Victoria Harbour (British Columbia) - Sailing Events

Sailing Events

Victoria Harbour is home port for a number of sailing and boating events:

• The Swiftsure Yacht Race out into the Juan de Fuca Strait and back has been held yearly since 1930 and is sponsored by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.
• The Vic-Maui Yacht Race between Victoria and Lahaina, Hawaii has been held in even numbered years since 1968.
• The Victoria Symphony holds its annual Symphony Splash concert on BC Day staged on a barge docked in the Inner Harbour, and has been doing so since 1991. Many spectators view the concert from canoes or kayaks, as well as from boats docked at the "Causeway Floats" and "Ship Point" marinas.
• The Victoria Dragon Boat Festival has been held in the Inner Harbour annually since 1995.
• A Gorge Canada Day Picnic is held by the Gorge Tillicum Community Association and has brought more than 5,000 visitors to the parks along the Gorge Waterway on 1 July each year since 1999.
• The Victoria Tall Ships Festival has been held every third year since 2005, although the 2011 event was cancelled due to high costs of staging the festival. The festival is part of the Tall Ships Challenge event.
• Since 2000, the Gorge Rowing and Paddling Centre (GRPC) has hosted the Brotchie Reach Outrigger Canoe Races. This is a 13.4 kilometres (8.3 mi) race for OC6 (six-person outrigger canoe) and small boats (OC1, canoe-kayak, surf-ski). The race hosts up to 200 paddling racers each year - the race course starts at GRPC on the Gorge Waterway then transits through Victoria's Inner, Middle, and Outer Harbours out to the Brotchie Navigational marker and back.