The Annual General Meeting was held at the Britannia Yacht Club on 26^th April. The following officers were elected for the 1983/1984 Squadron year:

Commander	William J. Newlands, N
Lieut. Commander and Executive Officer	R. Bruce Ware
First Lieut. and Secretary	John Greig
First Lieut. and Treasurer	Jack Colbeck
First Lieutenants	Gaston Bruneau, AP Colin Nicholson, AP Bertrand Southiere, N David Street, AP
Auditor	John Cutler

Edward J. Langham, AP was appointed Lieut. Commander and Training Officer for 1983/84.

In his year-end report to the AGM the outgoing Treasurer reported that the Squadron was in good financial condition as a result of stable membership and in part to the high rates of interest earned on term deposits. However to maintain this favourable situation and to avoid an increase in Squadron fees he suggested that it will be necessary to reduce the subsidies for social events.

The Training Officer reported some decrease in the number of students completing the Boating Course. Of the 96 who wrote the examinations, 83 passed the examination in English and 13 the examination in French. These are pass rates of 82 and 69 percent.

At the Annual General Meeting a motion by Frank Algar carried that "the Squadron seriously consider making courses available to the hard of hearing and disabled people". The year 1981 had been designated nationally as the "Year of the Handicapped". At that time, the problem of participation in Canadian Power Squadrons' activities had been raised by Frank Algar who had been an instructor with the Britannia Squadron before his hearing became seriously impaired. The Squadron Executive discussed this matter several times. No solution was found to the problem of offering facilities for the hearing impaired who wished to take the Boating Course. The lack of a P.A. system to which loops could be attached seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle. As to opportunities for a boating experience for handicapped persons it was felt that this should be left to the initiative of individual Squadron members.

At the conclusion of the AGM free beer and pretzels were available for members attending the meeting.

After the Annual General Meeting and before the Graduation Dinner the Secretary, 1^st Lt. John Greig, resigned from his position. The Commander appointed David Street AP as his replacement and appointed Brendan Munnelly to the resultant vacancy for a First Lieutenant.

The Squadron Lieutenants appointed for 1983/84 were Philippe Beaudry, AP, Arthur Beckett, AP, Stuart K. McNeely, S, Joan Penny, AP, Brian Stedman, Sandra Stoddart and John T. Woolsey, AP.

The Running Fix carried paid advertisements commencing with the issue of April, 1983.

After the moderate success of the " Lunar Cruise " of 1982, a Rafting Party Rendezvous was organized for Sunday, 14^th July. As was done last year members without boats on Lac Deschenes were invited to contact participating boat owners who would welcome them aboard. This revival of this summer event was not popular. Out of the 340 full members and more than 100 yachts in the Squadron only five boats with a total of ten members turned out for this Rendezvous.

The Brodie Stirling Boat Safety Award is made at the Rideau District Summer Rendezvous each year to the winner of a competition on a problem of safety. The problem this year was a hypothetical question on a man overboard from a yacht in the river at Brockville where the current runs at four knots. The trophy for the best solution in 1983 was awarded to Commander Wm. J. Newlands of the Britannia Squadron.

The Annual Graduation Dinner was held at the R.A. Centre on 12^th May. The R.A. Centre was chosen for the dinner in preference to the Britannia Yacht Club because the available accomodation was more spacious. The guests of honour were District Commander C.M. Crewe, AP, Commander Evelyn P. Clue of the Ottawa Power Squadron, Commodore David Brown of the Britannia Yacht Club and Mr. Toby Spry of St. John Ambulance.

The strength of the Squadron was now 340 full members, 35 lady associates and two junior associates for a total membership of 377.

Ivan Varana, N of the Britannia Power Squadron produced a video tape on "Weather" for use by the Power Squadron Seamanship Course. The film "starred" Karl Buckthought who is one of the faithful Squadron instructors. This film was shown also more than once on both Ottawa and Skyline Cablevision systems.

On 27^th September a letter was sent from the Squadron to His Excellency, The High Commissioner for Australia, expressing our admiration of the splendid achievement of the yacht Australia II in capturing the America's Cup.

In November the Training Officer, Edward Langham, AP, resigned his position. Colin Nicholson, AP was appointed Lieut. Commander and Training Officer for the remainder of the 1983/1984 season.

The last event before Christmas was another successful wine and cheese party at the Britannia Yacht Club for ninety five members and students of the Squadron on the evening of 17^th November. For this 1983 event the Commodores of the four yacht clubs on Lac Deschenes were guests of the Squadron.

Film Night 1984 was on 22^nd February at the National Research Council Auditorium on Sussex Drive. More than two hundred members and their guests enjoyed the evening. Complementary doughnuts and coffee were served during the intermission.

The films were first "Olympic Yachting" at the 1976 Olympics at Kingston, Ontario. This film included some spectacular sequences of the racing in heavy seas on Lake Ontario. The next item was an interesting documentary on the Gulf Stream. After the intermission film number three was the schooner Bluenose on her way to New York City in 1976. For most of the audience the last film was the most interesting. It was a propaganda film titled "Quebec '84" sponsored by I.B.M. for the 450^th anniversary of the landing of Captain Jacques Cartier. This film traced the history of Quebec City as an important center for ship building in the days of wooden sailing ships and as an important seaport through the years. The film included scenes of most of the Class I Tall Ships that are sailing to day and will visit Quebec during the summer of 1984.

Over the past couple of years there was talk among some Upper Ottawa Valley sailors of the need for a Power Squadron in the Deep River - Petawawa Pembroke area. Several members of both the Britannia and Ottawa Squadrons helped with the formation of a new Squadron for this part of Ontario.

An information meeting was held at the Deep River Yacht Club on the evening of 15^th June, 1983. William Taylor of the Ottawa Power Squadron and Daryl Collard and Ellen Devine of Britannia briefed forty interested people on Canadian Power Squadrons. The outcome of this meeting was a concentrated Boating Course at Deep River in the autumn of 1983, five hours each Saturday for six weeks. The Instructors were Daryl Collard and William Taylor. Twenty six students wrote and passed the examination in December.

On 18^th January 1984 a formal meeting was held at the Deep River Library. District Commander G.C. Silverthorn was chairman. The application for a charter was signed by thirty persons including three members of Britannia Squadron: Roger Bakewell, Daryl Collard and John Woolsey. The name chosen for the new Power Squadron was "Oiseau Rock".

The Charter Night Dinner of the Oiseau Rock Power Squadron was held on 24^th March at the Petawawa National Forestry Institute near Chalk River. Commander Wm. J. Newlands represented the Britannia Squadron at this historic event.

This year classified advertisements were accepted from Squadron members for the Running Fix at fifty cents per half page line.

Past Commander Arthur J. Huddleston, AP passed on several cartons of nautical books to the present Executive Officer. They had been donated to the Britannia Squadron several years ago by Kenneth J. Matheson, JN. They are being held by the Executive Officer until they can be sorted and made available to members.

The CPS Port Captain Program was inaugurated in 1984. A Port Captain is a CPS member ready to provide advice and assistance to members of CPS and USPS visiting the area. His name, address and telephone number are published in the USPS list of Port Captains. Jack Colbeck of Britannia Power Squadron volunteered to become the Assistant Port Captain for the section of the Rideau Waterway from Burritts Rapids to Ottawa.

The Accelerated or Short Boating, Course was introduced during the autumn of 1983. Twenty one of the first twenty four students passed the examination. This accelerated course covers the curriculum of the regular Boating Course in half the usual lecture hours. The same course was conducted during the winter of 1984 by the Ottawa Power Squadron with assistance from Britannia. This course was offered again by Britannia Squadron in the autumn of 1984.

In March, also, after a detailed review of the revenues and expenses over the past seven years, the Executive Committee decided to defer for one year a request to the Squadron AGM to approve an increase in Squadron dues. Therefore the overall increase for 1985 would be only the $4.00 for National Headquarters.

Year 21 – 1984 / 1985 Year 19 - 1982 / 1983