Fourth Time Lucky for a Charter in Canada

We love to hear from former students and how their sailing is progressing.

Ken and Linda Mann from Alberta learnt to sail with us in April of this year. They spent 12 days at our school, completing their RYA Competent Crew, RYA Essential Navigation & Seamanship, and RYA Day Skipper Practical courses.

They planned to put their new skills into practice by chartering a small yacht once they returned to Canada. They booked charter boats three times but …

• the first time the City of Calgary drained the local reservoir (in anticipation of flood conditions from record snow-melt) so all sailing was cancelled
• the second time they arrived to find the people ahead of them had broken the tiller and the boat was off being repaired
• the third time the weather was too dangerous. Ken commented ‘I guess that’s to be expected when you rent a boat in a town called “Thunder Bay”’

However, I’m delighted to report that on their fourth attempt they finally made it! They successfully chartered on Kootenay Lake, one of the largest lakes in British Columbia, 104 km in length and 3–5 km in width. The photo above shows Linda at the helm of their yacht with rugged mountains in the background. From the sparkle on the sea it looks as if they had good weather.

Ken was kind enough to email me after their holiday to say:

We finally made our first charter – on Kootenay Lake British Columbia in a Hunter 30. We really enjoyed ourselves – especially a night in a remote cove where the only light was millions of stars. The boat-owner was impressed with our training and qualified us for bareboat charter within an hour or so. Linda and I felt completely comfortable on our own almost immediately – even in white cap conditions; your team did a great job with the training!

It is always lovely to get an unsolicited testimonial like that so thank you very much, Ken, and I hope it is all smooth sailing for you both from now on.