SPORTS FLASHBACK 2000: Whiteshell windsurfers are all-weather sailors

Some might call them enthusiasts; others may suggest they are diehards or even fanatics. At any rate, Steinbach’s Mitch Toews, 44, and Jack Schellenberg, 51, have found their niche, sailing the waters of the Whiteshell on their state-of-the-art windsurfing boards.

Toews owns a cottage on Jessica Lake and Schellenberg has a seasonal trailer at neighboring Brereton Lake. Depending on wind directions, they will be sailing together on either lake most weekends during the spring, summer and fall. Or, especially for Toews, just about any time there is open water.

Toews also briefly toyed with the idea of adding a kit with wheels to his windsurfer, so he could sail on ice.

“I abandoned that notion, deciding that falling into water is one thing, but crashing on ice is quite another.”

Toews met Schellenberg about three years ago at Loewen Windows, where they both work. Discovering they were both into windsurfing, they have been plying the waters of the Whiteshell together since then.

Perhaps the term fanatic is more applicable to Toews, who attacks the sailing endeavor with a great amount of zeal. Victoria Day May 22, marked the sixth straight weekend Toews was windsurfing at Jessica Lake.

The ice went out April 1 and he was sailing April 2. Replete with a wetsuit, Toews is ready for any weather conditions. A freak May snow squall also didn’t stop him either.

“The wind conditions were just right, I couldn’t pass it up. I was warm, but the anglers were freezing.”

Toews says the ice coming off so early this year was a big bonus and some years they cannot sail until mid-May.

Schellenberg first took up windsurfing about 15 years ago, when he rented a windsurfing board during a family vacation.

“But at week’s end, it was actually dear old dad who had the most enjoyment and most use of the windsurfer, and I have been hooked since then.”

Toews, who first took up the sport six years ago, when he bought his cabin at Jessica Lake, enjoys the camaraderie of sailing.

“For years we sailed alone, now Jack and I both have someone to sail with.”

The two windsurfers have similar equipment, valued at about $3,500 each, so they can compete against each other. Of course, the equipment has improved markedly over the years. Cumbersome, bulky boards that used to weigh 60 pounds, now weigh half that, which makes it easier to learn the sport.

Toews, who was a volunteer in the sailing and windsurfing competitions at the Pan Am Games in Gimli last summer, is also the driving force behind the formation of the Manitoba Windsurfing Club, which will soon be part of the Manitoba Sailing Association.

The club will be holding four regattas this summer, with the first one June 10 and 11 at Falcon Lake. A club membership fee of $25 garners free entry into all four regattas.

An added bonus for signing up with the new club will be an entry in a draw for a windsurfing vacation for four at the Windsurf Resort in the Dominican Republic.

Toews points out that with only 14 members signed up so far, chances are pretty good at winning that Caribbean windsurfing vacation