Toronto Island Sailing Club Races Into Their 50th Season

Toronto Island Sailing Club (TISC) is proud to announce its 50th season, being the oldest community based co-op dinghy sailing club in Ontario, if not Canada. Located on Centre Island within the boundaries of Toronto Island Marina, the Club is considered one of Toronto’s best kept secrets. With its stunning views of Toronto’s skyline and quiet woodland setting, TISC has flourished for fifty years as a one-of-a-kind community club serving a variety of members of different ages and backgrounds, and giving them a low cost opportunity to sail performance craft without the burden of owning a boat.

The Club offers members the opportunity to learn to sail with certified CANSail instructors (sailing.ca), participate in one-design Albacore racing (Toronto’s fleet being one of the largest in the world)and socialize with the 160 club members on their beautiful grounds.   TISC participates in the Canadian Albacore Association’s (albacore.ca) Regattas, Harbour Masters and Friday Night Races. TISC has a fleet of Albacores (dinghy), a boat developed in 1954 from an Uffa Fox design, together with several Lasers and Hobies.   This community sailing club started in 1965 as a program of the North Toronto YMCA and operated for several years out of the former Algonquin Island Schoolhouse.  In 1970 the YMCA underwent changes and the Club struck out on its own, incorporating under a provincial non-profit charter as “North Toronto Sailing, Inc.” and operating as “North Toronto Sailing Club”. The Club moved to the Toronto Island Marina and was housed in a small shack (a former ice cream booth). In 1986 the nearby Sailing Life School (formerly the Toronto Island Marina Sailing School) closed and the Club expanded its operations to include the Sailing Life site. In 1995 the Club changed its name to the Toronto Island Sailing Club. In 2007, the Club relocated to its current landscaped premises within the north-west corner of the Marina.