My first experience " sailing " was as a teenager on my father's rowboat on the Gatineau River, north of Ottawa, near the town of Wakefield. I attached a makeshift mast and sail to the boat and sailed downwind, the only point of sail I could go. I had a terrific sail down the river for a couple of miles dodging the floating logs.When I turned to go back home, I discovered the boat would not make any headway because of the sail configuration, lack of a keel and the fairly strong current.

       During a long and strenuous row back home, I considered the possibility of sailing upstream in the right wind conditions and then floating home with the current but too many logs in this area prohibited this, but I was smitten by the sailing bug and vowed to pursue this sport when I had the resources.

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Created 5 February 2002 by Mark Smith		Last Updated on