First time at CORK-Jim Beckett

PHONE: +1 (613) 545-1322
EMAIL: info@cork.org
ADDRESS: Portsmouth Olympic Harbour 53 Yonge Street, Kingston ON, Canada, K7M 6G4

(Photo and Story submitted by Jim Beckett)

I arrived in Canada on Friday 13^th 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.