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Human Interest
Our new fleet is Western Lake Ontario Canada. The area of our charter is the western portion of Lake Ontario extending to Lake St. Clair. WLOC is part of the 12th District. Previously, we were members of the LOC fleet (Lake Ontario Canada) which has been centered around the island clubs in Toronto. We currently have nine full members, 12 or 13 Stars, a couple of associates and one Star Class Life member - John Finch. This is a good start and we anticipate a number of recruits in the new sailing season.
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| Larry Scott, photo by Fried Elliott |
I would like to talk about the Fleet Captain Larry Scott. He has been front and center the moving force behind getting the star owners interested in a fleet. Like most fleets, having a leader like Larry is critical in getting the enthusiasm and passion about sailing Stars aimed at a fleet structure. The current home of the Fleet is the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club and it is in this community that Larry anchored his sailing for the past 50 years. He started sailing in the junior sailing program at the RHYC. All his children participated in the same learn to sail program. Many of them also achieved sailing success as a result of the intensity and culture bred into members at this club.
Larry Scott has had many fantastic moments sailing small and large boats. His sailing resume includes being Canada's representative with Ted Hains at the 1972 Olympics in Tempests, a trans-Atlantic crossing in his family's C&C 43, competing in the 1970 SORC onboard 73' Ondine and most recently a Bacardi race winner with Jock Kohlhas. These are things that happened while Larry is competing. They are individually all significant but to build a fleet there must be much more.
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| Larry Scott sailing with Jock Kohlhas at the 2007 Bacardi Cup, photo by Fried Elliott |
Larry is at the club as each new Star member arrives and moves boats, finds storage places and helps rig the boats. If you are missing a part or do not know how to put the boat together, Larry is there to get it going. When the RHYC was awarded the 12th District Championship, Larry was the regatta chairman and central organizer. When a Canadian Sailing Team coach ran a Star clinic in Hamilton, Larry took time from his business to help crew and drum up participants. During this falls' frostbite series, Larry organized and had the committee boat up and running every Sunday. These are the things that get a fleet started and with the original members, will keep WLOC vital for many years.
We are all very excited about having our own Fleet identity and will be sending the first WLOC Fleet Champion to the 2008 Worlds in April. Look out Star world - WLOC is coming!!
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