Rotary Club of Kitchener Westmount
Club Meeting Wednesday, June 17 2020
SA: Alison Scott
SAA: John Thompson
Intro Speaker: Tim Bradich
Thank Speaker: Jack Kinch
Guest Speaker:
Paul Siberry - Sailing Experience
Attendance on Zoom:
Laura Power, Jack Kinch, Karin Voisin, Judy Nairn, Everton Wilmot, Bill Green, Graham Gardiner, Bill Pegg, John Thompson, Dave Forwell, Kathy Loveys, John Villemaire, David Barth, Alison Scott, Tim Bradich, Chuck Thompson, Troy Stuebing, Mac Graham, John Rose, Kyle Lambert, Michelle Gardiner, Paul Puopolo
Guests: Karin Introduced Brooke Eby Director of Special Events at St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation. Brooke is a potential new member. Karin also welcomed back Alex Pavlov who was a previous guest speaker at our club and is now living in our area. The club also welcomed Louise Gardiner as our guest today. Not only is Louise celebrating her birthday today, she is joining us for Michelle’s induction.
23 Participants today
Announcements:
Laura welcomed everyone to her last official weekly meeting.
Mac Graham updated the club on the KW Cares Gift Box Initiative. Thanks to the support of the club and the community the team was able to deliver 200 care packages last Friday to health care workers. Mac also thanked volunteers Karin Voisin, John, Michelle Gardiner and Bill Pegg. This was a great initiative that was deeply appreciated.
Upcoming Events:
June 24th
Annual President's Day Golf Event - please let Troy know if you are interested in participating
President's Changeover - 7:00 PM via Zoom - Details to Follow
July 1st - Happy Canada Day - No Meeting
Members Birthdays:
NA
Spouses Birthdays:
Mark Fishburn (Alison’s husband) June 13th
Louise Gardiner June 17th
Wedding Anniversaries:
Alison Scott and Mark Fishburn June 15th – 18 years
Chris and Lynda Wilk June 16th – 13 years
Larry and Kathryn Masseo June 19th – 27 years
Club Anniversaries:
Maria Greco June 13th – 7 years
Induction Ceremony: Chuck Thompson conducted the first ever club induction by video. Graham Gardiner, Michelle’s sponsor was very happy to place the rotary pin on Michelle. Congratulations Michelle in joining our club.
“Guess the member”
Laura provided the following clues:
My legal name is Nicholas
I met my spouse in Calgary
I played off the grid poker in university
Troy correctly guessed Brad Enns.
Guest Speaker introduced by Tim Bradich
Paul Siberry – Sailor or Renown
Rotarian Tim Bradich provided introduction for avid sailor Paul Siberry. Paul was born in Stratford, ON and moved to Avonton at age 6 and became a sailing instructor at age 16. He gained sailing experience on board a lake freighter and also served as a fireman on the RMS Seqwun in Muskoka. Other experiences include trekking in the Himalayas, and scuba diving in New Guinea. He is a member of Rotary Club of Stratford and has participated in the Canada – Scotland curling exchange, where he met president–elect Jack Kinch.
Paul anecdotally described several sailing experiences, highlighting an epic voyage in 1989 that commenced on Lake Huron. In the early part of the odyssey, the sailboat ran aground on Lake St. Clair close to Detroit, and was helped by the Coast Guard. Following arrival at Amherstburg, the intention was to go to Port Colborne in one direct sailing. The challenge of a blustery Lake Erie resulted in getting to the Edgewater Yacht Club at Cleveland, again with assistance from the Coast Guard.
Eventually, calmer waters prevailed at Port Colborne and by way of the Welland Canal, they advanced to Lake Ontario. Paul recalled a very memorable experience between Port Weller, ON and Oswego, NY - in the middle of a May night, with a dead calm and pitch black water, and the stars reflecting off the water – one of many highlights of Paul’s travels.
Following the Oswego Canal to the Erie Canal, they arrived in Albany NY, and headed south on the Hudson River to New York City. This trip was through an historic “rust belt” with many examples of major industrial sites abandoned. Tides were also significant, as the crew tied up one night with 3-4 feet of slack rope, and upon returning to the boat, realized that a seven foot tide had occurred and the boat was literally hanging from the ropes.
Travel down the Hudson took a couple of days, including a stop for provisions in North Tarrytown, NY – about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan - where a friendly merchant allowed Paul to use the retailer’s personal vehicle to bring the groceries back to the boat.
In New York City, Paul had his first encounter of witnessing homeless people sleeping on the streets, and watching a drug deal being transacted.
Departing NYC, past the famous Statue of Liberty and on to Sandy Hook NY, the trip then headed east to Bermuda, an Atlantic island which is 700 miles, in all directions, from anything.
When they departed Sandy Hook, with the crew using a 4 hours on / 8 hours off watch rotation, it reminded Paul of the trips he would take on Lake Huron, departing Bayfield and heading north to Tobermory, and after passing Point Clark being on the open lake and not being able to see land.
The voyage to Bermuda had incredible experiences including dolphins swimming beside the boat, and sighting a Portuguese “man of war” ship. It took six days/seven nights to reach Bermuda and the passageway to the harbor is challenging with many obstacle reefs, prior to docking at St. George’s to meet customs.
Paul’s journey included meeting many characters with all types of watercraft – a 44’ cement boat from England; a 30’ steel boat with a crew of one Irishman; and Dodge Morgan, who at one time held the record – 150 days – for a 1983 solo “round-the-world” continuous sailing with no stops - starting and ending in Bermuda.
While on the ocean, isolation is a challenge and not being able to keep up with world events in “real time” as world events unfolded was memorable – including the death of the Ayotollah Khomeini (June 3/89) and the confrontation in Tiananmen Square (June 4/89).
After spending a couple of weeks in Bermuda, Paul and crew endured heavy ocean swells and sea-sickness and continued 1,600 miles east to the Azores. In those days, a GPS system was the size of a desk-top computer (cost about $4,500) with tracking signals from a dozen satellites. For three days the crew was unaware of their exact location, relying on “dead reckoning” (which is a qualified guess). They actually communicated to a ship that looked like a seven-story apartment building at the one end of the ship and that ship verified their position and warned of ugly weather ahead.
After 15 days they spotted Faial Island their destination in the Azores. The Azores is the main point of crossing in the mid-Atlantic. In the town of Horta, a sailor’s bar called Pete’s Café Sport holds mail for sailors to pick up when convenient on their travels.
Paul then flew to Portugal and the boat ended up in the Algarve and several years later (1992) the boat again crossed the Atlantic by way of the Canary Islands landing in North America at Annapolis, MD, home of the United States Naval Academy.
Jack Kinch thanked our speaker and meeting was adjourned.
