Royal Canadian Yacht Club
Burgee of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club
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| Abbreviation | RCYC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1852 |
| Location | |
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Commodore
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Derek Fisher |
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Patron
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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh |
| Website | www.rcyc.ca |
The Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC), founded in 1852, is one of the world’s older and larger yacht clubs. Its summer home is on a trio of islands (RCYC Island, South Island and North Chippewa or Snug Island) in the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2014, the club has approximately 4700 members, about 450 yachts (95% sail) and a number of dinghies, principally International 14’s. Its winter home since 1980 has been a new building 3.5 km north of the harbour that includes social and sports facilities.
The objects of the club are:
At an informal meeting in 1850, eight local citizens laid the foundation for the Toronto Boat Club. In 1853, this became the Toronto Yacht Club, on a sufficiently sound bottom that the members petitioned the Crown for a Royal warrant. Despite scepticism as to its chances, the petition was granted by Queen Victoria, curiously not as the “Royal Toronto Yacht Club” but instead as the “Royal Canadian Yacht Club”. Although there is conflicting evidence of the reason behind the change, the most credible – and creditable, for Great Lakes historian CHJ Snider suggests mere absent-mindedness – was that the Crown wished to signify the club’s regional rather than merely local significance, and as the City of Toronto was then located in Canada West of the Province of Canada, “Royal Toronto” gave way to “Royal Canadian”.
The first clubhouse was established in a building owned by Sir Casimir Gzowski, near the present site of Union Station. After a short tenancy, the club moved to a one-storey building erected on a scow moored just east of Simcoe St. This served from 1853 until 1858, when it was replaced by the steamer Provincial. The Provincial provided shelter until the end of 1868, when it escaped its mooring, drifted away with the winter ice and was blown up as a hazard to navigation.
In 1869, the club built a clubhouse adjacent to the Parliament Buildings on Front Street. In 1881, a clubhouse by architect Frank Darling of Darling & Curry was completed on Toronto Islands on the site of the present clubhouse, as “the increasing number of railway tracks had completely changed the character of the Esplanade … originally … flanked by handsome residences and the bright blue waters of the Bay.” To reach the new location, the club purchased the clipper-bowed steam launch Esperanza and secured landing rights at the foot of York Street that it held until 1980. The 1881 building burned in 1904 (at a time when buildings, predominantly built of wood, were heated by coal stoves and lit by lanterns and gas lighting, fires were frequent and the building standard was founded on an expected average life of 20 years).
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