Marina Bay offered the club 20 slips at $20.00 each per year.  The club immediately grew much larger & soon we were asking for more slips.  We now had a place we could call “home”.  Boats got bigger and fancier (would you believe 2 had wood burning stoves in the cabins?), but we didn’t do much except putz about on our boats & visit with each other.
  The Hendley Regatta (not to be confused with the Henley Regatta on the Thames) had begun a couple years earlier and consisted of decorating your boat and parading to the “race course”, which was usually a very sheltered bay down the lake, with 2 row boats in tow.  Once anchored & rafted together, the “course marshals” would begin to set out the course while the rest of the crews sampled the offerings of appy’s & wine.  Once we were fed & watered, the “match racing” would begin.  Each boat would offer up their best oarsman to do battle on the race course!  Those who weren’t racing were given a demonstration of synchronized swimming by 3 of the 1962 Aqua bells from UofA.  We were all winners at these events…good food, good friends & a fine time.
  Then, the inevitable happened.  We started to race our sailboats!  The keelboats were all located in Marina Bay, while the laser fleet sailed from Mrs. Beluiks’ property in Jarvis Bay.  With the eventual sale of her property, the laser fleet disbanded.
  In addition to the Wednesday Series, we would have several long distance or Pursuit Races on weekends.  They would always end with a party & awards at someone’s home.
  At first we had the biggest fleet of Paceship 23’s in the world, 5 of them to be exact, plus many odd ball boats (not to mention odd skippers).  Gradually, the focus of our club became racing, and enjoying our sport with a lot of good friends.
  The SLSC has been represented at the Canadian Match Racing Championship and twice at the CYA Women’s Nationals. Our boats have travelled to Whidbey Island Race Week, RIPS Canadian Race Week, Montana Cup, the Prairie Endurance Challenge & Ghost Lake Regatta and Blossom Time Regatta.

View the slate of SLSC PAST COMMODORES
     … as told by Allan Fisher, member of the club since inception in 1985