yacht club jericho beach

Viking Sailing Club

Jericho Beach Vancouver Canada

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Sailing our Cruise Boat

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Learning to sail Tyra in English Bay

Cruising is another of the many enjoyable benefits of membership in the Viking Sailing Club. We are the only sailing club at the Jericho Sailing Centre (and in Vancouver!) which provides both beach fleet and cruise boat access. Spending a few days (or more) on some of the best sailing waters in the world with friends and fellow Vikings is incomparable. Charter, club cruises, or training, everyone has the opportunity to sail on our new flagship Bavaria 34′ – Tyra.

Cruising in British Columbia

Tyra on a stern tie at Wallace Island

Need more? Tyra is moored at Burrard Civic Marina, close to Granville Island. She provides sleeping accommodation for 6-8. As a member of the club, you have booking privileges for this vessel. Plan your summer vacation in the San Juan or Gulf islands or perhaps Desolation Sound. Tyra is also used to train Senior rated members for Second-in-command and Skipper levels.

Chartering our Cruise Boat

Members are encouraged to book charters on Tyra. As a sailing co-operative we offer charter rates without commercial profit margins (roughly a third of commercial rates), making cruising a great way to spend your vacation.

Club Cruises

We also organize group day and weekend cruises for members and friends to get everyone out on the water – and spread our passion for sailing and Tyra! Go on the May long-weekend cruise , a Fun Day cruise, or organize your own. Stay tuned for notices of Fun Day cruises being planned for this season.

Cruise Boat Sailor Ratings & Training

There are three keelboat ratings for our cruising sailboat Tyra:

• Crew – everyone is crew to start with. Help out around the boat or get a suntan. If you’re really nice to the Skipper, you might even get to helm the boat, as long as you’ve got your Pleasure Craft Operator Card .
• 2IC (Second-in-command) – club-rated Senior sailors are welcome to apply to our 2IC training program.
• Skipper – experienced 2ICs who have demonstrated leadership and commitment to the club are invited to become Skippers.

2017 class of 2iCs (second in command)

learning to helm Tyra in 14 knots

Tyra Specifications

The Vikings are very proud of our beautiful Bavaria 34 keelboat. She has 3 cabins, and can sleep 6-8!

Bavaria 34 interior

Tyra at anchor in Winter Cove, Saturna Island

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MONTECRISTO

Photo by Ema Peter Photography.

This Simple Yacht Club Building in Vancouver Just Won the Highest Architectural Award in Canada

• Story: Katie Nanton

Since opening a clubhouse on Jericho Beach in 1927, the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club has resided upon a stunning stretch of coveted coastline. Ninety years later, a fresh and functional dock building, designed by Michael Green Architecture, was added to its footprint.

With a nautical design partly inspired by boat sails, the simple structure sits on the shoreline where “the beach is kissed by the sea.” It was that song lyric (from the Who’s “Love, Reign O’er Me”) that floated through architect Michael Green’s mind as he designed the building with his team, but its architectural intention is not to crane boaters’ necks with undue flashiness, nor steal the spotlight from its natural surroundings. Instead, it performs a utilitarian function: as a working building, serving a large marina.

And now it has been rewarded, among 11 other projects, with a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Governor General’s Medal in Architecture—the highest distinction given to an architectural project in Canada.

The inclusion of a somewhat humble dock building—housing workshops, showers, instruction spaces, washrooms, and storage areas for sailing gear—may at first seem remiss in the award-winning company of glitzy museums, grand performance halls, or graceful libraries. But its recognition is in fact progressive, flipping the script on what the stereotype of an “award-winning building” may be.

“I think there is a real specialness that the jury chose a building that is so modest,” Green says.

Industrial buildings are “rarely ever thought of as places that can be ‘beautiful architecture,’” he says. “I think we need to change that attitude, and recognize that all buildings have an opportunity to make their community a more beautiful place, or a more functional place. All buildings deserve some care and thought.”

The Royal Architectural Institute’s jury members singled out the dock building’s “simple form and efficient organization,” calling it both poetic and sensible, and praising its “careful thinking” around composition and materials. “To coin a phrase,” the jury wrote, “sometimes less is more than enough.”

The design process itself was an unusual one because of the sandy building site. “It needed to have a foundation that sits above the beach, and be sensitive to the ecological issues along the water’s edge,” Green explains. A large chunk of the $3.5-million budget went into that base foundation—highly unusual for a new building—and the final product was constructed out of metal, timber, concrete, and polycarbonate translucent sheets.

Albeit a fairly simple overall design, there are some special subtleties in the structure that bring the architect joy. For instance, the roof forms a sharp knife’s-edge on the ocean side, alluding to the prow of a racing sailboat. And when the lights are on inside, a lantern effect is created as light flows hazily through the polycarbonate panels. In fact, those cost-efficient sheets were an important piece of its architectural puzzle, allowing daylight to flow inside while also providing a durable carapace that could withstand the accidental hit of a ship’s mast.

Green referenced the area’s heritage in the design, as well, recalling the big timber fisheries and canneries that once lined Vancouver’s waterfront. They, too, were housed within simple, functional forms such as wedge- or gabled-shaped buildings.

“They were not designed to be ‘architecture’—they were designed to satisfy a need and a purpose. And I think the spirit of this building is the same: a simple gesture of architecture to satisfy a need,” says Green. “I love that this project was honoured with a Governor General’s because it really speaks to the fact that good architecture doesn’t have to be expensive. It just has to be thoughtful, careful, simple—and it needs to belong to its place.”

The yacht club’s dock building not only belongs to its place but also has a stealthy ability to blend into it. “You can walk by it a million times and not notice it, and that actually brings me joy,” Green says. “It’s got this really lovely modest quality that I think is really important. The site is the beauty; the utilitarian purpose is the beauty. And it is just a simple, quiet building on the beach.”

Read more in our Design section. 

Categories:

• Architecture
• Governor General’s Medal in Architecture
• Michael Green Architecture
• Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
• Vancouver Yacht Club

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Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Dock Building

The Dock Building, located on Jericho Beach in Vancouver, BC, serves a large sailboat marina. The facility provides washrooms and showers, offices for the Harbor Master, instruction space for children, and a variety of workshops to maintain boats, sails, and gear. The project’s practical working needs, very modest budget, and prominent setting required a simple solution.

The superstructure consists of glulam posts and beams with light timber infill decking and walls. The combination of engineered wood and light wood frame was chosen as the primary structural system for its local availability, ease of construction and economy. The interior is predominantly construction-grade plywood, providing a tough, easily replaceable interior finish.

The Dock Building shows that an elegant yet practical building can be achieved through careful planning and a creative team, regardless of budget.

Vancouver, BC, CAN

Completion Date

Sports / Leisure

Michael Green Architecture

2020 Governor General's Medal

2019 Architizer A+ Commercial and Mixed Use

2019 Architizer A+ Architecture and Facades

2018 AIBC Special Jury Award

Photography Credit

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Run Jericho beach

Jericho beach.

Located east of Spanish Banks lies another local summer favourite: Jericho Beach. Part of Jericho Beach Park, the Jericho Beach area also includes the Jericho Sailing Centre Association and the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Within the park, locals frequent the rugby and soccer fields, walking and running trails, tennis courts, and some of Point Grey’s best restaurants just a few steps away.

Vancouver’s only beach-side youth hostel is located in Jericho Beach Park. The HI-Vancouver Jericho Beach hostel is a partner with the North Shore Culinary School which has an on-site cafe/restaurant run by the students of their tuition-free Culinary Training Program. Only open Friday to Sunday, it’s a great place to indulge in a fantastic post-run meal.

Jericho Beach Park has hosted numerous provincial and national cross-country races that bring some of the nation’s best runners to compete in Vancouver’s cold and wet winters through the park’s trails. From summer walks, to chilly winter runs along the water, the paths along Jericho Beach will always have people on them. With views of the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park and Vancouver’s skyline are just a few of the things that make Jericho Beach a local favourite.

Featured on the BMO Vancouver Marathon and Relay courses.

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Yacht club Sochi - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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