Introduction
Ashbridge’s Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) has been a part of the Toronto Beaches community for over 60 years. Located in Ashbridge’s Bay Park, just off Lakeshore Blvd. at the foot of Coxwell Ave., the Club is easily accessible by car, bicycle and TTC (with a 10 minute walk south from Queen Street on Coxwell). More information about the surrounding area is available in our Resources section.
We can accommodate keelboats in our harbour that do not exceed 24,500 lbs displacement, 40 feet LOA, 6 feet 6 inches draught, or 13 feet beam. Most boats with assigned dockage in our harbour are between 22 and 36 feet LOA, but we also have dry-sail accommodation for a limited number of sailboats and a dinghy storage and launch area for Lasers.
If you don’t own a boat, you can still join ABYC as an Associate Member and crew for Senior Members, or you can participate in our Co-op Sailing Program which allows you to enjoy shared use of a Club keelboat.
Our Facilities
ABYC has many outstanding facilites for the use of our members. These include:
- licensed dining room and friendly bar
- licensed outdoor patio
- gas dock serving gas and diesel
- pump-out and ice services
- hydro and water on each dock
- coin-operated laundry facilities
- children’s playground
- gas BBQ’s and picnic tables
- club work shed (Casa Ballman)
- dry sail crane
- mast crane
Sailing and Skill Programs
Racing Program ABYC believes that racing is the life blood of a yacht club, and we encourage our members to get involved in this aspect of sailing. There are spinnaker and jib and main (JAM) divisions in order to accomodate everyone. We offer one of the largest racing programs in Toronto with generally over 40 boats participating each race night. All races are run professionally by our race committee on our permanent race course in front of the club on the open lake. For members who don’t have their own sailboats, there is a Crew Bank where you can sign up to crew on someone else’s boat throughout the season. There is a Crew night early in the sailing season to introduce crew and skippers.
Cruising Program ABYC offers a full season of cruises to a number of different destinations on the lake; both sail and power boats are welcome. In the previous seasons, we had cruises to such locales as Royal Canadian Yacht Club, Bay of Quinte, Oakville Yacht Club, and Mimico Yacht Club among others. Cruises will usually have a cocktail party at the destination as well as other entertainment. The ABYC cruising program is a great way to make friends at the club and around the lake.
Professional Sailing School ABYC operates a comprehensive Sailing School with CYA certified instructors using CYA courses and materials. The emphasis of the program is to teach safety and proficiency in the handling of centreboard and/or keel boats. There are programs for children and adults. You can read more detailed information about our Sailing Programs
Social Life and the Culture of ABYC
ABYC is a year-round working club. Club members actively participate in the upkeep of the club. During the off-season, there are Saturday morning work parties where members help with a variety of tasks such as club boat and dock repair, landscaping and gardening, and other important jobs.
But ABYC isn’t all work during the off-season! There are a number of activities during the winter months including weekly Games night (including an inter-club dart league), weekly fine dining, monthly events (e.g. wine tasting, sushi night, trips to the symphony), and other special events like Robbie Burns night, Christmas parties and the New Year’s Levee. For a detailed schedule, please see our calendar of events.
We strive to be a friendly and welcoming club and take pride in maintaining our clubhouse, grounds, and harbour as a comfortable, esthetically pleasing place to relax, dine, and socialize with family, guests, and other members