Canadian Yachting — June 2017

6 Canadian Yachting JUNE 2017

CLUB PROFILE

Sidney North

Saanich Yacht Club

he east coast of Vancouver Island has long been
extoled for its flora and fauna beauty as well as
excellent boating waters from the time of the early
Native Canadians to modern day. Following the glacier melt,
the vegetation returned attracting large herds of mammoths
and giant bison. Looking to the herds for food, the Coastal
Saalish people arrived and then stayed discovering other food
sources in abundance such as shellfish and salmon. The
Saalish were a loose grouping of many tribes with distinct cul-
tures and languages. Spaniard Francisco de Eliza first crudely
charted the waters in 1791. With the establishment of HBC
Fort Victoria in the 1840s, the Europeans started to arrive in
earnest and set down roots.
The North Saanich peninsula makes no exception to the
beauty in the eye of the beholder. Located approximately 25 km
north of the capital city of Victoria it is surrounded on three
sides by 20km of ocean shoreline with rural farmlands, residen-
tial areas, the Victoria International Airport and the Swartz Bay
Ferry Terminal. It also surrounds two First Nations reserves.
Although the town of North Saanich was incorporated in 1905
it was dissolved six years later due to lack of population and solid
tax base. 10,000 military personnel arrived in the area in the
1940s which finally boosted the population enough that the
town was re-incorporated in 1965.
Up to this point many a boat cruised the area from gunk hole
to gunk hole enjoying the serenity and beauty of the small, pro-
tected areas in the Gulf Islands and the San Juans. So was the
case with a small group of boaters who set out to enjoy a spur-
of-the-moment Easter cruise. As is so true after a great cruise,
no one wants to go home and return to the marina where no one

saw anyone. Although they all raced, they never saw one another

except occasionally at the Awards Night. As Margaret Ibbotson

recounted someone saying, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a yacht

club in Sidney... Why didn’t WE start one? It was ‘put up or

shut up’ time. We decided to have our first ‘shall we have a yacht

club’ planning committee meeting at our [Peter and Margaret

Ibbotson] house shortly afterwards.”

After the dining room table meeting, it was decided to put an

ad in the paper to see if anyone else was interested in the same

idea. A small room was secured at the local Travelodge to handle

50 people. The only problem was that close to 200 showed up!

At the second meeting, if you put your $5 on the table you could

be a member of the Sidney Yacht Club, which is what it was

called in the beginning. In just five short months By Laws, a

Constitution and Annual General Meeting all happened with

initiation and annual dues each set at $75. In short order with

dogged determination and silver tongues, Don Wilson and Bill

Shaw negotiated a home for the newly formed yacht club. The

North Saanich Council approved the use of the McClure style

house at Bosun’s Marina on September 21, 1981 for their club-

house. Members soon got to work on submissions for a club

burgee. Kerry Stevenson won out with her design as she, “Chose

the green to represent North Saanich colours of green and gold

and the town of Sidney’s colours which were blue and white.

The design was created to represent the green for the land. The

lazy ‘S’, in white, represented the shoreline, as well as for the

Sidney Yacht Club and the blue represented the water.”

From the outset, this club was set on a course of accessibility

T

Great half model highlights the clubhouse outside wall.

Photo: John Philion

By Katherine Stone