Here are the photos from Geoff Webster. Awesome as always!

This past Tuesday the sailng team re-christened the mighty 680 as “Boys and Girls Club of Canada”.

As many of you will know I have been working with a group of kids at the club over the past few months, and over that time I have really come to appreciate the good work that the club does for the community.

Earlier this month I had the idea to rename the boat for the kids at the club. Our hope is to help raise awareness and hopefully funds for their work in the community. Harold Parsons is the Executive Director of the Kingston B&GC and he suggested that the national office might be interested in taking on this project at the national level. After a flurry of emails, we finalized the deal.

We had a great launch event with lots of family, friends, as well as some of the kids from the club. Ben was good enough to make the offering to King Neptune, and I think we has an auspicious start to the season.

Sorry to update you with a press release…. More tomorrow.

The Minimus Sailing Team and Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, are proud to announce the christening and naming of world class sailor Nathan Baron’s Open 6.5, on Tuesday May 13th at 4:00pm at Collin’s Bay Marina.

The Minimus Sailing Team has chosen to help promote the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada by naming the boat after this important national child and youth serving organization. Skipper Nathan Baron remarks “This sailing project has been supported by the Kingston community, and we are very proud to be able to give something back to the community. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada does so much to support children and we are very excited to help promote the Clubs and their important programs both locally at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kingston and at Clubs across the country.”

“We are delighted to be a part of this exciting initiative,” said Pam Jolliffe, President and CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to bring much-needed visibility to the positive impact that Clubs have on the lives of 200,000 young people in Canada annually and to generate new support for Club programs in the Kingston community and across the country.”

This summer the team will be sailing from Annapolis Maryland USA, racing in the Bermuda Ocean Race (BOR), a double handed (two-crew) race from Annapolis to Bermuda. This unique race is a mix of coastal navigation as well as testing offshore skills of top skippers on the North American East coast. Crew Greg van Rossem commented: “The BOR is a very tough race on its own, but as an element of Nathan’s training for the 2009 Mini Transat, this will be a very important event.”

The launch comes after a winter re-fit on the boat, making various improvements and refinements to the extreme yacht called an Open 6.5 or Mini. Boat Services Kingston have donated their time and expertise to help the Minimus Sailing Team get the boat into top shape for this season’s racing.

The christening of the boat will be open to the public at Collin’s Bay Marina at 4:00pm Tuesday May 13th. Children from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kingston will be on hand to help christen the boat. Please come down to support the sailing team as well as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.

About Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada is a leading provider of programs to children and youth that support the healthy physical, educational and social development of 200,000 young people and their families each year. In 700 community locations across Canada, Clubs offer after-school programs in physical recreation, technology, the arts, personal growth and more. Many Clubs also provide meals, emergency shelter, family support programs and other supports to children, youth and families at risk. Boys and Girls Clubs have been helping young Canadians to discover, develop and achieve their potential, for over 100 years. To learn more, visit www.bgccan.com.

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