Etienne Portelance, a new collaborator on Montreal Sailing Blog

We are just about to enter into the season and I want to thank Ralph for the opportunity to write here. I hope you will appreciate my writing as much as I have appreciated Ralph's.

Please let me present myself. This is me in the '80s



I learned to sail on Lake Saint-Louis, and I can say most of my sailing has been on this lake.  I have sailed Flying Juniors, Laser, Laser II, and Fireball dinghies and sailed on my dad's boats. I spent 9 years in France where I sailed on Fireballs, 505 and various keel boats. I was also a sailing instructor in Lachine for 5 summers from 1989 to 1993.

 I also sailed out of Québec city for a few seasons on 40 footers. While in France, I owned a 6.5 m transat boat, a "Mini". 


During my stay in France, I sailed on anything I could.  The easiest boats to get on are racing boats because skippers are always looking for crew.  It's not as easy to get on a cruising boat. As a crew, I find I get a good deal. Sometimes, I pay for the gas to get to the regatta, sometimes I have to pay for my own lunch, but it's often possible to carpool, and the sailing can be fantastic. I enjoyed middle distance races best (under 500 miles). It's usually a crew requirement to be able to helm.


Below is a boat racing in the Giraglia race from Saint-Tropez to Genoa, Italy (passing between the Giraglia rock and Corsica)




Back in Canada, I owned a Lightning for a few years and crew on a Shark. I enjoy sailing with my two boys and my wife.

I participated in 3 world championships. In the first in 1996, I was helm for half of the races and crew for the other half, in 1999 I was helm all the time, and in 2012 I was crew all the time.

I'll be talking about the joys of sailing both crewing, and cruising. Hope you enjoy my contribution, see you on the water.

Etienne Portelance

Popular Posts