Sailing & Boating.
Portsmouth Olympic Harbour sits on Kingston's western waterfront — built in 1969 and redeveloped for the 1976 Summer Olympic sailing events held off Kingston from July 19 through July 27. The Canadian Olympic-training Regatta, Kingston runs at the harbour every August, drawing more than 1,500 competitors at peak and bringing North American and World Championships to the same start lines used for the Olympic course.
The brief.
The Kingston sailing season runs roughly May through October on Lake Ontario and the inner St. Lawrence; the CORK regatta in August is the main calendar anchor.
Portsmouth Olympic Harbour and the downtown Confederation Basin Marina are the two main launch points — Portsmouth on the western waterfront, Confederation Basin in the heart of downtown beside Macdonald Park. Lake Ontario is one of the windier open-water sailing grounds in the Great Lakes (a factor in the 1976 Olympic site selection).
Beyond open-water sailing, Rideau Canal navigation lets a small craft lock through Kingston Mills upstream into the 202 km canal system; Parks Canada operates the locks on a published navigation-season schedule (roughly mid-May through mid-October).
4. places.
- 01
Portsmouth Olympic Harbour
1976 Olympic sailing venue and the only legacy Olympic sailing site in North America; ongoing CORK regatta home.
- 02
Confederation Basin Marina
Downtown Kingston harbour marina beside Macdonald Park and the Waterfront Pathway.
- 03
Kingston Harbour and Lake Ontario / inner St. Lawrence cruising waters
Open sailing waters out of Portsmouth and the downtown basin, leading east into the Thousand Islands and west along the Lake Ontario shoreline.
- 04
Rideau Canal navigation (Kingston Mills lockstation)
The southernmost of 24 Rideau Canal lockstations; locking through opens the upstream Rideau system toward Newboro and Smiths Falls during navigation season.
Today's read.
Temperature (4.1°C) below the typical range.