The Royal Canadian Yacht Club was founded in Toronto in 1852 to serve both as a recreational yachting club and, in the British tradition, as an unofficial auxiliary of the Royal Navy in the defence of the waters of Lake Ontario. 

The Club was established under the name the Toronto Boat Club, but in 1854 with Queen Victoria's permission, the Club was renamed the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.

Long associated with the Toronto Islands, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club did not move to the Island until 1881, first occupying various locations on the Toronto waterfront. The first Island Clubhouse was destroyed by fire in 1904. Its successor, officially opened in 1906, suffered the same fate: it too was irreparably damaged by fire in 1918. On August 25, 1919, Edward, Prince of Wales, laid the cornerstone for the gracious two-story Southern-style Clubhouse that has been the RCYC's summer home ever since. Today, we are one of Canada’s premier sailing and social clubs, with an emphasis on family participation, the development of our junior sailors, and a Corinthian attitude towards excellence in sailing. The RCYC operates year round from two facilities: our summer home at the Island Clubhouse and our City Clubhouse in downtown Toronto.

ARCHIVES RCYC is available to the public for research purposes. To schedule an appointment, please contact the Staff Archivist at 416.967.7245 ext. 351 or heritage@rcyc.ca. We have an extensive collection of archival material relating to yachts and pleasure sailing on Lake Ontario. Also, there are many original documents relating to the social history of Toronto. The collection includes: 

• Publications, such as Lloyd's Register of Yachts, yearbooks of national and international yachting associations and back issues of American, British and Canadian yachting magazines.
• Documents on the history of the RCYC itself, the Canada’s Cup Challenges, membership registers, yearbooks, minute books & annual reports.
• Papers donated by prominent Toronto yachtsmen such as Emelius Jarvis and Paul J. Phelan.
• Drawings by yacht designers such as Herrick Duggan and George Cuthbertson.
• Photographs of famous Toronto yachts.
• News clippings, personal diaries and yacht logs.