On August 24th 2019, Mooney Bay Marina hosted the 40th edition of the Omnium Champlain. 26 boats took the start in 2 fleets and 4 classes for the 2 races of the regatta, both taking place that afternoon. Light air prevailed, allowing the boats to sail on a flat lake on that sunny summer day. Conditions were ideal for the Structurmarine team to jump on board and participate in the regatta.
Structurmarine was not only the main sponsor of the event but was also present on the water with 20 members of their crew. The company’s head office is only an hour or two away from Lake Champlain, 20 employees, several of them sailors already, accepted the invitation to come spend their Saturday on the water. The company’s CEO, Yves Fontaine, entered his own boat in the race and sailed the course with colleague Jose Navarro and his wife. Midline Titus had the opportunity to experience sailing for the first time on the Farr 40 “Corbeau”, Thomas Lacombe traded his fishing rod for a winch handle on a Gib’Sea and Bruno Nolet spent the afternoon on Olivier Bouverat’s winning Soverell 33 IXO. Olivier finished over 5 minutes ahead of the second boat of his fleet in both races to win class C. Benoit Lussier, sailed his boat Kalina to the top of the ranking of class D and in the Racing Fleet, Benedek Erdos won class B with Lil’bot and Don Duley won class A on S/V Polar Express.
Structurmarine’s employees had a lot of fun on the water and mingled with sailors and organisers at the marina afterward. Whether they had watched the race from a cruising sailboat on their way to the North Hero Marina (which our team had build years ago) or taken the start with a sheet in their hands on one of the participating boats, they enjoyed diving into the marina life. For Yves Fontaine and Bruno Nolet, who liked the idea of a nautical team building event, the Omnium was a total success. On top of connecting our team to the boating community that inspires our work in the marina industry, having such fun together on the water is always a positive thing for a growing team like ours!
