WE ASKED ON social media for your suggestions of “legendary” cottagers on your lakes or in your cottage com-munities. And we were flooded with examples. You told us about everyone from 90-something-yet-still-hardcore cottagers to change-makers to Canadian celebrities to CL celebrities. You even told us about imaginary legends. Hey, fair enough: by definition, a legend can be unauthenticated.
So, what makes a cottager legendary? Turns out, they don’t need to be famous. If they’ve lodged themselves in your memories and in your hearts, that’s enough. Here are our favourites from your favourites. (Who’d we miss? Email us: letters@cottagelife.com.)
A Lake Boshkung waterski wizard
ROSS PAWSON WAS 10 years old when he first tried waterskiing at his family cottage on Lake Boshkung, Ont. “We got real keen on it,” says Ross, of himself and his siblings, all of whom took an immediate liking to the sport. Eight years later, in 1962, Ross attended his first national competition in Quebec with his friend and waterskiing companion, Andy Murdison, and two years later, the pair formed the Lake Boshkung Skiers Club with two other local skiers. “We wanted to host the Ontario waterski championships, but we needed to have some kind of entity to do that. We gave ourselves a name and the club was born,” says Ross.
The club attended several competitions and ski shows, with Ross pulling some legendary solo accomplishments along the way. In 1964 and 1965, he was a back-to-back slalom champion at the Canadian nationals—the latter on his home lake. “That generated a lot of excitement,” he says. And despite being most known for his slalom skiing, Ross was also a pro at tricks and jumps—some of which involved 360-degree turns off the wake—skiing backwards, and holding the tow rope with one foot while skiing on the other. Another fun trick involved his sister, Carole, skiing alongside him and then masterfully climbing up on his shoulders to do a back layout after dropping her skis. Perfecting the
