The first of what all Ontario sailors hope are many annual Fogh Marine sponsored ski events went out with a scream February 19th at Craigleith Ski Club in Collingwood, Ont. I read Pam Shinkoda's account of her winning a new 2010 Laser for the explanation:
"I had never been in a ski race before, but thought I'd give it a try. Had to check out the run before lunch so, I knew what I was in for. Thankfully, it was a gentle introduction into racing. After watching Bernard go through (just needed some clarification on which side of the gates I was supposed to round!), I gave it a whirl. Don't think that I had much Bode Miller style going through, but it felt fast enough. Got some coaching from my friend, Claire, before my second run and I could hear her cheering (or was that laughing) as I took off. It was a nice surprise to find out about my first place women's finish. It set a good tone.
After the day of skiing, I carefully laid out my three raffle tickets in front of me, waiting patiently for the draw. Tobin and I could use any of the items in the raffle, but of course, I had my eye on the 2010 Laser. We patiently watched as prizes were won by others in the room around us. Then Morten started riffling through the box, feeling around for the winning ticket. When he pulled out the ticket and handed it to Glenn, I saw him smiling at me and when Glenn had barely gotten the name, "Pamela" out I was already screaming. (Tobin was thankful that there weren't any other Pamela's in the box, because I would have been crushed and somewhat embarrassed.)
I want to thank Morten so much for the generous donation and let him to know that I'm going to put it to very good use. My 1981 yellow Laser is going into semi-retirement. We're going to keep it for friends and family to use. So if you are out at the Water Rats and looking to get your butt wet in a Laser, give me a call and you're welcome to borrow it. I've already been to Fogh pestering Morten to check out my new boat.
P.S. As the Commodore of the Water Rats pointed out to me, winning a boat at the Fogh Marine Ski Day was so much easier than winning it through the District 3 Gold Cup series. Couldn't agree more."
D3Laser.com is the offical site for the International Laser Class Association North America (ILCA-NA) Laser District 3 in Ontario Canada. District 3, or D3, focuses on the Laser Full-Rig, Radial, and 4.7 classes.
