A lifelong member of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Gardner Boultbee took up sailing in the 1920s and was selected, alongside Kenneth Glass, Philip Rogers, and Gerald Wilson, to represent Canada in the 6 metre class at the 1932 Summer Olympics. There they lost the first four races and, with no hope of catching up, dropped out of the last two. As there were only three nations competing, however, the Canadians took home a bronze medal. From the 1940s on Boultbee operated a cattle ranch in British Columbia and later served as an alderman on the city council of Kamloops, British Columbia during the 1960s.