Albacore Regatta

OUTER HARBOUR CENTREBOARD CLUB
A lbacore Regatta - July 4, 2009

SCHEDULE
9:00 a.m. Registration
10:00 a.m. Skippers Meeting
11:00 a.m. 1st Race
2nd Race to immediately follow first Race
(Lunch time to be determined by the Race Committee)
3rd Race
4th Race to follow 3rd Race, time permitting
4:45 p.m. Cocktails
5:15 p.m. Dinner and Awards

(If 4 races, best 3 to count, if 3 or less races, all to count.)

REGISTRATION: OUTER HARBOUR AT OHCC
Races: On the lake, weather permitting.
Cost: $60 per boat
Includes: breakfast--coffee, muffins...
* happy hour
* dinner
* prizes
Lunch: Bring your own. Lunch is on the water.
Extra Dinner: $15

All times are approximate and weather dependent.

For more information call Gordon Chu (416) 733-6851
or e-mail; gordon.chu@xerox.com

Three Courses for Sailors and Race Committees

Marine Radio Operator’s Course - Toronto Power and Sail Squadron
Forest Hill Collegiate, 730 Eglinton Ave. W. May 4, 12 and 14, 2009 at 7:00-9:30 PM (Cost $85)
Register by calling the Toronto Power and Sail Squadron at 416-405-8146 or, go to http://www.torontopowersquadron.org/courses/eng/mar_radio.htm.

Club committee boats equipped with a VHF radio and a Digital Selective Call­ing (DSC) emergency button (red encased by a plastic cover) will dispatch a distress signal when depressed to the Canadian Coast Guard immediately initiating search and rescue effects. The Maritime Radio VHF-DSC Course teaches emergency radio procedures, as well as everyday operating. The course also prepares one for the Restricted Operator Certificate (Maritime) with DSC Endorsement examination with testing during the third session. The ROC (M) is required to operate a VHF radio in Canada.

OSA Boat Safety and Severe Weather Course
OHCC Clubhouse on Wednesday May 13, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Register by contacting Ralph Drake at 416-496-0325 or email: rdrake@drake-associates.ca

Ontario Sailing will give course on Boat safety and Severe Weather with respect to dinghy sailing. The speaker is Ron Bioanchi who has extensive public speaking experience and a great deal of knowledge pertaining to weather and boat safety. He will cover:

• Life Jackets - a review, Lifejackets vs PFD’s, Inflatable PFD’s, things to consider when choosing a flotation device, Transport Canada approved, Testing a lifejacket or PFD, Proper maintenance of a lifejacket or PFD – when to replace it or not use it
  
• Cold Water Dangers and Hypothermia – What happens in cold water, Cold shock, The process of Hypothermia, once in the water, survival techniques, planning ahead
  
• Basic Boat Rescue Techniques –Self-rescue techniques, rec­ognition of emergencies, the throw line, emergency towing, M.O.B, getting people out of the water and to safety, apply­ing first aid
  
• Adverse Weather - Basic understanding and assessing the potential of severe weather and sea conditions. Staying informed, Getting the weather picture before you go out, The many dangers of cold fronts, warm fronts, thunderstorms, squalls, Personal “Go-No-Go” checklist when venturing in stormy condition

Power Vessel Operators Permit - Toronto Port Authority
OHCC Clubhouse on Wednesday May 23, 2009 at 10:00 AM (Cost $20.00)
Register by contacting Peter Suchanek at 416-458-9199 or email suchanek@istar.ca

Toronto Port Authority (TPA) will conduct its Power Vessel Operator’s Permit course. It is a requirement of the Toronto Port Authority that anyone operat­ing a motorized vessel within the boundary of the Port of Toronto must possess a Power Vessel Operator’s Permit issued by the TPA. This permit is different from the Pleasure Craft Operator Card required for general motorized vessel operation elsewhere in Canada.

The hour long lecture is followed by a multiple choice exam and a short, on-water boat operating competency test.

Open Letter to Outer Harbour Federation Clubs

Re: Boating Club Tax Issues 2009 4 February 2009
Tobin Young, Chairman
Council of Commodores

Your club may have received an updated Property Assessment Notice from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) directly or via your landlord. The updated notice shows the assessed value of your club’s property based on a January 1, 2008 valuation date and this assessment value will be the basis of your municipal taxes for the next four years (the new value is also phased in over four years). If your club has not received an Assessment Notice, you should contact your municipality to get a copy of the Assessment that covers your area so that you can forecast its impact to your club prior to the 31 March 2009 deadline for objecting to the assessment. Otherwise your municipality will issue you a tax invoice based on this new Assessment that they received, and you will be bound to pay these taxes. Property values have increased by an average of approximately 20% across Ontario since 2005, when the last assessment update was done. However, with the Property tax assessments that just went out, many of our clubs have seen their assessed values rise by 10 – 30 times (not percent). MPAC has decided to increase the Assessed value of waterfront properties a much greater percentage than the provincial average. As an example, in Toronto the assessed value of an acre of open waterfront parkland used by boating clubs has gone from about $200,000 per acre in 2005 to $ 1.2 million per acre in 2008.

In addition to higher assessed values, there is inconsistency in the Ontario laws governing tax classification of various property types. Not-for-profit clubs which own their own land are clearly in the residential tax class but the tax class for not-for-profit clubs which lease their land is not defined. Therefore, clubs which lease land could be, and sometimes are, placed into the commercial tax class. Since this law came into effect, most municipalities have continued to tax boating clubs as residential property but this is slowly changing. Every year, one or two more clubs which lease their land are being classified as commercial property. Commercial tax rates are typically 2 – 4 times higher than residential tax rates. Add a tenfold increase in assessed value with a change to from residential to commercial tax rate and we could see clubs having property tax burdens go from $20,000 to $800,000 per year. Such an increase would put an unbearable strain on all club budgets.

Ontario Sailing is working with their Sport Consultant to communicate these issues to the Minister of Health Promotion. Ontario Sailing has also reached out to all other organized sport bodies in Ontario through the Sport Alliance to get this message out to other sports that may be impacted on this very item: rowing and canoeing clubs and any other sports that lease and rent property. Ontario Sailing’s focus is the impact on the sport and athlete development. This could have a devastating impact on the Pan Am Games (for sailing anyways); training of Sailing Athletes, Olympic and Paralympic teams ( Ontario made up over 50% of the team this past year, and has just had over 60% of the CYA youth national team named from Ontario Athletes). Without our clubs we will have no place to train and less sailing in Ontario.

Additionally, individual clubs are taking action. The Commodores of clubs in the Greater Toronto Area meet regularly to discuss issues common to multiple clubs, with a focus on safe boating at a reasonable cost. This group, the Council of Commodores, has formed a working group for the tax issue comprised of four Commodores and Past Commodores as well as a member of the Ontario Sailing Board of Directors and various professional advisors with experience in the area of property taxes. The Provincial and Municipal governments are being lobbied and MPAC assessments will be appealed. Similar work is being done by clubs in the Whitby, Ottawa , and other areas.

If you’re just becoming aware of this issue, what can your club do?

Do your homework and figure out your 2009 tax bill based on the new assessments and any published tax increases for your municipality. Do not wait until presented with a tax invoice from your municipal government. By that time, it may be too late to request reconsideration or launch an appeal of your valuation.

File a request for reconsideration with MPAC. If you lease your land, you will need to secure authorization to do so from the landowner. Requests for reconsideration must be filed by 31 March 2009. Once you have received your reconsideration notice from MPAC, if you still disagree, a further step is an appeal to the Attorney General’s Assessment Review Board which must be filed within 90 days.

Get your local politicians to understand your situation and help out where they can. Outline your club’s benefits to the community and paint a scenario of what would happen if your taxes increased significantly. Communicate this information to your Ontario MPP(s) and municipal councilors. Busy as political people might seem to be, if they receive a letter from someone they know pressing a legitimate case for political intervention, they will pay attention and give thought to taking up our cause.

Wherever possible, work together with other clubs in your community to collaborate on solutions, share resources, and split the cost of professional advisors.

Boat clubs in a sea of worry

News Toronto & GTA
Boat clubs in a sea of worry
By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA Last Updated: 11th January 2009, 10:40am

It's hard to drown a rat but a surprise $139-million property assessment could do the trick. The Water Rats Sailing Club isn't alone -- small recreational sailing clubs along Toronto's waterfront may all be sunk after receiving increases 10 to 20 times higher than their previous 2005 municipal tax assessments.

Eight clubs, including the Rats, use a stretch of land off Unwin Ave. along Regatta Rd. These low-cost, small clubs -- some that even provide boats to members -- lease the land from the city and as part of the deal they pay the taxes on the polluted, unserviced and small parcel pegged as being worth nearly $140 million in the latest assessment notice by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, up from a mere $6 million three years ago.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/01/11/7985771-sun.html