occupies three islands in the chain that forms the south side of Toronto harbour. The island clubhouse with its porticoed verandahs, Toronto’s largest wooden building, houses a ballroom, dining rooms and other social spaces. Other buildings house the sailing management offices, the junior club, lockers and workspace for the club’s mechanics, riggers, woodworkers and marine yard workers. Island activities include sailing lessons for juniors and adults, sailing in club-owned boats, tennis, swimming and lawn bowling. The island clubhouse is linked to the city by a launch service operated by two notable launches, both over a century old and built for the club. The Hiawatha built in 1895 and the Kwasind built in 1912 which sail from a dock on the Ship Channel of the Toronto Harbour where it meets Cherry Street. With its merger with the Carlton Club in 1974, the club gained a winter home in the city (and the addition of racquet sports to its attractions). Ten years later in 1984, the new city clubhouse, opened at 141 St. George St. in the Annex. It is an all-year facility, and provides dining and social spaces, squash and badminton courts, fitness and other facilities. Model collection RCYC possesses one of the finest collections of yacht models in North America, in spite of clubhouse fires in 1896, 1904 and 1918 that consumed many valuable examples. The model of Minota was deliberately preserved with the marks of the 1918 fire. The collection now includes over 170 models, about half displayed in the City Clubhouse Model Room with the remainder elsewhere in the City Clubhouse or in the Island Clubhouse. The Island’s Flagship Room displays some three dozen models of past Commodores’ yachts while the Eight-Metre Room shows a dozen of the type. Fifteen Fourteen-footer and International 14 models in the City Club bar provide the most comprehensive available guide to the class’s development over a 100-year span. Notable members Edward Blake - Premier of Ontario Edward Roper Curzon Clarkson - founding partner of accounting firm Clarkson Gordon George Harding Cuthbertson - yacht builder and designer Sir John Craig Eaton - businessman and philanthropist Jim Flaherty - Finance Minister of Canada George Horace Gooderham - distillery owner and politician Sir Casimir Gzowski - Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Paul Henderson - Olympic sailor Edward Æmilius Jarvis - business magnate Allan Lamport - Mayor of Toronto Sir John A. Macdonald - Prime Minister of