Bay of Quinte Yacht Club -150 Jubilee
Significance of BQYC’s 150 Jubilee Logo
2026 is a very stirring year indeed for the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club.
We get to acknowledge face to face our deep roots showing that we were a major yacht club founded 150 years ago. Major enough to challenge a worthy contender for the prestigious America’s Cup, hosted by the New York Yacht Club. Somewhat similar to David taking on Goliath. We were maybe a bit brash in our challenge as they were an established formidable foe.
In our Significance of BQYC’s 150 Jubilee Logo
2026 is a very stirring year indeed for the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club.
We get to achnowledge face to face our deep roots showing that we were a major yacht club founded 150 years ago. Major enough to challenge a worthy contender for the prestigious America’s Cup, hosted by the New York Yacht Club. Somewhat similar to David taking on Goliath. We were maybe a bit brash in our challenge as they were an established formidable foe.
In our naivety as we crossed Lake Ontario to the Erie Barge Canal heading to New York Harbour, we had a steady unvarnished crew vainly trying to complete construction of the hull enroute. Nailing hull boards as we wound our way down the canal. Atalanta was late for her challenge arriving in September for what was supposed to be a summer series of races.
Another interesting factor was the load of rocks deep in her bilge as ballast that the crew had to transport from one side of the bilge to the other when she tacked. What we don’t know is if Mischief, her rival, had a similar ballast situation when she tacked. They did their races and needless to say we lost totally to Mischief.
What is striking is that we never let the “smalltown think” daunt us in the pursuit of defeating the top of the heap in racing annuls at that time. We were proud Canadians strutting our stuff.
These were also the early days of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, establishing key figures on the Canadian yachting scene coming from Belleville, people like Ian Morch.
On the local scene the Katie Gray was a similar sized boat, approximately 80 feet in length, challenging all comers from other yacht clubs and taking more than her share of winnings.
Both Atalanta and Katie Gray were designed by Alex Cuthbert and constructed in our area. In her honour we stage the annual Katie Gray race yearly as a Labour Day classic. It is a fitting tribute to these two boats that we let them them symbolize our 150 year heritage of sailing out of Belleville and the Bay of Quinte. as we crossed Lake Ontario to the Erie Barge Canal heading to New York Harbour, we had a steady unvarnished crew vainly trying to complete construction of the hull enroute. Nailing hull boards as we wound our way down the canal. Atalanta was late for her challenge arriving in September for what was supposed to be a summer series of races.
Another interesting factor was the load of rocks deep in her bilge as ballast that the crew had to transport from one side of the bilge to the other when she tacked. What we don’t know is if Mischief, her rival, had a similar ballast situation when she tacked. They did their races and needless to say we lost totally to Mischief.
What is striking is that we never let the “smalltown think” daunt us in the pursuit of defeating the top of the heap in racing annuls at that time. We were proud Canadians strutting our stuff.
These were also the early days of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, establishing key figures on the Canadian yachting scene coming from Belleville, people like Ian Morch.
On the local scene the Katie Gray was a similar sized boat, approximately 80 feet in length, challenging all comers from other yacht clubs and taking more than her share of winnings.
Both Atalanta and Katie Gray were designed by Alex Cuthbert and constructed in our area. In her honour we stage the annual Katie Gray race yearly as a Labour Day classic. It is a fitting tribute to these two boats that we let them symbolize our 150 year heritage of sailing out of Belleville and the Bay of Quinte.
