Tucked away on a 7km freshwater lake in central Nova Scotia, ALYC is the long-time home to a small but enthusiastic fleet of National One Design Sailors, the only fleet of that class in the country.
Designed by William F Crosby, who is better remembered as the designer of the Snipe, plans for the NOD first appeared in the January 1937 issue of ‘The Rudder’ magazine. Crosby was editor at the time. The few cottagers on Aylesford Lake got interested and built Canada’s first wooden NOD in the late ‘30s.
ALYC went through ups and downs, with a large mixed fleet now and again and a sailing school that put many young sailors in boats. Those initiatives. haven’t created a large club, club but today some 30 members field a dozen NODs including some older wooden versions and various fiberglass boats acquired from Vanguard and fleets in the US.
The Canadian Championship will be held in the third week of July and, with luck, members of some US groups from Ohio and other midwestern states will be on hand to join Fleet 48 on the Lake.
