A Century of Sailing, 1892-1992: A History of the Oldest Yacht Club on Canada's Pacific Coast

James R. Midwinter was senior assistant secretary to the Cabinet and
inspector general of the Foreign Service before his appointment as
Canadian ambassador to Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

“When the British Empire is at war, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club is
at war,” members proclaimed in September 1939. So begins one chapter
in Reksten’s delightful history, which was commissioned to celebrate
the club’s centennial in 1992.

Rich with such vignettes, this thoroughly researched and readable book
is more than just a history of British Columbia’s oldest yacht club.
It relates much of the development of yachting in the whole of the
Pacific Northwest—from the first spirited contests between Victorians
and U.S. yachtsmen from across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the
Swiftsure Classic of recent years, which involves hundreds of ocean
racers. Along the way, the book also reveals much about the social
evolution, over the past century, of this far outpost of empire.

Reksten has mined both club archives and members’ memories and
personal files for a wealth of anecdotes and scores of photographs, in
themselves well worth the price of admission. Old members will have many
a chuckle and perhaps not a few tears. But even nonmembers will find
this history informative and entertaining, especially if they grew up,
as did this reviewer, on Vancouver Island and along the shores of the
Strait of Georgia. The book could also usefully be studied by anyone
contemplating writing a history of his or her own club or local
community.