2025-10-22 Phoebe Wang - Maritime Dutch Art and Its Influences 16th Century to the Present10/25/2025 Phoebe took the Shellback Club into the world of Dutch Maritime Art from the 16th century to the present day with a bit of comparison to American Maritime Art.  About Phoebe Wang
Phoebe Wang is a first-generation Chinese-Canadian who lives and sails in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of the poetry collections Admission Requirements (McClelland and Stewart, 2017), shortlisted for the Gerald Lambert Memorial Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and nominated for the Trillium Book Award, and Waking Occupations (McClelland and Stewart 2022). Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Globe & Mail, The New Quarterly, Brick, and The Unpublished City, shortlisted for a Toronto Book Award, and she co-edited The Unpublished City: Volume II, The Lived City. She has been a mentor with Diaspora Dialogues and is an adjunct professor and mentor in the University of Toronto Creative Writing MA program as well as a writing consultant with multilingual students at OCAD University.
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The Shellback Club visited the beautiful Canadian Canoe Museum in its new facility. Eric Sunstrum spoke to the Shellback Club about cruising from the Bay of Quinte to the Thousand Islands, reviewing in detail the ports, anchorages, and sights along the way.  About Eric Sunstrum
Eric Sunstrum and his wife Cynthia make their home near Ottawa, Ontario, and have enjoyed over 20 years sailing in the Thousand Islands and Bay of Quinte. Active members of the GLCC, they most recently coordinated the 2019 GLCC Lake Ontario Rally and the 2019 Georgian Bay Rally. They keep their Catalina 28 sailboat named Northern Whisper at the Trident Yacht Club in the Thousand Islands. Ron Jenkins returned to the Shellback Club to outline the current status of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, looking specifically at the planning for Runway End Safety Areas, and an extension to the term of the Tripartite Agreement that governs airport operations.  
About Ron Jenkins
Ron is a long time member of the National Yacht Club, an active nature and sailing photographer, and when hobbies do not interfere, works in technology marketing. He is an active participant in Waterfront for All, a coalition of groups protecting the Toronto waterfront. Wayne took the Shellback Club on the journey of Mimico Cruising Club's development from a brand new yacht club to a dynamic multifaceted club with an active race program.  About Wayne Parker
Wayne was born and grew up in Toronto, where he trained as a Mechanical Engineer. Following university, he began working at Caterpillar, in 1977 as a Manufacturing Process Planner and during the 1980s implemented a number of computer technologies to improve manufacturing efficiencies, including CNC Machines, CAD/CAM workstations, a factory network, and computerized product testing. This was an exciting time, as new, affordable computer technologies allowed for what had been a traditional “smoke stack” industry to begin transitioning to automated high tech. In 1991, he moved to Connaught Laboratories in North York as a Project Manager in the Information Solutions Department, supporting Infrastructure projects for key business initiatives. He worked on a diverse number of systems technology projects, supporting Bio-informatics, Research & Development, Pharmacovigilance & Regulatory Affairs. He had his first sailing experience in 1989, while on a Caribbean cCruise and had the opportunity to sail on an America’s Cup sailboat, the Canada II. He and his wife Marlyne joined Mimico Cruising Club in 2004 and he purchased his first sailboat, a CS30. They began cruising Lake Ontario. In 2008, joined the club Race Committee as crew and began helping out on the Wednesday night club racing, learning how to manage club racing. He completed Ontario Sailing’s Race Officer, and Club Judge courses and also serves as Mimico’s PHRF representative. From 2015 to 2017, he served as Mimico’s Fleet Captain, in charge of club racing. In 2018, he served on the planning committee that organized and executed Sail Canada’s Ladies Keelboat Championship event in September of that year. In 2022, the Race to Kingston began with its inaugural year. Wayne was part that team and has served on the R2K Executive Committee ever since. He continues to serve On Mimico’s Race Committee Executive, helping to organize and run Mimico’s club racing program. MIKE LEIGH introduced the Shellback Club to the Kids and Classics Boatshops Museum, a maritime museum that is based on a learning-by-doing campus. It is a year-round campus with programming for many objectives, including working with Youth-at-Risk, family boat building, maritime career studies, and boating regattas.  About Mike Leigh
Mike is a professional sailor (officer cadet) with a 25 year association with Toronto Brigantine. He was captain for four years and has been a Director of the Brigs. He attended George Brown College in the Merchant Officer Program. His education and work in boat building and repair of yachts and commercial craft has been most supportive of the volunteer work he does with Kids & Classics. The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services in a recent letter expressed its “unwavering gratitude to the organization for providing the youth we bring to the Boat Build program with an exceptional, meaningful and memorable program”. Mike is an enthusiastic supporter of the program as he so adeptly demonstrated at the recent Toronto Boat Show. Bill Hutton returned to the Shellback Club to describe cruising Georgian Bay and the North Channel on his sailboat. His presentation was filled with many gorgeous images of the stunning landscapes this region is so famous for, and also filled with much practical information on navigation, route planning, and logistics.  About Bill Hutton
Bill has been sailing for 20 years on four or five different boats depending on how you count. He bought the same boat twice, which he has just sold again in Hopetown Bahamas. Most of that 20 years has been on Lake Ontario but he has also spent a number of winters cruising in Florida, along with chartering in Croatia. Bill is comfortable solo sailing but much prefers his trips around the lake with his wife Diana on their 34 foot Aloha. Today he reflects on his three years cruising in Georgian Bay and the North Channel and why, if you have a boat you need to go there yourself. Phoebe Wang came to talk to the Shellback Club about her writing of "Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft, & Community". Phoebe blended discussion of her personal sailing history with her researches into the history of the early central waterfront of Toronto, the history of Queen City Yacht Club, and observations on her process as a writer.  About Phoebe Wang
Phoebe Wang is a Chinese-Canadian writer and editor from Ottawa, Ontario. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto MA in Creative Writing program and has written two poetry collections, Admissions Requirements (McClelland and Stewart 2017) and Waking Occupations (McClelland and Stewart 2022). Her most recent book is Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft and Community. She currently works at OCAD University as a Writing Consultant supporting multilingual students. Phoebe began crewing on keelboats in 2009, and is a member of Queen City Yacht Club where she has served as Women’s Open Regatta Chair since 2023. She volunteers as education officer with the Canadian Asian Sailors. Recently, she has become the skipper of a wooden Wayfarer dinghy, Opus 3, which is waiting for her at Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club. More of her work can be found at www.alittleprint.com George Hume spoke to the Shellback Club about the history of the Eddystone Lighthouse. The Eddystone Lighthouse has gone through four constructions. The first, completed in 1699, was the first open ocean lighthouse in the world. The current lighthouse, completed in 1882, is still in use. About George Hume
George is an architect, retired from Ryerson University as the Director of Campus Planning and Construction. He has a deep interest in history, especially history of technology. In addition to his architecture degree from the University of Toronto, he has a masters in History of Technology from Imperial College, University of London. While studying in London, he developed an interest in historical canals. Living near the Kennet and Avon Canal, he got involved in clearing the abandoned right-of-way in anticipation of its resurrection as a successful tourist destination. He has subsequently plied a number of canals around the world, been president of the Canadian Canal Society and is currently a director of the American Canal Society and a member of Inland Waterways International. He learned to sail with the Moordale Sailing Club in the Outer Harbour. He has his navy based at his summer cottage on Bone Island in the Cognashene area of southern Georgian Bay. The interest in technological history and industrial archaeology has led to extensive reading in those areas. His wife, Anne, is concerned that after 60 years of being together, she hasn’t been able to curtail his book collecting. On the other hand, the collection means that he probably doesn’t need to add to it to prepare his talks on subjects like the Eddystone Lighthouse. In A History of Hanlan's Point, Ron looks at the many identities Hanlan's Point has taken over its years, among them sandbar, military station, cottage resort, sports field, amusement park, and airport.  About Ron Jenkins
Ron is a long-time member of the National Yacht Club. His father, Alf (past Purser Shellbacks, Class A Dinghy Sailor and an active keel boat owner) and his grandfather, Herb (NYC treasurer for decades, and active keel boat sailor) carries the Jenkins’ name well back in NYC history. Ron is an active nature and sailing photographer; when hobbies do not interfere, he works in technology marketing. He is an active participant in Waterfront for All, a coalition of groups protecting the Toronto waterfront. |
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