FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Jake Fish
US SAILING Communications Manager
jakefish@ussailing.org
(401) 683-0800
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (April 14, 2010) - The US SAILING Safety at Sea series made a rare international stop last Saturday in Canada. It had been 10 years since the Safety at Sea seminar touched down in Toronto, and 15 years since the seminar was hosted by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC). The Safety at Sea program is recognized by many as the most authoritative daylong seminar on safe seamanship, including heavy weather tactics, weather forecasting, communications and boat preparation.The OISE Auditorium reached full house capacity, as over 300 racing and cruising sailors alike attended the seminar to watch and learn from two American offshore sailing gurus and safety experts, John Rousmaniere and John Bonds. They covered important topics such as water survival and floatation options, crew overboard rescue, flares and helicopter rescue, heavy weather sailing, damage control and repair, and giving and receiving aid.
Carson Woods, a RCYC board member and chair of the Safety at Sea Committee, discussed how difficult it was for Canadian sailors to attend these seminars in the U.S. “Some of us had to travel long distances,” said Woods. “It was costly and we’d lose an entire weekend. This seminar let us reach a lot of people at one event.”
"These people are really pumped," said Bonds to Rousmaniere after they started the presentation. “The energy carried throughout the 10-hour seminar,” added Rousmaniere. “The Royal Canadian YC organizing committee arranged for a superb downtown auditorium and excellent speakers who complimented our usual curriculum. As moderator, I felt well rewarded by the large crowd with such a wide range of interests, experiences, and goals.”
Woods mentioned, “It was a lively program spiced with humor and real stories, some harrowing, but all of learning value and people were clearly happy to have come.”
Sail-World.com Feature
US SAILING's Safety at Sea Seminars
About US SAILING
The United States Sailing Association (US SAILING), the national governing body for sailing, provides leadership for the sport in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US SAILING is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.