Sailing Lessons

Britannia Yacht Club’s roots come from an association of cottagers who spent their summers at Britannia-on-the-Bay.

Formed in 1887, they were known as the Britannia Aquatic Club and met for the first nine years in an old saw mill on the water, between Rowatt and Jamieson Street.

The name was changed to the Britannia Nautical Club and then to the Britannia Boat House Club, and was incorporated in 1895. The following year the members built a fine building for storing canoes and rowboats.

The club flourished and paddlers won many national championships. Frank Amyot won a gold medal for Canada at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.The members decided that they would like a larger, more elegant place to hold their dances and other social functions.

A new clubhouse was built in 1907 on the end of the Ottawa Electric Railway pier at Britannia Park, but was unfortunately destroyed by fire in August 1918.

The social affairs of the club were then moved back to the old clubhouse and remain in the same building to this day. At this point they were known as the Britannia Boating Club.