The Weekend Regatta

 

On the weekends the club held a race. I raced my Y Flyer in them with my dad.

Escorting Bluenose II

In 1967, Expo year, we escorted the Bluenose II to the Montreal harbour. Notice the changes in the harbour front. There is a flyby of a hovercraft. Numerous  motor boats also greeted her, we were the only sailboat.

 

Weekend LBC

 

This is 1967. My sisters Linda and Mary-Jane are in this video. Linda is sailing the Sprog probably for the first time. I am coaching her from the stern of True Love. I am sailing with my cousin, Glen, My mom and dad are sailing the Sprog in heavy winds. 

Labour Day Regatta 1968 or 1969

 

Labour Day Invitational Regatta

Every labour day we invited Preville Yacht Club to a regatta LBC hosted. I am not sure if I was in this race. I remember it along with a couple of the participants. 

Trois Rivieres

 

In 1967 True Love voyaged down the St Lawrence. This is the Laviolette Bridge under construction. It was finished in December 1967. 

The Marina at Trois Rivieres doesn't look much different. However the pulp and paper mill have been removed and is now a park. You can see True Love in the background. 

True Love

This is the starboard view of True Love. She is a beautiful 36 foot schooner. She is owned by Gerry and Jean McNea. Gerry, Jean and my dad are taking her out for a daysail, Pearl, my mother is filming. Later on, in 1967, the four of them sailed her down river to Tadoussac. A big adventure. The rudder stock broke in a squall. We saw True Love a couple of years later. The beautiful cabin had been sawn off and replaced with a plywood box to get headroom. 

 

Dollard des Ormeaux

 

This appears to be an expedition commemorating Dollard des Ormeaux, They seem to be retracing the route that this voyageur took.  

LBC The late forties and early fifties

 

Mom & Dad

These are the stairs of LBC club house. It was on piers. Boats were stored and worked on underneath, My parents wedding reception was held in the club. 

Jack Manderville on Y Flyer 1. Note the two steeple church in the background. 

My mother Pearl Larsen on her Moth. 

View of dinghies around 1950.

My dad, Walter Critchlow

My dad is posing on his "Popular Mechanics" sailboat that he built in the dining room of an apartment on Prince Arthur.  Note the keelboats at anchor in the background.

Pearl Larsen on my dad's boat.

In the background yachts are at anchor. Also there is Excel. This was a club of canoe/kayak enthusiasts. There appears to be summer huts. Pearl's Moth can been seen under the transom.

A motor boat.

View from Excel towards Longueuil Boating Club. 

Another view of LBC from Excel.

Paddling regatta. Excel. 

The Bote 1966

 

It is a perfect day. The wind direction allowed us to raise the sails at the dock. I am raising the jib and my dad , Walter, is bending on the mizzen.

This is 1966. I am thirteen years old. I was just learning to sail. We had exchanged our Moth sailboat for a twenty four foot Bugeye  Ketch, “The Bote”. The previous year she was motored from Ste Annes to Preville. She badly leaked. We beached her at Valois bay in Dorval overnight so she would not sink. Over the winter we rebuilt her. A new bottom and a complete paint job.

You will see in the background Jean-Marc Brien’s Folkboat that he built. It is a bit short as it did not fit in the garage. I remember sailing her.

The “Bote”  was an awful yacht. She was painful to tack but she was our first cruising boat. Notice that the filming stopped each time we tacked.  My mother, Pearl, took these movies. I had a great time sailing with my father. I do not remember my sisters sailing on her.

I have this theory that the subject of the video or photo is rarely the interest later on. There is no Olympic Stadium. There is the red and white  coal gas tower. And there are the familiar grain silos.

Route 132 had just been built. It has cut off casual access to the river. The old club house has been abandoned and a new club house has been planned.  My father was the plumber for the project.