The Royal Canadian Yacht Club

As the final long weekend of the summer approached, we were desperate to do something, but the yacht clubs we regularly stay at in Toronto were all full and had no transient slips available. I had put our name on the waiting list for a spot at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, located in the Toronto islands, but held out little hope, as this weekend also featured a big air show and the final days of the Canadian National Exhibition. Shockingly, we received an email saying they had a slip for us and we were welcome to visit.

The Royal Canadian Yacht Club (abbreviated RCYC), founded in 1852, is the oldest yacht club on the Great Lakes and the second oldest in Canada after the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. Somehow during all our years on Lake Ontario we have never visited this spectacular club, and were very exited to experience it.

We left Newport shortly after 5 am and after more than 5 hours of motoring against the wind and slight waves, we arrived. The club is located on two connected islands and has a spectacular clubhouse, two blocks of tennis and pickleball courts, a large pool, lawn bowling, a chandlery, bike and kayak rentals, as well as a secondary location in Toronto which is similarly provisioned. After getting settled into our slip we walked the grounds then went to the registration office and met a few of their lovely staff. We spent a long time talking with them, hearing about the history of their club, their challenges, and sharing ours at Newport. We decided we need to set up a club cruise next year so the rest of our gang can experience RCYC.

During the sail across Lake ONTARIO, I had noticed a large number of monarch butterflies passing over us. During our walk at RCYC we looked into the sky at one point and saw hundreds of them fluttering overhead. I don't know if it's the start of their annual migration to Mexico, or if there's just lots of milkweed blooming now, but I will say that seeing one monarch is a treat; seeing a cloud of them is unforgettable. We sat for a while in some Adirondack chairs on the perfectly manicured grass, facing towards the Toronto skyline, and enjoyed the view which included dozens more monarchs flapping around.

We decided on an afternoon island walk and spent a couple of hours exploring the various islands of the chain - Snake, Ward's, Algonquin, Centre, Olympic. We were not alone; the last long weekend of the summer and perfect weather attracted hundreds or probably thousands of people to the islands so the paths were full of people walking or riding rented bikes, tandems, and four wheeled carts while the channels and lagoons were filled with paddlers on rented paddle boards, kayaks, and canoes. Parts of it are commercialized with food and drink venues, and there is a small amusement park meant mainly for kids, but there are also some surprisingly quiet parts of the islands and a resident population of about 600 people who live there year round. Despite the busyness, we enjoyed it and marvelled at this exquisite resource hiding in the shadow of the largest city in Canada.

After a chill-out session back in SeaLight's cockpit, and possibly a short nap, Ana put together a nice dinner then we jumped in the dinghy and went for a cruise, first out into the inner harbour where we had a bumpy ride thanks to the thousands of boat wakes stirred up by a day's worth of boat traffic and had to be careful to dodge the many logs and stick floating in the water, ejected into the bay from the Don River after a terrible wind and hailstorm passed through southern Ontario a few days before. We then cruised into a channel near Ward's Island and found the waters absolutely full of debris and weeds that make even dinghy passage difficult. We motored through slowly and eventually made it back to our slip.

With our remaining energy we took a walk to the north island of RCYC to see what was happening at the clubhouse (which turned 100 years old in 2022). The airplanes which had been buzzing overhead all afternoon finally stopped and the skies were quiet as the participants of the club regatta partied hard in the clubhouse and on the expansive front lawn to grooves of the live DJ. We do not join in, but instead take a walk to the end of the jetty dock to snatch some photos of the magnificent Toronto skyline, then snoop around the second floor of the clubhouse, which features masterly portraits of historic commodores winding down the grand staircase, spiffity ballrooms for weddings (which we were told happen every weekend of the summer), and ancient carpet, ripe with the smell of Churchill cigars, spilled brandy, and tales of war, peace, and everything in between.

2026 Sailing Trip - Moving to Hamilton

We have decided we are going to move to downtown Hamilton. Some day.

We had a lovely night’s sleep and woke up to full sunshine. From there it was coffee, blueberry pancakes, and sitting in the cockpit watching the junior sailor camp kids running around the yacht club lawn, the birds perched on the dock cleats staring at us, twitching their heads and ruffling their feathers, sailboats of all sizes, makes, and configurations leaving the marina on a light but consistent breeze, the glittering sun sparkles jazzing up the water surface, and the RHYC, Canadian, and British flags fluttering from the solemn and serious flag pole.

We walked the waterfront, passing the Harbour West Marina, the Leander Boat Club, the Macassa Bay Yacht Club, all the way to Bayfront Park then up a forested path that led to a residential neighbourhood and eventually James Street. We stopped for coffee and a tosta mista at Ola Bakery & Pastry (our favourite Portuguese café), then the Portuguese store where I picked up two varieties of herbal tea, packets of spices, and blood sausage to supplement tomorrow’s breakfast. From here we continued to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market, passing incredible murals and public art pieces along the way, then into the Jackson Square mall where we lingered in the Nations Fresh Foods grocery store, gobsmacked at the massive variety and low cost of vegetables (including fresh durian, whose smell welcome-wallops you at the entrance), the huge selection of fresh fish and shellfish (yes, they have fresh conch), the walls of spices, the weird meats (tongues, intestines, stomachs, feet, heads, plus all the other boring stuff) and such a massive selection of Asian products you cannot get anywhere else. We picked up some wine for dinner then sashayed back to the Farmers’ Market where we sat down for two pupusas, loaded with curtido and salsa – delicious.

We returned to the boat with a bit of time to relax before our friends Dave and Kira and their friend Jenny arrived for a cockpit picnic. After a couple of drinks and a fine meal we drove to the Staircase Studio Theater for a Hamilton Fringe festival performance by another of Dave and Kira’s friends named Tor Lukasic-Foss. The performance, called The Yodelling Ranger was a mix of music and storytelling and was excellent.

After the show we stopped to visit a small art gallery then our friends dropped us off on James Street where we found an outdoor patio at a Mexican restaurant and had a nightcap as we watched people of all shapes and sizes passing by on a beautiful Friday evening.

This is why we love downtown Hamilton. Art, music, theatre, restaurants, bars, cafes, parks, public transit, and a lovely waterfront. What more could you ask for?

2026 Sailing Trip - The Bending of Time

I’ve never had a dream that was black and white.

I’ve never lived a day without a night.

What comes next in this life of mine.

How far will I go?

Time is a funny thing. Albert Einstein was the man who proposed that time is flexible. It curves. It flows differently and the speed of time depends on the relative motion of those experiencing it. Time passes slower for people moving faster than you (or in a higher gravity situation than you…but that’s a different topic). If, for example, your friend boards a spaceship and travels at 99.99% of the speed of light for 10 years, that person will have aged 10 years at the end of the trip. But upon returning to Earth, that person will discover that over 700 years has passed and everybody they ever knew have been long forgotten to history. They will be a bona-fide time traveller from the past. This is not just Einstein’s theory; this has been experientially proven, and in fact, clocks in satellites orbiting space at high speeds need to be adjusted for these time differences due to relativity. It’s all rather strange and difficult to comprehend.

However, as we all know, time also passes differently depending on what one is doing. Or at least our perception of time changes. Some days drag while others seem to never end. Ana and I have always found that time spent on vacation passes much slower than time at work. It seems seeing new things, trying new things, injecting a large degree of randomness and surprise in our days, not moving according to a plan – all these tend to slow the passage of time. And at this stage of our lives slowing the passage of time is what it’s all about.

Our afternoon and evening yesterday in Hamilton were lovely. We walked up James Street, picked up a few groceries, then were met by our buddies Greg and Sharon, who joined us for jointly-constructed dinner back at the boat then a long walk along the waterfront.

It was a picture perfect evening. And time moved slow.

2026 Sailing Trip - Onwards to Hamilton

Our time in Toronto is complete and we are motoring across Lake Ontario towards Hamilton. Another two days of heavy winds has further stirred the waters and the surface water temperature is now down to 10.5 degrees; unbelievable considering it was 25 degrees less than two weeks ago.

We may have eaten the best pizza in our lives yesterday. North of Brooklyn Pizzeria, near Queen and Bathurst, served us a 14 inch Truffle Shuffle and it was heavenly. Perfect thin crust, bursting with the fresh flavours of mushroom, truffle, and herbs, snaked with caramelized onions, topped with a blend of cheeses, and bottomed with delicious oils. It was magnificent.

What wasn’t so magnificent was the movie The Odyssey, which we saw during the full day rainstorm on Tuesday. It was simply awful. The worst of Hollywood, drawn out over a three-hour slog. When I saw the first trailers a month or so ago, I was suspicious. Too many stars. Too long. And Matt Damon? Could an excellent secret agent also be Odysseus?

I took several Classics courses in university for my electives, which were a lovely break from the more serious business of finance, accounting, and statistics. I loved them and wish I could have taken more, especially from my favourite prof, Dr. Peter Burnell, who wore the same pair of brown corduroys to every class, and was fond of kicking dropped chalk pieces across the room, sometimes directing them straight out the open window like a champion footballer. Throughout his classes, I was introduced to the epic Greek and Latin poems The Iliad, The Aeneid, The Odyssey and remember the engaging tales of heroism, struggles with the human condition, the interference from the gods in Earthly affairs, treachery, loyalty, suffering, violence, and unbreakable bonds of family and friendship. Ample material for a Hollywood production, one would think.

What we got instead with The Odyssey was a poorly presented story, brutal dialogue horribly delivered, and a never-ending parade of Hollywood A-listers as superfluous side characters who looked like they had just dropped by the set because they had nothing else going on that day, and somebody tossed them a toga and asked them to read out a few lines. Here were some of my favourite parts. When Spiderman tosses Jason Bourne a blade and says, “Hey Dad, here’s a sword!” When Zendaya suddenly appears, fresh off the scene of Dune 2 still wearing her costume from that movie, and starts chatting with Jason Bourne as if on a coffee date. I was surprised she didn’t call him “Bruh”. Oh and I really loved the useless scenes of Jason Bourne and Furiosa on the beach, her with fresh Botox treatments and So-Cal accent, really nailing that ancient Greek sea nymph look and feel. And it’s great how they casted Shayne from the Walking Dead as the exact same sort-of-bad-guy they do in every other movie the dude is in. The only thing I thought was missing was some Morgan Freeman or Sam Eliot voiceover narration to help the audience understand what the hell was going on in the story. They also could have had The Rock do a song and dance number. That would have been cool.

National Yacht Club were, as usual, perfect hosts. We spent a lot of time there with our Newport gang, over meals and drinks and snacks and morning cheesecakes, chatting and having fun. Sadly, the crazy winds prevented us from taking the dinghies for a circumnavigation of the Toronto islands. And those same winds scattered the sounds of last night’s Tesla/Extreme/Motley Crue concert at the RBC Amphitheatre so we could barely hear any of it. Those are my only sad, little complaints.

The Royal Hamilton Yacht Club finally came through for us and offered a slip for the next two nights so we look forward to drinking scotch and smoking stogies with the yachties at the mahogany bar. But for the next few hours, we will motor relentlessly with the wind directly in our face, pointed to the Burlington Lift Bridge.

2026 Sailing Trip - The Days in Toronto

The days we spend in Toronto on boat vacation are always a highlight and tend to run into each other. Was it Saturday we had that incredible butter chicken roti or was it Sunday? I know we haven’t gone to bed before 1:30 am any of the nights here, but was it Monday or Sunday when we sat around the fire playing guitar and singing? And that day we walked 18 kilometres just wandering around, was that just yesterday or a couple of days ago?

Last night was our fourth here at National Yacht Club and it has been so much fun. Magnus and Stella were with us all weekend and we shared some great meals in and out, cockpit happy hours, watched the final World Cup game in a crowd of hundreds at St. Lawrence Market (the winner predicted by Swimbappe, the prophetic goldfish), explored life and destiny during late night chats, and they even invited some of their friends to spend time at the boat. Other Newport buddies arrived over the weekend – Daryl, Lydia, Zach, Greg, and Sharon, and then our friends Dave and Kira, filling out the dream team. It’s been a busy, crazy, fun, few days in the big city.

Ana and I sometimes think we’d like to have a place in Toronto. We’ve thought of buying a condo that Magnus could rent from us, subject to us having exclusive use of the hide-a-bed when in town. The Toronto condo market is in a trough currently so there are some reasonable deals to be had, but still, they are very expensive and would not be cash flow positive. Additionally, Toronto has clamped down on Air B&B’s so you cannot legally rent a place you don’t live in permanently.

Compare that to being in Toronto on a boat. We have reciprocal deals with all the yacht clubs, which means we can either stay for free or cheap. There are also a few free anchorages nearby. Or even if we have to pay full price at a marina, it is still less than a hundred bucks per night, which is a fraction of what you would pay for a hotel. So, considering the greatest time to be in Toronto is during the summer, it seems wise to spend our time here on our boat instead of paying for a year-round condo.

Magnus and I had a great discussion on cities when he was here.

“What city do you like better, Toronto or Montreal?” I asked him.

“I love them both. They are amazing in different ways. But I would say that when I’ve been in Montreal, there’s always been a feeling that it’s a club you can visit but never be a real member of. It’s not like that in Toronto. Once you’re here, you’re in the club.”

I don’t feel like we’ve spent enough time in Montreal to really understand the city, but I would say his assessment of Toronto is spot on. It is a cultural jambalaya, a festival of colours, a place where you see one of everything and not too much of any one thing. There’s no majorities. There’s no minorities. Everybody is a participant. And people are nice. I don’t think anywhere else in Canada is like this. I don’t know if anywhere else in the world is like this.

Would I want to live in Toronto permanently? Probably not. We love our home in Paris. But the close proximity (by car, train, bus, or boat) to such an incredible, world class city is something I would not want to give up.

2026 Sailing Trip - Let's Tally Up the Boat Damages

It is a clear and beautiful morning - no smoke, no smell of burning cedar. I drop our paddleboard in the water and step on carefully then start to paddle. I first do a circuit around the marina then paddle to the next marina over, called the Toronto Hydroplane and Sailing club. The shallow and weedy areas close to the shoreline look like a perfect breeding ground for fish, but I don’t see even a minnow – just lots of ducks, swans, and geese.

Ana and I have a leisurely breakfast then push off the dock around 11am. We stop at the gas dock for a diesel fill, pump out, and bags of ice for the cooler. While we are there, one of the junior sailors in the dozen or so floating mini-bathtubs, faces a sailing emergency, loses control, and bonks his Styrofoam boat into the side of SeaLight. I look down at the six-year-old captain and the poor little guy is despondent, but I assure him he is the smallest of the boats that have run into us and has done no damage, expect perhaps to his ego and nautical reputation.

It is always a thrill sailing into Toronto and is again today. There is much less boat traffic in the inner harbour than usual, likely due to the health warnings that have been given, recommending people stay indoors. We sail through the bay with Toronto’s downtown to our right and the Toronto islands, then the Billy Bishop airport to our left. We round the corner and ease into our slip at National Yacht Club.

Today is the first of our reciprocal cruising weekend between our yacht club and National. The way this works is a bunch of Newport boats go to National and a bunch of National boats go to Newport, all for free. The tricky part is actually getting there, as boats simply cannot be trusted. Here’s the tally so far.

Grateful Two – lost an engine, hobbled in on one.

Hokule'a – couldn’t get engine to start, abandoned/postponed the trip.

Maria Magdalena – engine belts broke and ripped apart a bunch of their electrical wiring, had to get towed in and were cut off by a dumb-assed sailboater which caused them to crash into a steel bulkhead and decorate the side of the boat with scratches.

Summer Sled – being the nice guy that he is, Alex towed aforementioned boat and rammed his boat into the steel bulkhead, punching a hole through the hull.

The only good part about all this is we heard one of the National yachties crashed their boat into one of our docks. It takes months to repair all the damage from these weekends but damn is it fun.

Ana and I take a walk up to the Lobaws grocery store and provision for the weekend then hang out with our boat buddies until Magnus and Stella arrive around 7 pm. We have a welcome drink in SeaLight’s cockpit, get some food into them, then spend the evening chatting, laughing, and enjoying the noise and lights of the big city.

2026 Sailing Trip - Toronto's Beaches and Aussie Rules Footy

It is past dawn and time to leave. SeaLight slides out of her slip at 5:30 am, does a ninety-degree reverse turn, then motors towards the exit. It is still smoky, the visibility is poor, and the winds will be in our face, but the water has flattened and we hope to make the 55 mile run today to Ashbridges Bay Yacht Club. There will not likely be any sailing today.

The passage time goes quickly. We have to pay more attention on this run as we pass through a very popular fishing area and, sure enough, have to twice dodge small fishing boats on collision courses with us, not paying attention and not yielding our right of way. I graciously alter course and pass behind them but do try to get close enough to snag their lines in my keel.

There is just enough chili left over from two previous meals to craft magnificent chili dogs for lunch. For some inexplicable reason, Ana can’t understand the chili and wiener combination and requests a hot dog without the chili, so I serve her a plain dog and eat the rest of the chili on the side.

We motor into the still smoky Ashbridges Bay and squeeze into slip 101 on White Dock. After securing the boat, we take a walk, very happy to be back in Toronto and less than 10 miles away from National Yacht club – our destination tomorrow and for the weekend with a gaggle of our boating buddies from Newport.

For me, the Beaches neighbourhood in Toronto is always a surprise. It’s a surprise because one would not expect a clean, mile long beach near the downtown of a huge city on a freshwater lake. Ocean city, sure. But a lake city? And because of the insanely diverse ethnicities of the beachgoers, if you were dropped onto the beach from an airplane, blindfolded, you would simply not have a clue where you were. Dubai maybe? Brazil? Sydney? Greece? Oh wait, there’s the CN Tower – must be Toronto.

We walk along the beach boardwalk then turn north and head to busy Queen Street and find a Firkin pub where we have drinks and a plate of nachos. On the television is a sport that initially looks like rugby, then I realize it must be Aussie rules footy after seeing it was being played in front of a crowd of tens of thousands in Geelong stadium. The only reason I would know this is because my Aussie buddy Johnny used to try to teach me how to bounce the oblong ball on the ground while running, which is impossible for non-Australians. It is a game played on a football sized pitch and you seem to be allowed to do pretty much anything with the ball – throw it, kick it along the ground, handball it to a teammate, punt it, or run with it until another player takes your head off. I had to text Johnny to ask him why there would be an Aussie rules footy game playing in an English pub in Toronto. He had the answer. The Poms are refusing to watch soccer anymore after their semi-final loss at the World Cup.

Back at the boat, we take care of a few chores in preparation for the weekend. I wash the exterior and clean out the weeds from the AC water intake, Ana vacuums and cleans the inside, we inventory the food and booze situation, do a load of laundry at the clubhouse, and start looking for indoor things to do with the kids on Saturday, which is expected to be rainy.

After a late dinner of chops, sweet potatoes, and salads, we watch a bit of tv then call it a day.