The Anchor Weekly – The Chestermere Lake News

The Icebreaker regatta, which was held the last week-end of May, is the beginning of an active season at the Yacht Club. Chestermere prides itself on being a lakeside community, and what better way to enjoy the beautiful setting than by getting involved in the sport of sailing! You do not need to be a member of the Club to enjoy the many programs that are offered. There are Adult Learn to Sail lessons, Summer sailing camp for kids in July and August, Learn to race programs for young and old alike, a variety of water safety courses and many [...]

STRATHMORE – For Hannah Meers and Erin Flanagan, sailing is top priority these days, as the pair are campaigning to make it to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Currently, Meers and Flanagan are busy training and competing in Miami, where they have been since the end of November. The pair will come home to Canada for a month or so in the coming weeks, but will then head to Europe to continue training before the summer games. Meers, 18, is from Strathmore. She started sailing and racing when she was 10-years-old out of Calgary Yacht Club in Chestermere, as [...]

CHESTERMERE – Six members of the Calgary Yacht Club, which is of course based out of Chestermere, are headed overseas this March to compete in the 2012 Laser Masters Worlds in Brisbane, Australia. Four of the members, Lesley and Stephen Reichenfeld, Phil Paxton and Dave Elliot are from Chestermere, with additional CYC members Thom Stubbs, Bill Mulloy and Richard Quinlan also making the journey. The CYC will have the largest representation from any single club in North America. The group has been getting together to train twice a week at the Athlete Factory in Calgary, doing everything from weights to [...]

CHESTERMERE – Lesley Reichenfeld, a member of the Calgary Yacht Club in Chestermere, recently returned from San Francisco where she competed in the Laser Masters World Championship from Aug. 7 to 13. It was the biggest race she had ever competed in, having only taken up sailing five years ago, but in the end she won her category, the women’s Radial Grand Masters. She raced 12 races in six days, and said that it was an extremely challenging experience. “It was the most extreme conditions I’d ever sailed in,” she said. “It was interesting to have to figure out how [...]

CHESTERMERE– The Calgary Yacht Club is finally ready to set sail with its new building after over a decade of planning and construction. One of the area’s oldest establishments, the club literally pre-dates Chestermere’s classification as a town and even as a village. And despite being renovated a number of times over its 78-year occupancy, club manager Fie Hulsker said it was time for a change. The living room and kitchen had been cobbled on the old building, and the additions left double walls and mismatched wiring everywhere. Many may also recall frying away on the exposed lakefront deck and [...]

CHESTERMERE– What a splash. From wakeboards to surfboards and rubber ducks to power boats, the annual Chestermere Water Festival displayed some of the most fun you can have on the lake. The wakeboarding competition once again proved to be the signature event as people lined the banks of John Peake Park to take in the action on July 23. Riders of all ages took turns showing off various flip, spin and grab tricks. They were allowed three falls and judged on three categories: intensity (height, distance), style (execution), and composition (diversity of tricks.) “You want to see diversity, so show [...]

GAINFORD– At three years old, an age when most kids are slipping on water wings for the first time, Justin Gratzfeld was learning how to wakeboard. Now an 18-year-old boarding vet with a resume chalked full of competitions and sponsors, Gratzfeld recalled his early days on Lake Isle, which is about 80 kilometres from Edmonton. His father Shawn would stand on shore and pull the rope like a boat, while the young boarder tried to keep his balance. “It was a different way of life,” Gratzfeld said. “It was different than starting a lot of other sports.” He’s grown a [...]