(Photo and Story submitted by Jim Beckett)
I arrived in Canada on Friday 13th February 1964, after a crossing delayed 3 days by gales, to take up a post at the Biological Station in St. Andrews. As the weather warmed I learnt that there was no dinghy racing locally. What a change after making over 250 racing starts the year before in regattas, guesting in championships and team racing. In St. A, with a few colleagues we resurrected the long expired St. Andrews Sailing Club (New Brunswick) and built up a motley collection of dinghies, mostly home built; Enterprise, Mirrors and a Seafly. We raced, at odd times because of the interesting tides in Passamaquoddy Bay, but this did not fill my void. Then CORK was developed and this appealed to me very deeply, and I pondered how to participate. The selling off of a bunch of OKs after a Dominion (?) regatta in the Prairies provided the means. So my first appearance at CORK was for the 1970 event in the OK. What a blast, not only the sailing but the whole atmosphere and camaraderie, launching off the RMC (Royal Military College of Canada) playing fields and camping in the “CORK village”. I repeated the hike from New Brunswick for several years, first in the OK, then in a Finn for a couple of years before settling for a Laser. Then work got in the way, particularly as that last two weeks of August involved preparing for annual international fisheries negotiations so I dropped out of CORK, and indeed a few years later from all racing due to my work load.
Jim sailing his OK dinghy
In 1996 I left my position to become a consultant and had the opportunity to volunteer on water at CORK, as I have each year since then.
Jim Beckett volunteering with (L-R) Tim Irwin, Ross Cameron, Lyle Merriam
(Photo Jim Beckett awarded the Douglas Heath Award in 2013)
We miss seeing you & all of the amazing volunteers this summer Jim! Thank you for sharing your story with us all.
If you have story that you would like to share with others tag us in a story on social media or reach out to events@cork.org
We are looking forward to hearing from you!
The CORK Team
CORK website: www.cork.org
CORK Regatta Office: (613)-545-1322
Email: info@cork.org
Address: Portsmouth Olympic Harbour 53 Yonge Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
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