TYC Trident Yacht Club

Last summer while cruising the 1000 Islands, Rita and I made the decision to apply for membership at Trident Yacht Club located between Kingston and Gananoque on the Bateau Channel on the St Lawrence River.

From their website:

Our Location

Trident Yacht Club (TYC) is a unique yacht club situated in a perfect location on the Bateau Channel in the iconic Thousand Islands. 

Whether looking for a short cruise a long distance challenging sail, or anything in between, you can do it all from TYC. With its strong infrastructure, exquisite environment and vibrant social and racing community, TYC is the place to be!

Every year we cruise east to the 1000 Islands, and usually make a stop at TYC.

We were #17 on the waiting list to get in, so we were thinking that it would be a year or two before we would even be considered for membership.

Well last month, we got a call and offered a slip; we were in!

We are going to remain members of the Whitby Yacht Club, and winter our boat close to home.

We want to use our boat as a cottage.

Drive up midweek when there is no traffic, and enjoy the boat for a week or so before heading back to do domestic stuff like cut the grass, and maybe race in Toronto on Wednesday nights.

The drive to TYC is a little over 2 hours along the 401:

Easy drive @60 knots!

Today is Trident's launch.  It was delayed almost a month because of the crane operator's strike.

I decided to volunteer on the launch crew.

The sign on hwy #2 is inviting: 

The gravel road into the club is fairly long:

My shift working launch crew was in the afternoon, so I had a look around the club.

Trident has a little over 100 slips, and room to store 45 boats in the winter on land.

Their lauch/haulout is done with a smaller crane with a single spreader bar that allows boats to be lifted with their masts up:

The single spreader means the crews don't have to use cinch lines to keep the slings together during the lift.  The smaller crane would lift 3 or 4 boats into the water, then move after the cradles are moved out of the way.  Seems to work well.

It was pissing rain, and I had to head into Kingston to Marine Outfitter to get some parts for the race boat ZAMBONI.

The rain had cleared up for my afternoon shift.  I worked the tag line crew keeping the hauling hooks away from the boat hulls before and after the lift, as well as guiding the boat in the air.

I met many ex Whitby Yacht Club members who have moved to Trident

• Gary (Play On)
• John (JP Sea)
• Gord (Bottoms Up)
• Norm (Pravna)
• Kim (Alura)

Looks like I'll have to have two burgee decals like Bottoms Up:

There is another CS34 in the club called Chardonnay with the same colours as Still Time.

Chardonnay is hull #34 (Still Time is 68) from 1990.

Chardonnay has a wing keel:

I talked with its owner Jim for a long time.

After all the boats were in the water, we put up the masting crane:

Having a beer in the bar afterwards, I met so many nice folks including our boat mentor partner Pierre.
Trident pairs new members up with existing members to "show them the ropes".
What a great idea!

Alas it was time to head home as the mist rolled in on the Bateau Channel: