Class Politics Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame

RobKoci

New Member
Canadian sailors:
In the absence of a real Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame, it's time we came together to nominate our choices for who would should be in it...if there was one. (The rest of the world, stop laughing. We really do have some great sailors).
I will start the nomination process:
Paul Henderson (in the builder catagory)
Terry McLaughlin (for his America's Cup and Canada's Cup racing)
Hans Fogh (for putting Canada on the sailing map.)
Abbott, (don't know first name) the guy who builds Solings in Sarnia, Ont. and won an Olympic Medal.

Anyone care to jump in? The longest journey (and this could take a while), starts with single steps.
 
Carole Spooner
Andy Roy and his training buddy who finished 1 and 2 in teh laser worlds...or do I remember that wrong?
Allan Broadribb...major player in building the ILCA and later the NA Laser Class
Fiona Kidd...Maybe it's just me but having a hottie for the Laser class secretary back in the early eighties helped keep a lot of us old guys around
Ross..AKA Mr CORK for a long long time
Ian Bruce
Doug Peckover...Multi time Laser Masters World Champion
Joe Van Rossem
Jean Beliveau...If he felt like sailing he woulda been great>>>
beliveau.jpg
 
Wow. We're getting a nice list here. Is there a member of the Royal Van or RCYC that can petition for some space at their clubs to make our Hall of Fame a reality?

Doug Peckover is a Canadian? I wonder if Peter Sidenberg could be there, or if he is now a US citizen. He used to sail out of Toronto. Crap, now we have to come up with criteria for eligibility.

This will be more complicated than I hoped. We'll need catagories, too. Why does fun always turn into work!!
 
Andy's training buddy was Terry Neilson. I don't know if Andy would be eligible yet. He's still kicking butt on the racecourse. I think he still has a Masters World Championship in him yet. He and Al Clark have a nice little rivalry going. We'll see what they do at the Worlds in Aussie.
And just in case anyone doesn't know, Andy lives in what is a real backwater when it comes to laser racing, Peterborough, Ont. Where Al Clark gets to race and train with his kids from Royal Van around the world, Andy is shoveling snow. I am cheering for the underdog here. Sorry Al.
 
Thanks Rob and Monsieur Gouvernail, but I wouldn't be on the list as you'd need to be an Olympic medalist or large class world champion (or in the "builder" category, like Bruce Kirby and Paul Henderson).

Top of the list is Ross McDonald, #1 Canadian sailor of all time IMHO.
Ross is a 2-time Olympic medalist in the Star (with crews Mike Wolfs in '04 and Eric Jesperson in '96). Ross was also a very good Laser sailor before getting into the Star.
Dave Miller and crew, Canada's first Olympic sailing medalist in '72 in Soling.
Terry McLaughlin (FD silver '84 and FD World champ). And once a very good Laser sailor.
Terry Neilson (Finn bronze '84, Laser World champ '82)
Frank McLaughlin and John Millen (470 bronze '96)
Hans Fogh and crew (Soling bronze '84). Also designed the Laser sail.
Dirk Kneulman (Etchells world champ, renowned boat builder, and former Laser sailor).
Bill Abbott of soling sailing and building fame did not win an Olympic medal, but I think he may once have been soling world champ.
I might be missing a few other Canadian sailing world champs.

Gouv: great suggestion adding Jean Beliveau to the list. "Le Gros Bill", as he is known in La Belle Province, was my favorite hockey player of all time.
 
Excellent additions. Where hockey is king, it's easy to forget how good some of our sailors were/are. We have the beginnings of a great Hall.

In the late 90's, I was a big F1 fan. Villeneuve had won the Championship, and Greg Moore and Paul Tracy and were hot in Indy. One day, I walk down to retail floor of the building where I worked and there, in an abandoned retail space, is the newly minted Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame. On display, is the Williams car that Villey won his Championship in AND Greg Moores's Indy car from the year before. Very cool.

When Moore was killed in Fontana, Cal. in 1999, there was a line up down the street.
There was always traffic there otherwise and it eventually moved to a permanent facility in Halton Hills, Ont. I say all this to say, when a sport with far, far fewer heros can establish a Hall of Fame, there is no reason why we can't. I'll keep this dream alive. And keep the nominations coming. And if there are boats or memorabilia out there that would fit the Hall, let me know that, too.
 
Is Tom Allan Sr of Buffalo Canoe Cloub Canadian or a New Yorker? he should certainly be a hall of famer on one side or both of the border in any thorough listing.

I have no idea why my Hokey player photo quit working and became an X in a box. Here is another.

beliveau3.jpg
 

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