Hamilton distinctions at sailing hall of fame
Great sailors can start out in Hamilton, like Don Green, children going forth with their parents to learn in the school of our waters.
Or great sailors can end up here, like Ian Bruce, parents tacking back to their children as the far shore nears.
But be it beginning, finish or all the way through, this city has been part, in one way or another, of so many of this country’s best sailing stories.
Of course it has. Hamilton’s harbour is such a unique body of water for sailing, with its coves and inlets, choppy action and tricky repertoire of winds and Beaufort scale conditions, that I’m not sure anyone can meet the measure of what it is to be a sailor in full without experiencing of it.
So, although we should be pleased, we should not be surprised that Hamilton accounts for half of the four “individual” inductees in this year’s Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame ceremony; one we can claim totally; the second, well, a little less so — he’s Montreal’s but he did live here at the end.
Green, of course, is the lifelong Hamiltonian/Burlingtonian who started sailing at five on his father Victor’s Crusader out of Royal Hamilton Yacht Club. And at 18 he circumnavigated the globe on Irving Johnson’s brigantine “Yankee.” He’s winner of the 1978 Canada’s Cup in “Evergreen” (Hamilton held a tickertape parade for the crew); a member of the 1979 Canadian Admirals’ Cup team; survivor of the devastating 1979 Fastnet Race; an America’s Cup Challenger in the 12-metre “True North;” and an Order of Canada member.
Perhaps less known to Hamiltonians, but equally legendary, is Ian Bruce. Twice winner of the Prince of Wales (an incredible achievement); renowned International 14 sailor; two-time Olympic sailor for Canada (1960 and 1972); founder of Performance Sailcraft; initiator and builder of the Laser; and Officer of the Order of Canada.
I sat with Don and with Ian’s two daughters, Tracie and Tobi, as well as Robert Mazza, on the RHYC patio as the reminiscences flowed, induced along no doubt
by the surroundings. The picturesque fabric of piers and wind-crimped water, marina, breakwaters, all encircled by gorgeous galleries of shoreline woods. And, of course, by sailboats, away on the water, bobbing in the distance.
“He came late to sailing,” Tobi Bruce remembers of her father, Ian. He was in his 20s, but once the habit set, he excelled. In no time, it seems, he had qualified for the Canadian sailing team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome (they came seventh).
“He took to it full bore,” says Tobi. “The rumour is that he wanted to Astroturf the front lawn, because he didn’t want to waste time cutting the grass.” When she was old enough, Tobi
says with a laugh, she cut the lawn. Between his competitive sailing, designing boats and running a business, Ian was a truly busy man, but Tracie and Tobi both say they don’t ever remember him not “being there.”
And when Tobi went to him anxiously to talk about changing her major in university, he told her always to follow her passion, which is not just what he said, but what he lived himself. Tobi is, many of you know, senior curator of historical art at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and a true gift to this city and the arts.
Ian in his last years moved from Montreal to Hamilton to be close to his daughters and grandchildren. He brought with him to this city not only a great record of accomplishments — competitively and design-wise: the Laser boat he developed was a landmark in sailing design history. He also brought with him a great fund of stories and a feeling for the great adventure and romance of sailing.
That’s a feeling he had in common with Don, who has written books about his vast experiences on the water. He not only won the Canada’s Cup with his Evergreen crew, repatriating the title, he survived typhoons in his circumnavigation of the world and famously sailed part of the tragic Fastnet race in 1979, during which 15 yachtsmen and three rescuers were killed under severe storms.
Don has also had a long and illustrious history of service in Hamilton, sitting on hospital boards and many other bodies.
Two more deserving inductees one could never find. Also being inducted are Derek Hatfield and David Howard, the 1932 Olympic silver medallists and the 1932 Olympic bronze medallists.
The ceremony happens at Kingston Yacht Club on Sunday, Aug. 19, from 2 to 5 p.m. Hamilton will be well represented.