The Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club (BHYC) was founded in 1996 and is a private, registered, not-for-profit

yacht club A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mari ...

located in Barrachois Harbour, northern

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, 1.58

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s east-northeast of the village of

Tatamagouche Tatamagouche (Mi'kmaq: ''Taqamiju’jk'') is a village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Tatamagouche is situated on the Northumberland Strait 50 kilometres north of Truro and 50 kilometres west of Pictou. The village is located along ...

, with access to the

Northumberland Strait The Northumberland Strait (French: ''détroit de Northumberland'') is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western sho ...

across

Amet Sound Amet Sound is a large body of water, an embayment of the Northumberland Strait, on the north shore Nova Scotia straddling Colchester and Pictou counties. It takes its name from Amet Island, a small island just beyond the mouth of the sound in Northu ...

History

In 1996, six boats on moorings near the Barrachois Harbour Fishermen's wharf, about 200 yards west of where the marina is now located, formed Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club. BHYC's home, Sunrise Shore Marina (formerly Barrachois Marina), was opened 6 July 1997 by Dana and Mary Hunter of nearby Lower Waugh's River. The original capacity of the marina was 64 slips with all floating docks and finger piers, as well being the only source of dockside gasoline on the north shore of Nova Scotia between the

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

border and

Pictou Pictou ( ; Canadian Gaelic: ''Baile Phiogto'') is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km (6 miles) north of the larger town of New Gla ...

. The Marina has since proven itself over the years to be an excellent "hurricane hole", in particular during

Hurricane Gustav (2002) Hurricane Gustav was a Category 2 hurricane that paralleled the East Coast of the United States in September 2002 during the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the seventh named storm and first hurricane of the season. Initially a subtropic ...

and Hurricane Juan (2003). No damage to the marina or berthed BHYC vessels was inflicted by either storm, despite an approximately 8' storm surge from Gustav and winds over 80 knots (148 km/h) from Juan.

Programs

BHYC offers racing and cruising programs as well as online resources for powerboats and sailing vessels, in addition to being a comprehensive source for marine weather, (with real-time radar loop), tide times and waypoint information in addition to facility contacts for the Northumberland Strait and the

Bras d'Or Lake Bras d'Or Lake (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: Pitupaq) is an irregular estuary in the centre of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a connection to the open sea, and is tidal. It also has inflows of fresh water from rivers, ma ...

area of

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

. BHYC is the starting point for the biennial 31-mile yacht race to Charlottetown Yacht Club in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. In 2015, the club was the Leg #3 destination (Charlottetown Yacht Club to Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club) as well as starting point for Leg #4 (Barrachois Harbour Yacht Club to Pictou Yacht Club during the NStYA Strait Challenge Regatta."http://www.nstya.com/straitchallenge.php"

References

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External links

Official BHYC website

Marinas .com aerial photos of BHYC and Sunrise Shore Marina

Environment Canada summary of Hurricane Juan (2003)

Yacht clubs in Canada Tatamagouche