Projects around FYC – Fanshawe Yacht Club & Sailing School

Main Dock & Shoreline Repair Project – An Ongoing Analysis for the Future

Update October 24, 2024

Great News! The first phase of this Main Dock repair project has been approved for funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation! Approval was received in late August and the sorely-needed repairs on the north corner of the Main Dock have now begun! See the News Page for continuing Updates and Photos.

Main Dock & Shoreline Repair Project

The FYC Main Dock, which follows the shoreline along the protected harbour for 152.4m (500′), was constructed in 1966. It forms the edge of the harbour where many of the club’s larger sailboats are moored. It has a 1.8m wide (6′) wide asphalt surface with a steel sheet pile wall down into the water. It is key to helping prevent shoreline erosion.

The main dock lines the woods along the protected harbour and is where sailors tow their boats to from their moorings in the harbour or dock their boats during sailing events such as regattas or fun days for visitors. During the sailing season, car tires and carpet remnants are hung along the wall to protect boats as they dock. Most importantly, it provides a level place for our members and many visitors to safely traverse the shoreline from the launch ramp at the south end to the stairs up to the Doug MacKenzie Hall clubhouse at the north end.

Over the years, the dock has required some repairs. The information below catalogues the current and ongoing repairs needed in order for the main dock to exist for sailors for another 50 years!

Update: February 2024

A committee was struck the Fall of 2023 to further advance the dock wall project for which various preparations had been made in prior years. FYC members guiding the project are Andy T, Rick G, John K, and Peter W.

In the Fall of 2023 FYC hired engineering consultant Spriet Associates through a competitive process to undertake surveys, geotechnical investigations, design, and tendering of the previously recommended wall repairs. The project focus is on repairing the wall at the foot of the stairs at the north end of the dock, close by the dragon boat docks, and at the south end of the wall between the launch ramp and a previously repaired section. The project addresses the priority areas for repair noted in the various reports to the membership in prior years. In addition the project investigated repairs to the launch ramp to even the grades, improve the range of ramp use for depths, provide a safer outboard edge, and provide a level area for person transfers to kayaks for AIM (Abilities in Motion).

Request for bids for construction were released in February 2024 and when received later in the month will assist FYC in making an application to the Ontario Trillium Fund (OTF) Capital Program for a financial grant to undertake the project. It is hoped bids are favourable for all the work to be done under the grant if approved beginning as early as October 2024. If the grant is limited, work will focus on priorities and the most feasible aspects of the overall project that could be undertaken.

Click the links below to learn more about this project or members can contact Rick G for more info on his committee’s findings and recommendations.

Green Boating in 2025

The Green Boating Guide is an excellent resource for those on, in, or around water to understand how your actions can affect our water systems now, and in the future.

For more links to further reading, guides, education, online magazines and other excellent resources for sailors and boaters, please check out the External Links tab at the bottom of the FYC website