Page 93 - PCYC 75th Anniversary Book

PCYC Teaches Sailing PCYC Junior Club

The desire to pass on the joys, skills, and challenges of sailing has always been one of the goals of the members of Port By the early 1950s girls, as well as boys, wanted to learn to sail, and since Scouting success, including an Olympic Bronze Medal for Tanya Warton in 1993, and a Silver
Credit Yacht Club. at that time was only for boys, the members and executive of the club, led by Ron Medal in 2004 for Mike Wolfs.
Most of the men who founded PCYC had children. In those days, boys were frequently involved with the Scouting Searle, started to think about a Sailing School as a logical next step for PCYC. In 1957 Today PCYC’s youth sailing school teaches about 300 sailors each season using
movement. The first Port Credit Scout group was started in 1926 by a group of community-minded parents. With the PCYC Junior Club held its first year of instruction with Mike Berry as instructor and 30 Optimists, 420s, Picos, and Lasers. There are 14 CYA-qualified instructors, two
founding of PCYC, so many of the Scout group’s sponsoring parents joined PCYC, that the Club took over the sponsorship of young people taking lessons in the club’s new fleet of Blue Jay dinghies. Those boats high-performance travelling race teams, a learn to race team, an adult dinghy
the Sea Scouts. In the early days it was the Scout group, with the assistance of many members giving time and boats, who were built over the winter by a group of volunteers. program, and keel boat instruction.
taught sailing. The Scouts participated in many aspects of Club life, including the Opening Day Ceremonies. The PCYC Junior Club, as it was called, was housed in a small white building with
a ramp to allow ease of putting boats in to the water. Participation grew quickly both
from children of members and the community at large. PCYC graduates have gone
on to support sailing in Canada as race officers and judges and to international racing
90 The Way We Are Port Credit Yacht Club History 91