The History of AHMEN Racing

It All Started at One Club

In the late 1970s, Harbour City Yacht Club had an aggressive group of racers. Members not only competed in the HCYC mid-week races but also raced in MYRC (Metro Yacht Racing Council) races, and in inter-club races in Toronto, Hamilton, Oakville and even Montreal. However, this was not enough for these keeners as all racing ended in early September.

HCYC's then race manager, Carole Pearcy, after listening to all the moaning about the lack of racing, suggested a club frostbite series held on weekends. It proved to be an immediate success.

Janet Willings, being a good friend of Carole, suggested combining the efforts of both race committees and, further, that NYC would provide the committee boat. It wasn't very long before other clubs expressed an interest in participating.

Five Clubs, One Name

A meeting was held with representatives from each of the five main clubs: Alexandra Yacht Club, Harbour City Yacht Club, Mimico Cruising Club, Etobicoke Yacht Club and National Yacht Club. Carole Pearcy thought the series needed a name and played around with the initials of the clubs involved, coming up with AHMEN.

The name not only incorporated the initials of the founding clubs but also it seemed to be an apt expression to mark the end of the racing season.

Soon after, the Boulevard Club and Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club became active in AHMEN.

By the late-1990s, under the chairmanship of Steve Reid from EYC and treasurer Lori Anderson from HCYC, the now established and very successful weekend schedule was two races in August and four in September. At that time there were two white sail and three spinnaker starts, all operating under the PHRF-LO handicap system.

AHMEN Goes Online & Keeps Growing

The 2000 season saw a new slate of organizing volunteers: chair — Stephen Faller (NYC); treasurer — Pat McRae (EYC) and scorer — Paul Bryan (NYC).

The website www.ahmen.ca was the creation of John Waddell (NYC) who donated time and funds in 2000 to set it up. While it wasn't pretty, it was functional: results were posted online quickly and the previous season's results were archived on the site. An updated website appeared in 2011 — again generously provided by and managed by John Waddell.

In 2001 Queen City Yacht Club joined AHMEN Racing and thereafter substantially grew its participation. By 2007, as competitors raced bigger boats, racers were consolidated into two spinnaker and two non-spinnaker fleets.

Ashbridge's Bay Yacht Club became part of AHMEN Racing in 2010 when an R-class boat officially joined the competition. By 2012 there were four R-class boats racing level for the Wilf Scott Memorial Trophy.

Also in 2010, John Waddell repurposed the 1969-era Argosy Rose Bowl Trophy, now awarded for the lowest corrected time among all PHRF starts of the first AHMEN race of August.

In 2015 the Royal Canadian Yacht Club became the tenth club to join AHMEN Racing.

Into the Modern Era

At the request of the Toronto area's IRC fleet, the 2016 season saw two exclusive starts for IRC boats. Alas participation was critically insufficient so those starts were discontinued for 2017.

In July 2016, following the passing of webmaster John Waddell, his executor brother generously transferred ownership of the domain www.ahmen.ca. Ean Kingston from QCYC assumed the webmaster role, which he fulfilled until 2019 when he handed over to Arleigh Crawford, also of QCYC. Late in 2025 Chris Bryce of Alexandra Yacht Club took over the webmaster duties and executed a major update and modernization of the AHMEN site.

In March 2017 two additional trophy bases were acquired: one for the Argosy Rose Bowl Trophy in varnished oak and one for the Wilf Scott Memorial Trophy in oiled, native, cherry wood.

By 2019, in response to the growth in participation of larger and faster boats, a third spinnaker start was added along with a start for the J/105 one-design fleet.

At the end of the 2019 season, Paul Bryan — scorer emeritus — bowed out after completing a full twenty seasons and scoring 508 races. To the typical competitor or race officer, Paul represented the face of AHMEN Racing.

In 2020, following participation in 2019, Humber Bay Sailing Centre and Port Credit Yacht Club each joined AHMEN Racing as full voting members — nearly doubling to twelve the number of AHMEN clubs since 2000.

For 2021, online registration was developed by Tom Stiemerling. Noteworthy in 2021 — AHMEN increased by 33% the number of races, made possible because RCYC and PCYC each offered to host a race day: the AHMEN Icicle and the AHMEN Freezer.

On November 23, 2021, after twenty-two years of service, Pat McRae — Treasurer Emerita — handed over financial responsibilities to Laura Green CPA, a qualified race officer of Mimico Cruising Club.

At the beginning of the 2022 season Michelle Tan joined the crucial scoring team as Registrar and Deputy Scorer.

In the first quarter of 2025, John McLeod — a multi-season AHMEN podium winner and qualified race officer from QCYC — took over as Chair of AHMEN Racing, replacing Stephen Faller who retired after twenty-five seasons.

Participation Statistics

Twenty-five seasons of racing on Lake Ontario, 2000–2024.