2 VERNON YACHT CLUB Researched and written by Tim Amy and Ron Heuman

Congratulations to the Vernon Yacht Clubon your 50 years of colourful history andactive community involvement. The Cityof Vernon looks forward to witnessingyour next 50 years of progress.

Sean HarveyMayor of Vernon

Congratulations on 50 years as a growingasset to the Province of British Columbiaand the Okanagan Valley and may the next50 years be as successful.

Tom Christensen, MLAOkanagan - Vernon

On behalf of the District of Coldstream,we offer our congratulations on your 50thAnniversary. We have witnessed manychanges at the Vernon Yacht Club through-out the years and we wish you every successin the future.

Mayor Brian PostillDistrict of Coldstream

This has been a wonderful year of relivingthe 50 year history of the Vernon Yacht Club.We have recognized and honoured those whostarted our club and the many who havehelped build VYC into the wonderful club itis today.

Our 50th Anniversary celebrations havebeen absolutely ‘awesome’ and we thank allour members for their active participationand involvement as we continue to worktogether to further improve our club.

Bruce Barnard, CommodoreVernon Yacht Club

VERNON YACHT CLUB 3

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From its humble beginnings 50 yearsago, with 33 founding members, theVernon Yacht Club’s membership hasgrown to a robust 280 members, with fullmoorage in the marina, and an activesocial scene. Today, as we celebrate ourfiftieth year, our membership capacity isfull. Hence we have begun the process ofexpanding the marina moorage which willenable us to increase our membership.With an annual turnover of approximately15%, persons who would like to join theClub have an excellent opportunity to doso. With the huge potential of economicdevelopment in the Greater Vernon area,together with the announcement ofVancouver winning Olympics 2010,boating people moving to this area seekout the Vernon Yacht Club to enjoy itstremendous infrastructure, all owned bythe membership.

To join the Vernon Yacht Club there is aone time initiation fee, annual dues, andmoorage fees. The latter are set annuallyby the Club Executive. Once you becomea regular member, you enjoy all the club-house and marina privileges. There isalso the opportunity to join the VernonYacht Club as an Associate Member withcertain limitations and restrictions.Persons interested in joining the VernonYacht Club are invited to speak with anyClub member, or Club staff. Check outour website at

www.vernonyachtclub.org.You are always welcome at the

Vernon Yacht Club!

Vernon Yacht Club7919 Okanagan Landing Rd.Vernon, B.C. V1H 1H1Phone (250) 545-5518Fax (250) 545-0388

MembershipInformation

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annual schedule of “invasions” whereby boatsinvade a fellow Yacht Club for inter clubmerriment and sharing of Okanagan boatingcomradeship. Many longlasting friendshipsare born from these invasions with membersalways looking forward to the next invasion.

Christmas Party and Christmas Carol Ships -The VYC hosts an annual Christmas Partywith an exchange of gifts. A highlight is theparade of sail boats lit with Christmas Lightsparading around the VernonArm to the pleasureof nearby residents and other Vernon residentswho come out to see the unique spectacle.

Pig Roast - Held Annually in September, theVYC Pig Roast is always sold out early. Chefsroast a pig on a spit all day to delectableperfection. Members and guests enjoy casualdining and dancing throughout the evening.

who took an interest in the enhancement ofthe club’s social activities by working manyhours procuring and preparing food...Nowunder the banner of “First Mates” the group isorganizing into a full fledged entity within theClub with a purpose to sponsor, organize andsupport VYC activities.” (Tiller Topics, July1997). Today the same enthusiasm is evidentin the socials organized by the VYC ladies.Annual social events include:Commodore’s Ball and Sailpast - Membersdress formally to enjoy fine dining anddancing. Guests include fellow Yacht ClubCommodores and local dignitaries. Thefollowing day VYC Members sail past theCommodore in line of precedence. Many ofthe boats carry on to Ellison Park and raft upto celebrate the event.Invasions - Okanagan Yacht Clubs plan an

The Clubhouse is the focal point of many ofthe social activities. It is equipped with an airconditioned lounge featuring a fully equippedbar, dance floor, sound and video system,wrap-around deck with retractable awning,and games room complete with a full sizepool table, foosball game and table tennis.Outdoors there are a horseshoe pit, picniclawn area and waterside deck.

Interestingly, the ladies of the Club over the past50 years have made significant contributionstowards the betterment of the Clubhouse andsocial events. In March 1958 “the wives havebanded together to form their own “union”called the Auxiliary....will undertake to raisemoney in their own devious feminine ways toassist in providing interior furnishings andfixtures.” (Tiller Topics, March 24th, 1958) “Itall started with a group of VYC lady members

Social Events

“The purposes of the society are to promote the enhancement of boating as a recreational andpleasurable pastime, to encourage inter club and inter community nautical activities and to providefacilities for any of the foregoing.” The Vernon Yacht Club under the stewardship of the StaffCaptain works extremely hard to promote social activities for Club members, encouraging membersto participate in Club events and inter Club events with other Yacht Clubs on Okanagan Lake.

Rotted pilings and rusted steel, Okanagan echoes of the bigsternwheelers churning the lake at the turn of the century;volunteer firemen racing rafts across the bay (1930); plywoodpowerboats and rowing races, the Okanagan Landing Regatta,North Okanagan Aquatic Association, North OkanaganSailing Regatta for the Rose Bowl Cup (1940); nautical coffeetalk at Vernon’s Okanagan Café and at Johnny’s Grill, themayors challenge (1950); the imagination, vision, determinationand hard work of the club’s founding members; all set the sceneand contributed to the Vernon Yacht Club being granted itscharter, June 23, 1953.

During the 1890s the CPR drove pilings along the south shoreof Okanagan Lake at Vernon to support the heavy decks andrails needed to load and land box cars transported by barge

the length of the lake. This Okanagan Landing terminusceased operations during the 1930s and most structures wereremoved, leaving a drowned forest of pilings and bolts to rotand rust in the shallows.

1900-1950, residents of ‘The Landing’ area organized a varietyof annual power and sailing regattas on the lake. Interest inboating grew with the population and during the early 1950spower boat aficionados would congregate for steaks at Vernon’sOK Café while sailboaters gathered for toasted cheese sand-wiches at Johnny’s Grill where John Dedora, passionate sailorand a founding member of the Calgary Yacht Club, and hiswife Eileen had chosen a sailing theme for the grill. Mayor

Theo Adams, a community booster with his ear always closeto the ground, frequented both establishments and in July1951 commented to John that, “Both power and sail boatpeople have been talking yacht club and it’s time you didsomething about it.”

To generate interest a sailing race was organized for August 1951.The wind did not attend but many people did. Encouraged,the organizers arranged a meeting for November at the OKLanding United Church hall. With a good attendance it wasquickly decided to form a yacht club, with Dr. HughCampbell Brown elected Commodore, Dr. Leon Causier ViceCommodore, Horace Gailbraith legal advisor, and AustinCollins as Secretary. Another thirty signed up as foundingmembers, each contributing a few dollars, and June 23, 1953the Vernon Yacht Club received its charter as a society.

Meanwhile, the hunt was on for a waterfront club site. Enterthe rotted pilings and rusted steel, bane and boon to the club.This debris from the paddlewheel era resulted in depressedvalues for the affected water front properties and in 1955, withthe assistance of Dr. Campbell Brown, the club purchasedone lot with a small building and 50 feet of lake frontage,directly across the road from the doctor’s then new house. TheCampbell Brown residence remains and the VYC is the onlyOkanagan yacht club to own its property.

Before boats could enter the water from this lot, heavy equipmenton a barge was recruited to begin pulling the forest of pilings,the Commodore and two other club dignitaries wading out

Navigatingthe First Fifty Years

chest deep to set the choker cable. Unfortunately, all othermembers were out of town that week. A launch ramp wasbuilt in 1956 and served the public and the club for severalyears. The following year the first club house opened, funded bymembers purchasing 15 year debentures at 7%. Built at water’sedge, the clubhouse had a stone fireplace and chimney and averandah which imitated a ship’s upper deck. The firstCommodore’s Ball was held that year at the Allison Hotelballroom and club records of the late 50s mention: manydeadheads in the lake; midnight cruises on Charlie Holmes’50-ton float, “If you arrive late, stick around the launch rampwith your lights on and someone will come ashore to pick youup”; family cruises“with time for thechildren to swim beforeeating and have themhome by 10:30 pm”;junior club formed;Ladies Auxiliary formed.

1959 saw the openingof the club’s federallyfunded breakwater andthe member fundeddocks behind it. InJune 1960, the treasurerwas seen knocking hishead on a wall, muttering, “annual dues, annual dues.” ByJuly, payment of dues was reported as “gratifying.”

During the early 60s, the club held predicted log family cruises,hosted Girl Guides and the Spokane Outboard Club, assistedthe Canadian Power Squadron to establish in the Okanagan,obtained a liquor license and assisted in having navigationlights installed at Rattlesnake and Cameron Points and atGrant/Whiskey Island.

Then on February 14, 1967 there came an opportunity in disguise;the clubhouse burnt to the ground. Within 48 hours therewere plans to rebuild, bigger and better for the future, usingnon combustible concrete blocks With much hard work bymembers the new building opened October 22, 1967.

During the 1970s an annual fishing derby became popular,a world record 9lb 6oz Kokanee landed in 1988. Membershipgrew slowly, and by the early 1980s planning for an enlargedmarina was underway. The waterfront lot to the west waspurchased from a member and in 1987 work began on amajor redesign and expansion of the marina. Members were

assigned to highly organized work parties and slaved like thepyramid builders, the new marina opening in May 1988.

In 1989 the new marina became the sight of what was thenthe largest on water boat show in BC, organized by membersand becoming an annual event.

During the 1990s the number of sail boats increased steadily,two more of the adjacent lots were purchased and a furtherexpansion in 1998 added moorage and a floating breakwater.Photographs of that period compare with those of the prepa-rations for D-Day as eight 50 ton concrete cassions wereformed and poured in the parking lot prior to being floated

into place.

Now in its 50th yearthe Vernon Yacht Club’smembership numbers250 and growing Powerand sail boaters areevenly represented withboats ranging from 16to 35 feet in approxi-mately 200 berths.Cruising the club-sponsored mooragesaround the lake andvisiting other clubs are

favorite pastimes and an active sail racing fleet of 30 boatsholds weekly competitions in the bay. Members of otherOkanagan yacht clubs enjoy invading the VYC and the club’sspring time Charity Regatta is well attended by competitive keelboat sailors from throughout the valley.

At Christmas and New Year, club sailboats wintering on thewater have evolved a tradition of dressing the rigging with lightsand cruising the bay for the enjoyment of residents and it isreported that some of these die hards sail each week, all winter,on the almost ice-free lake. Other members volunteer to skippera pontoon excursion boat for elderly and infirm members ofthe community. The concrete club house has served well andis frequently the scene of formal and not so formal socializing.Some members are also Power Squadron members and provideboating courses throughout the year. Recently the club hasprovided moorage and a meeting place for the Vernon Sea Scouts.

Now on course to its 100th anniversary, the Vernon YachtClub’s tradition of imagination, hard work, membershipparticipation, and community service will continue to bringtogether those lively souls who love to mess about in boats.

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For the past 42 years the Vernon Canadian Power and Sail Squadronand the Vernon Yacht Club have enjoyed a close relationship. The YachtClub provides its Clubhouse as a meeting place and a training facility.The Canadian Power and Sail Squadron promotes safe boating throughits training programs and offers many boating related courses to boththe general public and VYC members. The VYC Flag is proudly flownalongside of the CPS Flag on theflagstaff overlooking the marina as atribute to the Yacht Club and PowerSquadron’s dedication to promotingsafe boating .

In addition to supporting the CPSthe VYC maintains mooring buoysthroughout the North end of OkanaganLake. Members of all OkanaganYachtClubs and the general boating publicenjoy the use of these familiar orangebuoys.

The Vernon Yacht Club is proud to be affiliated with Safe Boatingprograms. During the VYC’s annual Spring Boat Show the CanadianCoast Guard and other safe boating agencies are invited to makepresentations to promote safe and enjoyable boating. Indeed one of thebenefits of becoming a yacht club member is the sharing of boatingexperience and knowledge with other yacht club members. As well, itprovides reciprocal use of yacht clubs around the world.

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The Vernon Yacht Club takes a great deal ofpride in being able to support communityorganizations with activities on OkanaganLake. By providing complimentary moorage,the VYC effectively aids several communityminded organizations.

Heaven-Can-Wait is a 24 foot pontoon boatoperated by volunteer captains on behalf ofthe Okanagan Quality Life Society. Theboat is used primarily to take live-in seniorsand disabled persons for an on the waterexperience throughout the summer months.In addition to moorage, the parking, loadingand clubhouse facilities provided by theVYC, significantly contribute to the successof “Heaven-Can-Wait”.

The VYC is deeply concerned for the safetyof persons operating watercraft and thereforeprovides moorage to the Okanagan LandingVolunteer Fire Department which operates a21 foot fire and rescue boat specifically toprovide its services in the Landing area. Thevolunteer firemen train on the boat and theyrespond to fire and other emergencies on ornear the water. Close proximity to the Fire

Heaven-Can-Wait

Station helps to reduce response time. TheVYC ensures that the firemen have theneeded facilities to use the fire and rescueboat.

The Navy League Cadets Canada, #69Okanagan Corps and Royal Canadian SeaCadets, #63 Kalamalka Corps, maintain the“Chinook”, a 23 foot training sloop. TheVYC is proud to be associated with theNavy League and Sea Cadets by providingmoorage and marine experience to Vernonyouths who participate in the Navy Cadetprogram.

Annually the VYC sailors hold the“Okanagan Charity Sailing Regatta”.Upwards of 50 boats participate in theregatta, with each boat raising funds for theUnited Way campaign. The VYC fullysupports this event and makes its clubhouseand marina facilities available to all partic-ipants for an entire weekend of sail racing.

Community Involvement

OKLVFD Fire and Rescue Boat

VERNON YACHT CLUB 9

Okanagan Charity Sailing Regatta

On February 20th, 1958, then Tiller Topics editorJ.T.B. Jackson wrote; “You are now staring at Vol. 1,No. 1 of ‘Tiller Topics’, official organ of the VernonYacht Club, staring back at you with a brand new faceand shiny new policy to start a new year, which promisesto be an eventful one for theYacht Club, and, we predictfor the ‘Topics’.”

“The Club over the past few years have rather spasmodicallypublished bulletins calling your attention to coming eventsand future endeavors and during the last year we subtitledthe newsletter ‘Tiller Topics’. The name not only seemedto have the membership acceptance but actually assumed arather nostalgic appeal to many of the Club...To set therecords straight, the ‘Topics’will be mailed regularly to allmembers of the Club as part of their membership entitle-ment, and in addition copies will be sent to all Yacht Clubswith whom we are affiliated and share a common interest.”

And so “Tiller Topics” as the official newsletter was born.The “Topics” has since continued to be published by membervolunteers to all members. It has changed in formatthroughout the years, however the “Topics” has remainedas the primary means to communicate to all members ofthe Club. Tiller Topics has become an historical record ofhappenings at the Vernon Yacht Club and reading throughthe copies one gets a real sense of the work done by variousmembers throughout the 50 year history of the Club.

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10 VERNON YACHT CLUB

VERNON YACHT CLUB 11

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Vernon Yacht ClubGenerously supports United Way by:Developing the Charity Regatta tomake it come alive for Sponsorsand Teams.

Welcoming and hostingsailors from up & down thevalley at their wonderfulfacility.

Members provide crewing,sponsoring and volun-teering services to makethe Charity Regatta ahuge success.

Raising $23,232for United Way!

VE

RNON

YACHTCLUB

50th ANNIVERSARY

NorthOkan

agan Columbia Shusw

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