MASTHEAD

It was quite a summer! Great weather for the most part really helped make our boating season enjoyable.

Fall is upon us, which tends to bring more activity inside the clubhouse, which is operating smoothly.

The construction of the outside balcony with new deck boards and railings looks fantastic.

The flower baskets, new hangers and clubhouse pots are beautiful. Thank you, Bonnie and Art!

The house is kept in shipshape by Greg, who works tirelessly to keep it clean. Great job, Greg!

Function Bookings, co-ordinated by Elizabeth, have been busy once again. Well done, Elizabeth!

Babu and staff do an excellent job serving in the restaurant with delicious daily specials. Thank you all!

The House Committee addressed any issues and they were fixed to maintain the clubhouse as is expected. Thank you to Sue Allan, Peter Briden, Pam Burnett and Mario Porporo.

Wishing all of you a very smooth and safe Haul Out.

See you in the House!

Tony Verrall,
Vice Commodore

We come to this club for many reasons, but at the core, it’s simple: this place matters. It matters because of the water, the boats, the view — yes — but even more because of the people who make this community what it is.

We all work hard. We all have boats. And boats, as we know, break. They demand time, money, patience, and occasionally a sense of humour. But we’re fortunate. When something goes sideways, we’re surrounded by members who offer expertise, tools, labour, and sympathy without hesitation. That generosity is the quiet engine that keeps this club running.

And then there’s the escape. No matter how busy life gets, all we have to do is drive — or walk — down the hill. As we come around that last bend and the view opens up, everything shifts. The noise of the city falls away. If we want solitude, we can find it on a walk or simply sitting aboard our boats. If we want company, we’re never more than a few steps from friends on the docks or a meal at the clubhouse.

Behind the scenes, the property stays clean, the gardens stay beautiful, and the small details we rarely notice are quietly handled by members who give their time because they care. That’s the part of club life that’s easy to overlook, but impossible to function without.

I grew up with a cottage and have spent my entire life around boats of every kind. Being able to enjoy a space like this — so close to the city, yet so deeply connected to the water — has been a blessing. Over the past five years, I’ve learned more than I ever expected, and I’ve appreciated every moment.

Thank you for the privilege of sharing this incredible journey we call boating.

Sue Baker,
Rear Commodore

After spending much time navigating the waters of board meetings, I will be leaving the CBYC board effective at the end of this boating season.

It’s been a genuine privilege to serve the club and to work alongside so many dedicated members. I have thoroughly enjoyed the friendships, discussions, debates, and of course the occasional effort required to keep us all pointed in the same direction.

Serving on the board has given me an even greater appreciation for the work and commitment that go into making CBYC the special boating community that it is.

While I’m stepping away from the board, I’m certainly not sailing away into the sunset.

I look forward to remaining an active member of the club.

I wish the incoming board every success and hope they enjoy the experience as much as I have.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve. It’s been an honour.

Ernie Artemenko,
Past Commodore

Wow! 20 years since I came to this club after buying my first ‘big boat’ in Cleveland. I’d sailed since my 20s but started to get serious in my mid-40s. I took lots of training and got some long-distance open ocean stuff. Finally, I’d scraped together enough to buy InTuition. There have been other boats but none I’ve loved so much.

Once again, we complete the great circle of a club season. As you’re reading this, we are all busy getting ready for haulout and winter storage or setting up for winter live-aboard. I love the crisp fall days, although what they portend sucks!

We’ve been kept pretty busy with all our digital communications work:

• our regular weekly eflashes and twice-a-year mastheads
• delivering online viewing of board meetings
• our growing club history section on the website (take a look!)
• online support functions like membership/boat/dock data, haulout admin, workchits/workhours, OD duty, insurance reminders, sailplans, member directory, ‘directed’ contact-us, buy & sell, etc.
• email support for 60+ accounts
• incoming reservation management
• cruising program support
• workhour job co-ordination
• website info, links and other resources
• building out new functions (e.g., our own survey tool!)

We’ve also had a very busy summer managing our club wifi. From all reports I have had, we have one of the better setups on the lake. There’s still quite a ways to go in terms of getting distribution to outlying spots or those in the shadow of another boat. However, “We’re a sailing club, not an internet club,” so we have to be judicious in how much we spend on solving those issues. As a geek, I love to work with these technologies, but as a director of your club, I try to think responsibly about adding to our overall club costs.

The big event this year was the hack attack. We were not alone in being taken down, but our outage was shorter than most. It was a truly unfortunate ‘gotcha’ due to a hole in an app used by the website that came to light in a bunch of the security forums. We monitor them actively for alerts, had picked up the alert and addressed it. Unfortunately, we believe an accidental system restore undid our fixes, leaving the door open temporarily.

The growing use of AI and hacker collectives working around the world is making site protection an ongoing challenge. We have a pretty strong combination of in-house and provider-based tech teams, deep site monitoring, backups, along with AI.

Photo: AS

The hack was a kind of ‘Trojan horse’ and waited a couple of weeks before activating. This meant our backups were ‘iffy’ too. Fortunately, we detected hackers almost as soon as they started actively messing with the site. We were able to lock things down and repair the damage, but it was a big job. We’re rebuilding on a totally new ‘clean’ platform now to ensure no ‘hidden’ artifacts from the hack. Hopefully, by the time you read this, we should have more news on rollout.

I’d like to thank all the hands that help make our portfolio work:

Adrian Lebar, Bev Weber, Joohyun Kwon, Rick Earle, Daniel Gnatz, Ken Schick, Will Morphy, Mario Porporo, Garth Juul, Gene Lee, Brendan Doyle and Warren Shiau.

What a summer it’s been! Our Sailpast salute to Commodore Randy Holden, an active cruise program, all sorts of racing for every level, live bands and parties most weekends all contributed to a vibrant social life. Once again, pop-up parties became a thing. In the 2010s, I can recall the same vibe happening for a few years. It is always fun to see! …and of course sailing, sailing, sailing (OK, and powerboating too). The water calls to us all.

Thank you once again for allowing me to serve as your Communications Director. It has been an honour and a privilege.

Steve Gallinger

PS: I ran this through my AI (I call her Louise) after I wrote it. She offered up a ‘dressed up, smoother, more corporate-y’ version, but I figured you guys prefer authentic Steve vs. ‘AI-ified Steve’ even with the warts.

Photo: UN

Hello, Members. Rob King here.

What a great season! YAY!

Lots has happened since our last Masthead.

My team and I support our members with launch, haul-out (gate crews), vessel fires, Ministry, Fire, Police, EMS, walkabouts and the list goes on – it’s been an amazing season!

I would like to provide you (our members) with an update as it relates to my portfolio as your Director of Site Safety/Security and Environment. I must maintain our fire suppression systems, fire extinguishers (house/docks), first response and security at our club, and assist with the federation and membership issues.

Every year, we have our clubhouse inspected and certified, and if we have deficiencies, they are addressed right away. The 2026 inspection has been completed, and all deficiencies will have been completed by the time you read this. Unfortunately, we had many issues with our dry system, and this resulted in several repairs (call-out at 3 AM, fire, etc.), but all was completed.

As you read this, please note the bottom.

Just a little housekeeping:

• Please lock your vessel.
• Hazardous waste area – oil in oil bins, antifreeze in antifreeze bins. No GAS.
• Cradle layout – please take extra caution and remember our speed in the lot is 10 km/h or less.
• Remember “out of sight, out of mind” as we start to close our boats for the season.
• Also, NO parking at SBSC unless authorized (you will be towed or ticketed).

Cradles are now placed, and boats will be on the “hard.” Please use extra caution when driving and walking in our lot. Our OD starts November 1. The list will be posted online, on the pegboard, with copies in the clubhouse and in the OD report book.

I want to thank all members for a great season.

Rob King,
Director of Site Safety/
Security and Environment

Photo: TS

Photo: KaS

Four years ago, on a blustery fall day in Stouffville, I sat down at the local Starbucks with George Vasil, a former Treasurer and Commodore, and Tim Blythe, then CBYC’s longtime Finance Committee Chair, to talk about running for Treasurer.

I left with a four-year commitment: one year shadowing George, then up to three in the role, helping the Finance Committee put in place the controls they had spent several years preparing.

The timing was right. The club’s books were on a computer that no longer received security updates, running accounting software more than a decade out of date, and much of the work was still done by hand on paper. It was time for the club’s accounting to enter the 21st century. Fortunately, implementing membership systems with integrated accounting is what I do professionally, so I understood what it would take.

Turning plans like these into working systems doesn’t come from wishful thinking or waiting for someone else to step up, but from rolling up your sleeves and getting to work, which is exactly what we did. The Finance Committee invested in a modern laptop, and together we moved seven years of data from Simply Accounting to QuickBooks Online. Along the way, our Vice Commodore and Membership Director joined in to launch the Dining Card.

Those projects moved the club forward. The most rewarding chapter began in my final year.

Mentorship

A pilot project led us to apprentice, then hire, a new graduate as a junior accountant. When Glenys Wilkings, our Finance Committee Chair, interviewed Aishwarya, her verdict was clear: more than qualified.

Today, Aish is mentored by three remarkable women, each adding a different dimension to her development. Glenys, a retired CPA, brings accounting precision and audit experience. Connie Bergeron, who led strategic management and financial planning for the entire technology sector of a major Canadian bank, brings big-picture financial thinking. Marlen Reyes, a tech-savvy local businesswoman who runs four businesses with her husband Sid, is working with Aish to build standard operating procedures, using AI to speed the process.

It’s a rare combination for any young professional, and Aish is making the most of it. Together, they’re codifying the club’s processes into a framework that works no matter who does the job.

The Finance Committee keeps getting stronger, with Marc Renzela joining us recently, and heartfelt thanks go to longtime members George Vasil, Art Funnell, Joe Spronck and Tim Blythe, now an advisor, for contributions that span decades, not years.

Systems can be replaced and software migrated. What’s harder to rebuild is the next generation of members ready to accept the responsibility of leadership. What happened in our office this spring and summer was remarkable, and the real winners are our club and its members.

Photo: JK

What’s next

None of this happened on its own. Behind every change were early mornings, late evenings and hands-on work from a committed team. That kind of effort is a footnote in our financial statements — members contributed 13,448 hours in 2024/25 — but it’s the lifeblood that keeps our club strong.

Meanwhile, my company has been quietly building an AI-operated membership system, which launched last spring. I won’t run for the Board this year, as I grab hold of a comet and ride it into my next great adventure.

Thank you for four good years. Whoever takes this role next will find the books in order and a very capable team already in place to take things to the next level.

Julie King,
Treasurer

When I first joined the Board as Secretary, I expected my year to involve plenty of agendas, minutes and correspondence—and there has certainly been plenty of that. But I’ve discovered there’s so much more that happens behind the scenes: learning how we operate, working with our members and staff, and especially interacting with our visitors.

I quickly discovered that being Secretary means being an active and important part of the Board’s work. We don’t work in isolation—everyone has a part to play, and everyone brings a different perspective to the table. I don’t always agree with my fellow Directors, but their questions and challenges have pushed me to research, question, and think things through carefully. They’ve compelled me to consider not only what I think, but how I can respond in a way that is logical, legal, ethical, and respectful.

I also didn’t expect to learn so much about the fascinating—and sometimes technical—world of insurance. We currently carry policies covering everything from accidents and machinery breakdowns to cyber incidents and Directors’ liability.

My first real introduction came with the sewage backup under the A Dock building. Nothing says “welcome to the Board” quite like standing outside in the cold with an insurance adjuster discussing damage, values, and coverage!

Our cyber incident gave me a whole new appreciation for our cyber insurance. With forensic investigation and legal assistance estimated at around $40,000, that coverage suddenly seemed a lot more important—and a lot less like something buried in a policy binder.

More recently, questions about Directors’ liability have sent me back to the books. I’ve learned that insurance policies are a bit like detective novels: definitions, exclusions, conditions, and the occasional plot twist. It’s been a good lesson in just how carefully the wording matters!

All in all, being Secretary has turned out to be considerably more intense than I expected—and I now know far more about insurance than I ever thought I would need to! It’s been a great opportunity to see all that goes into making things happen, and I’ve really come to appreciate all that we have—and, even more so, all that we are.

Beverly Weber,
Secretary

We had a good summer: we participated in the basin racing program, and the cruising program was almost flawless. Our education and reciprocals committees and the work on the visitor tent were exceptional. The considerable efforts of our team (Mike, Stewart, Bryan, Mark and Elaine) made it all look easy.

Photo: DZ

Our summer planning turned out amazing. Our cruising program had ten club reciprocal destinations, complemented by our competitive basin racing and the “fun” series for new racers.

Our traditional CBYC “Cruise to Nowhere” party, complete with wine and hors d’oeuvres, was held in our clubhouse. This is a time-honoured tradition, and it was nice to have it again this year. This event serves as an introduction to our cruising season, a must for anyone who wishes to participate in the program, especially new members. The event featured an introduction to cruising, racing and the different programs offered to the fleet.

Our first cruise was to Lake Shore Yacht Club, a club that we haven’t visited in a few years. We also visited Island Yacht Club, Frenchman’s Bay, Etobicoke Yacht Club and Mimico Cruising Club, and made our large reciprocal cruise to Port Credit Yacht Club for the Commodore’s Cruise. Now that visit to Port Credit was impressive: we had almost thirty boats from CBYC and close to seventy participants. All this was coupled with fabulous grounds, a pool, a nice clubhouse with a full-service restaurant, and Lakefront Promenade Park and beach.

For the sailors among us, we worked as hard as possible to grow participation in the racing program. Racers took part in races here in the basin for the Double-Handed Series, Full Team Series and the Fun Race Series. The Fun Race Series once again proved to be a breeding ground for racers as they compete with the guidance of mentors from all clubs. Their goal is to get some experience Fun Racing and then join in the Monday, Wednesday or the recently finished Fall Series.

Beyond the basin, CBYC had racers all over the lake this summer. Racing from CBYC this season were Primetime II, Stormlight, Tsunami, Relentless, Finesse IV, Silver Lining, and Impossible Mission. The Basin Regatta in July was a great success and added Southern Cross, Laughter, Harvest Moon and the Mighty Craic to the list of CBYC racers this summer. Keep your eyes open for more racing opportunities next spring!

We are making improvements: the automated cruise sign-up process will be improved further, our website with reciprocal destinations is consistently being updated, and our education committee is working hard to provide you with excellent, much-needed certifications, such as marine radio, first aid, etc.

We can’t thank our crew enough for putting up such a nice, upgraded visitor tent, not to mention the hard-working, super helpful docking crews we had all season long.

Wishing you a joyous fall season.

Dror Ziskind,
Fleet Captain

This past summer has been different than many in the past, for Nancy and myself, because we did not have a boat at the club. We took Birdie to the Bahamas, leaving the CBYC dock early Sept 30 last year, had quite an adventure getting there and decided to repeat winters South and keep the boat closer to our destination. At the last Board Meeting we were approved as Cruising members, and as such I am now not officially a board member. The committee chairs and members have been a great part of getting things done and supporting Membership and I thank them all.

Being a member of your board was an honour which I tried to live up to the past 22 months. I encourage everyone to spend a couple of years on the board to learn more about how this club operates and to get a chance to be involved and feel closer to this special place we have. We plan to bring the boat back and we will continue to be around CBYC when we aren’t anchored off some sandy beach in the short term.

Rick Ward,
(Covering) Membership Director

Hello, fellow members,

It has been a great summer. This was my first year as Construction and Maintenance Director, and it has been a busy one.

The winter arrived very quickly last year. The ice froze, and it stayed frozen until a few weeks before launch.

Over 30 floats detached from the docks, and that was quite a job trying to get them reinstalled before launch.

That winter was probably one of the worst we’ve had in decades.

On one dock, the sleeve froze to the pile, and the moving ice jacked it up. Members had a lot of ideas about what had happened. We figured it out, disassembled the dock and cut the pile to get it back to the original height.

There were also frozen water pipes, which needed to be replaced and repaired.

A team came down pretty much daily to maintain the bubbling system.

We installed our new pump-out and also replaced the pumps in the shed.

I had a lot of help from our members. None of these jobs could have been accomplished without the great support from our members.

We have taken down the screens around the cradles and prepared for haulout. That’s another year complete.

Hoping you all have a safe winter, and we will see you again on the water in the spring.

Floyd Dempster,
Construction and Maintenance Director