Twelve names Canada is adding to its Sailing Hall of Fame this fall
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Sail Canada inducts twelve people into the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame on October 4, at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. Seven of the twelve have East Coast roots, which fits the venue, and tickets are $35 with seating capped at 125, priority going to the inductees' own family and friends.
Two names on the list are worth knowing even if you've never raced a boat in your life. Angus Walters skippered the schooner Bluenose from 1921 to 1938 and won the International Fishermen's Trophy five times, and the Bluenose is the ship on the Canadian dime, so odds are you've been carrying his boat in your pocket without knowing it. Frederick Walker "Casey" Baldwin is the stranger story: Canada's first aviator and an associate of Alexander Graham Bell, he helped design, build, and sail a 45-foot boat called Typhoon on the first small-cruising-boat round trip from America to Europe and back, in 1921, and was a founding member of the Cruising Club of America.
Two of this year's twelve inductees, and the century-old careers the ceremony is actually recognizing.
I'm not going to list all twelve here since the point isn't the roster, it's the reminder underneath it: this project talks a lot about who's teaching sailing right now, but the people who built the boats and the clubs a hundred years ago are the reason there's anything left to teach. Baldwin building a boat by hand and sailing it across an ocean in 1921 is the same instinct as a kid rigging a borrowed dinghy this summer, just with worse weather gear.
What is the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame?
It's Sail Canada's honour roll for people who shaped Canadian sailing, as sailors, builders, or organizers. The 2026 class inducts twelve names at a ceremony in Halifax on October 4.
Can the public attend the induction ceremony?
Tickets are $35 through Sail Canada, though seating is limited to 125 people with priority given to family and friends of the inductees.
What was the Bluenose, and why does its skipper matter?
The Bluenose was a Nova Scotia fishing and racing schooner that won the International Fishermen's Trophy five times under skipper Angus Walters, from 1921 to 1938. It's the ship on the Canadian dime, and Walters is one of this year's twelve inductees.
Sources
- 2026 Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame Inductees Announced, sailing.ca (full inductee list, East Coast roots figure, Baldwin and Walters biographical detail)
- 2026 Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, sailing.ca (date, venue, ticket price, seating capacity)
No affiliation with Sail Canada or the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
