Yacht club
A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting.
Description
Yacht clubs are mostly located by the
Although the terms Yacht Club and Sailing Club tend to be synonymous, some general differences regarding the recreational use of
Yacht clubs are often known by their
Organized and run by the membership, Yacht Clubs became a place to promote the sport of sailboat racing and
Members Clubs often have paid staff for catering, bar duty, boat yard duty, accounts, office etc. Control and organization of the club is done for the membership via members elected by the membership into roles such as Sailing Secretary, Commodore, Cruising Captain, Racing Captain etc. Smaller clubs typically have a condition of membership which requires active participation of the membership in activities such as maintenance of club facilities and equipment.
Unlike the classical clubs where the membership is the focus, certain 'clubs' are run on a commercial basis. They may be owned by individuals or a company to provide a service and generate a profit. Often they are associated with a particular marina or port. Objectives are usually broadly similar to members clubs, but the social side may be more dominant.
Traditions
There is a long historical
A number of the world's most renowned Yacht Clubs are located in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Canada, and the United States. The first yacht club in North America was the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, located on the Northwest Arm in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada established in July 1837.[3] Some yacht clubs are affiliated with an international body, the International Council of Yacht Clubs, which exists to improve the quality of the services yacht clubs provide to their members as well as to promote environmental awareness and responsibility towards the environment.
The Kieler Yacht-Club in Northern Germany organizes the yearly Kiel Week, the second-biggest sailing event in the world, that is celebrated since 1882.[4][5][6] Kiel Week was an attempt to imitate the much older and larger Cowes Week, long-admired by Wilhelm II.
Racing and sailing activities
Most clubs, regardless of the size of their craft, have a well defined racing program. Clubs may host
Clubs with active adult sailing programs most often feature junior sailing programs as well. Most often these programs enroll children from ages 8 to 16. Children most often learn to sail in the
. Children are also taught how to race competitively from an early age and most clubs host junior sailing regattas each season.Yacht club burgee
Members belonging to a yacht club or sailing organization may fly their club's unique flag (usually triangular), called a burgee, both while under way and at anchor (however, not while racing). Traditionally, the burgee was flown from the main masthead; however, it may also be flown from a small pole on the bow pulpit, or on the starboard rigging beneath the lowest starboard spreader on a flag halyard. Some traditional clubs have also been granted the right to fly a special yacht ensign at the stern.
At traditional clubs the burgee and the ensign is hoisted at 08:00 each morning and lowered each evening at sunset. This ceremony is called colors. Traditionally, the first time a member of one club visits another, there is an exchange of burgees. Exchanged burgees are often displayed on the premises of clubs, such as at their clubhouse or bar.
Organization
Yacht clubs are organized like any other club or organisation with committees, chairman, directors, etc. Due to the connection with the sea and hence the navy, the various posts use naval terminology. For example, the chairman/CEO is the Commodore. Usually, under the Commodore there are also the Vice Commodore (in charge of land-based activities) and the Rear Commodore (in charge of water-based activities); for clubs in the United States they might in turn be assisted by the Port Captain and the Fleet Captain respectively. In a few clubs in the United Kingdom the Admiral, which is one rank above the Commodore, is the senior officer. Each of these ranks has specific responsibilities to ensure the smooth sailing of the club.
Clubhouse or shore station
Members of yacht clubs typically gather at a clubhouse or shore station which may also have docks. The oldest yacht club in the world without a clubhouse is Sheldrake Yacht Club (Mamaroneck, New York).[7]
Use of the term "yacht club"
The traditions and prestige normally associated with yacht clubs have to some extent been subverted or appropriated unofficially by groups and businesses calling themselves "yacht clubs". For example, the "Gowanus Yacht Club" is a beer garden restaurant in Brooklyn, NY,[8] the Van Buren Yacht Club is a bar and hotel in Maine, the "Crystal Bay Yacht Club" is a beach resort in Ko Samui, Thailand[9] and "The Eagle Rock Yacht Club" is a non-profit dodgeball league in Glassell Park, Los Angeles.[10] These so-called "yacht clubs" don't necessarily involve sailing on private yachts of members as their main purpose or activity, but often outwardly maintain a nautical or water-oriented theme.
Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club was the unofficial name for the United States Seventh Fleet during the Vietnam War. In this case the term "yacht club" was appropriated with humorous intentions. The Seventh Fleet's nickname became very popular among its members at the time.[11]
Oldest European clubs
The oldest yacht clubs are:
- 1718 St. Petersburg, Russia.
- 1720 Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, Ireland
- 1770 Lough Ree Yacht Club in Ballyglass, Ireland
- 1772 Starcross Yacht Club on the Exe estuary in England[12]
- 1775 Cumberland Fleetalso known as the Royal Thames Yacht Club, in England
- 1815 London, England, renamed the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1833
- 1823 Thames Yacht Club in England[citation needed]
- 1827 Plymouth, England, becoming the Royal Western Yacht Club in 1833[13]
- 1827 Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland dissolved later in the century[14]
- 1830 Stockholm, Sweden
- 1831 Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland
- 1835 Lough Derg Yacht Club in County Tipperary, Ireland
- 1838 Royal London Yacht Club (founded as the Arundel Yacht Club) in London, England (later moved to Cowes)
- 1838 Dun Laoghaire, Ireland
- 1838 Deben Yacht Club in Woodbridge, United Kingdom
- 1844 Royal Mersey Yacht Club in Rock Ferry, United Kingdom
- 1845 Royal Harwich Yacht Club in England
- 1847 Royal Welsh Yacht Club in Wales
- 1847 Koninklijke Nederlandsche Zeil en Roei Vereeniging, Netherlands
- 1855 Segelclub Rhe in Hamburg, Germany
- 1856 Lisbon Naval Association in Lisbon, Portugal
- 1857 Kingstown Model Yacht Club in Kingstown, Ireland, renamed the Royal Alfred Yacht Club in 1870[14][15]
- 1858 Società delle Regate in Belgirate, Italy[16][17]
- 1860 Royal Windermere Yacht Club in England [1]
- 1863 Royal Torbay Yacht Club in Devon, England
- 1865 Turku, Finland
- 1866 Kopenhagen, Denmark
- 1867 Berliner Yacht Club in Berlin, Germany
- 1867 Balatonfüredi Yacht Club in Balatonfüred, Hungary
- 1870 Thames Sailing Club in England [2]
- 1871 Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland
- 1875 Odesa, Ukraine
Oldest North American clubs
The oldest yacht clubs are:[1]
- 1837 Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron in Halifax, Nova Scotia
- 1839 Detroit, Michigan.
- 1844 New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island
- 1847 Mobile Yacht Club in Mobile, Alabama
- 1849 Biloxi Yacht Club in Biloxi, Mississippi
- 1849 Southern Yacht Club in Louisiana
- 1850 Springfield Yacht & Canoe Club in Springfield, Massachusetts
- 1852 Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto, Ontario
- 1853 Carolina Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach, NC
- 1857 Baltimore, Maryland
- 1860 Buffalo Yacht Club in Buffalo, New York
- 1861 Quebec, Quebec
- 1864 Neenah Nodaway Yacht Club in Neenah, Wisconsin
- 1865 Raritan Yacht Club in Perth Amboy, New Jersey
- 1865 Riverton Yacht Club in Riverton, New Jersey
- 1867 Longueuil, Quebec
- 1869 New Hamburg Yacht Club (founded as New Hamburg Ice Yacht Club) in New Hamburg, New York
- 1869 San Francisco Yacht Club, first club on the Pacific coast[18]
- 1871 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- 1871 Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, in Centre Island, New York
- 1872 Beverly Yacht Club, in Marion, Massachusetts
- 1875 Rhode Island Yacht Club, in Cranston, Rhode Island
- 1877 New Bedford Yacht Club, in New Bedford, Massachusetts
- 1878 The Cleveland Yachting Club, in Rocky River, Ohio
- 1879 Monmouth Boat Club, in Red Bank, New Jersey
- 1882 Minnetonka Yacht Club, in Deephaven, Minnesota
- 1883 American Yacht Club, in Rye, New York
- 1886 Shelter Island Yacht Club, in Shelter Island, New York
- 1886 Put-in-Bay Yacht Club, in Put-in-Bay, Ohio
- 1887 Lake Champlain Yacht Club, Shelburne, Vermont
- 1888 Bay Head Yacht Club, Bay Head, New Jersey
- 1888 Carolina Yacht Club, Charleston, South Carolina
- 1890 Tacoma Yacht Club, in Tacoma, Washington
- 1891 Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, in Port Washington, New York
- 1892 Seattle, Washington
- 1894 Huguenot Yacht Club, in New Rochelle, New York
- 1901 San Pedro, California
- 1905 Lake Hopatcong Yacht Club, in Mount Arlington, New Jersey
- 1907 Sheldrake Yacht Club, in Mamaroneck, New York
Oldest clubs rest of the world
- 1826 Republic of Singapore Yacht Club, Singapore
- 1844 Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Bermuda
- 1849 Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, Hong Kong
- 1862 Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Australia
- 1865 Royal Perth Yacht Club, Australia
- 1871 Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, New Zealand
- 1883 Clube Naval de Luanda, Angola
See also
References
- ^ a b "America's Oldest Yacht Clubs". Yachting Club of America. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
- ^ History of the oldest yacht club in the world
- ^ Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (RNSYS)
- ^ Navigating Your Way Around the World's Largest Sailing Event: Germany's Kiel Week (TIME Magazine)
- ^ Kiel Travel Guide (About.com)
- ^ The world’s largest sailing event: Kiel Week (deutschland.de)
- ^ Al Bamberger Jr. (June 21, 1971). "Steinberg, Watt 'Double' in YRA; John, Shields, Ogilvy, Fraser Win". Daily News. Tarrytown.
- ^ Gowanus Yacht Club
- ^ Crystal Bay Yacht Club
- ^ theyachtclub.org
- ^ Rene J Francillon, Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club; US Carrier Operations Off Vietnam
- ^ "Club History - Starcross Yacht Club". www.starcrossyc.org.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ "Club History". The Royal Western Yacht Club of England. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ a b "History". Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ Team, Afloat ie. "Royal Alfred Yacht Club". afloat.ie. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
- ^ Website
- ^ History
- ^ "History - The San Francisco Yacht Club". www.sfyc.org. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
External links
- Media related to Yacht clubs at Wikimedia Commons