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Yacht-Club de Québec (Canada)

image by Ivan Sache, 29 July 2006

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Yacht-Club de Québec (YCQ) is one if the oldest yacht club in Canada. On 15 October 1861, a group of yachtmen organized a regatta in the port of Quebec in order to promote yachting on river Saint-Laurent and the building of yachts in Quebec. They organized a club, appointed officers and a race committee; the name of Quebec Yacht Club was published for the first time in newspapers on 16 October 1862. The oldest known members' list, dated 1867, has 43 members, including the 14 owners of nine sailboats. Due to the development of the port of Montreal and the Great Depression of 1873, most of the early members of the club moved and the club quickly declined. In 1884-1885, 19 yachtsmen decided to revive the club; there were 131 members in 1885 and the fleet included 19 sailboats and two steamers. The Quebec Yacht Club was officially incorporated on 20 March 1888.

In 1927, the club had to move from the Louise basin in the port of Quebec to Spencer Cove, its today location. The club increase was stopped by the 1931 Crisis. Unexpectedly, the Second World War caused the revival of the club because of oil shortage and the promotion of sailing as a good therapeutics against the war climate. The Constitution and the rules of the club were totally revamped in 1946, adding nautical tourism to the aims of the club. In 1954, a hurricane trashed 44 out of the 72 boats of the club as well as most of the moorings.

In 1964, the Quebec Yacht Club became the Club de Yacht de Québec (CYQ), in accordance with the new Law on Companies in Quebec. On 31 August 1967, the new, modern marina was inaugurated. In 1972, a restructuration caused another change of the name of the yacht club to Yacht-Club de Québec. Membership is today 450, including 330 active members.

Along its history, the yacht club was supported by several celebrities. The Marquess of Lansdown (Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice, 1845-1927), Governor General of Canada (1883-1888), patroned the club and offered two prizes for the race of 1 July 1885. The French industrial and Senator Gaston Menier (1855-1934), brother of the chocolate tycoon Henri Menier (the owner of the island of Anticosti and of the "Bacchante"), sailed with the club from 1905 to 1913. In 1934, Baron Henri James de Rotschild (1872-1947) applied for regular membership but he had to withdraw because of his health.

The burgee of Yacht-Club de Québec was adopted in 1885 as a burgee "qui serait un guidon triangulaire à trois bandes obliques, rouge, blanche et bleue, portant une étoile jaune sur le centre blanc", "which would be a triangular pennant with three diagonal red, white and blue stripes, charged with a yellow star on the white center".

Source: YCQ website

My rendition of the burgee of YCQ is based on the graphic representation of the flying burgee shown on the YCQ website. I have not found any image of a real burgee, therefore all the construction details (width and angle of the stripes, size and position of the star) are gross approximations.
Ivan Sache, 29 July 2006