Yacht Flaunt
7/27/2006 9:41:20 PM by Sandy Lindsey
With every new waterfront condominium tacking “yacht club” onto the end of its name, we thought it was time do a round-up of the real thing.
1 New York Yacht Club
Not many clubs, yachting or otherwise, can claim to have what journalists call “The longest winning streak in sports.”The quote refers to the America’s Cup victories that started on Aug. 22, 1851 when the schooner America beata fleet of 14 British yachts to win a silver cup belonging to the Royal Yacht Squadron. For the next 132 years, New York Yacht Club members finished first with impressive regularity. In addition to the instant sense of pride that comes from donning the club’s blue blazer, the 152-year-old New York Yacht Club (NYYC) features not one, but two,prized locations, in two different states: 44th Street in New York City and the waterfront Harbor Court in Rhode Island.
Current notable club-affiliated races include the Annual Cruise, Annual Regatta, NYYC at Race Week in Newport presented by Rolex, the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge, and the World Youth Sailing Championships at Harbor Court.Club members make the news often for winning noted non-club races as well. What all 3,200 members share is a rare passion for yachting, be they cruising sailors, power boaters, Corinthian racers, professional sailors, team-racers, match-racers, Olympic medalists, America’s Cup skippers and crew, sailmakers, yacht designers or boat builders. They all live and breathe yachting and water-related activities on and off the club grounds.
Duringthe racing off-season members are treated to parties and other organized events. The NYYC is synonymous with grand style, first-class service, and a rarified atmosphere. It begs someone to say, “If youneed me, I’ll be at my club.”
2 Hong Kong Yacht Club
One-hundred-and-fifty years of colorful, cosmopolitan history leads to a yacht club that embraces its past and knows where it’s going. Three facilities give members endless options both at sea and on land. The main clubhouse is on Kellett Island in Causeway Bay and acts as the heart of the yacht club and where most of the action occurs.Two smaller satellites round out the club’s facilities and activities. Shelter Cove near Sai Kun is a favorite of cruisers, while Middle Island in Repulse Bay is the choice outpost for sail training, dinghy sailing, and rowing.
In addition to water-related activities, club members enjoy a lavish swimming pool,deluxe waterside children’s playground,two squash courts,a firstrate gymnasium with personal training packages available, some serious snooker and bowling, and plentiful dining options. Those looking for less active pursuits will be enthralled by the club’s book and video libraries. There seems to be something going on almost every day of the year. The highlight of the social calendar is Shanghaied! the grand ball in November. Other events include a wine fair, food promotions, a summer kids club, rugby watching, pool parties, and unique fetes such as Malaysian Satay Night and PiccataNight on the Main Lawn.The club is extremely exclusive, though membership is attainable and visiting members are welcomed.
The marine sections have 24 full-time staff, who take care of the club’s 21 support boats, which run the gamut from RIB’s and Sampans to committee boats such as Kellett VI. The club also owns 67 sailing dinghies in a variety of designs and six windsurfers.The dinghies and windsurfers reside at the Middle Island site.
3 Seattle Yacht Club
Location, location, location. The Seattle Yacht Club (SYC) has it. The current SYC traces its lineage back to Elliott Bay in September 1892. The clubhouse was moved to its present location on Portage Bay in 1920. The 3,000 members are accommodated in permanent moorings at the Portage Bay location,as well as two piers and shore side services on Elliott Bay.In addition,there are an impressive nine “outstations” for members yachting through the U.S. and Canada, with each featuring shore-side mooring and facilities.
Seattle takes its yachting serious with considerable celebration of the opening day of boating season each year. Traditionally, the SYC is at the heart of these events. Spectators line the shoreline annually for the Opening Day boat parade, which boasts decorated mega yachts, motoryachts, sailboats, antique and classic vessels, rowboats, and more. The parade is sponsored by the club. Boats carry University of Washington and Washington State University bands for a musical note to the festival. Saturday, the best rowing teams from afar compete in the Windermere Cup Crew Races.
Fine dining is provided at the main clubhouse location in the form of the main dining room, the Ward Room, and the informal Marine Room. One hundred employees, headed by a general manager and executive chef, make sure things run smoothly throughout the club.
4 Ocean Reef Club
At the northern tip of Key Largo, just 50 miles south of Miami, is a hidden 2,000-acre oasis of affluence — the Ocean Reef Club. This private club enjoys a 175-slip megayacht marina, jet airport, two impeccable 18-hole PGA golf courses, 10 tennis courts, and several exceptional restaurants onsite. The community, which features prominent Fortune 500 members, is comprised of 1,500 private homes and condominiums, with some available for rental.
The oceanfront inn is currently undergoing renovations, yet remains open as rooms are redesigned and rebuilt and technology updated. Throughout the club are 35 web servers with wireless and fiber optic connectivity. The 5,000 Ocean Reef members are attended to by a staff of 1,100 employees during the height of the season, and 650 well-trained employees for there mainder of the year. In this way, the state-of-the-art technology is balanced out by old-world service.
A particularly notable event occurs at the Ocean Reef Club each December.The Vintage Weekend ,which is billed as “a celebration of antique and classic conveyances of land, sea and air.” The Weekend is for members and invited guests and starts off on a Friday with a road rally of classic conveyances to Alabama Jacks. Other items on the agenda include an extensive buffet lunch with an eye-catching fly-by of classic aircraft, a Concours d’Elegance, a display of classic yachts, several parties, and a farewell breakfast on Sunday ending with an inspiring fly-out.
5 Royal London Yacht Club
Noone manages tradition better than the British. Founded in 1838, the Royal London Yacht Club held its first meeting at the Coat Hole Tavern to organize racing on the Thames. A Royal Warrant was obtained from dowager Queen Adelaide in 1849. The club has occupied its current site,a house located in the Cowes Waterfront, since 1882, where a long history of British yachting meshes with the larger-than-life personalities of the yachting world in what adds up to an extremely active social calendar despite membership being limited to 500 members.
The house was originally owned by Dr. Hofmeister, personal physician to Queen Victoria and reflects all the quality craftsmanship of that era. A gradual redesign has resulted in a venerable multi-purpose facility that features one of Lord Nelson’s cannons. The Drawing Room and Bar,dining room, and “London Room” make the building a home away from home.This sense of hospitality is echoed in the available bedrooms and new crew rooms with bunks. Social events include six formal dinners each year, highlighted by the Royal London Ball, and much less formal events such as barbecues, picnics and rallies.
In conjunction with the Royal Southampton and Royal Thames, the club supplies race officers for the first three days of Cowes Week. The club also hosts a variety of regattas for various racing classes, while rallies are offered for cruising members. One popular event, designedfor all members — racing,cruising, motoryacht and social — is the Cowes-Deauville Race, which since 1962 occurs each year in May. Sailors and sail/power classes race, while cruisers rendezvous with the fleet in Deauville.
6 St. Thomas Yacht Club
When it comes to regattas,the St.Thomas Yacht Club (STYC) has the lock on the Caribbean with the “Crown Jewel of Caribbean Racing,” the Rolex International Regatta, the Veuve Cliqout Women’s Regatta, Scotiabank Caribbean International Optimist Regatta, the Columbus Day Weekend Laser and Optimist Regatta and Interclub 24 Onedesign racing. This active club also boasts fishing tournaments, youth sailing, a summer camp, and plenty of social activities. In 1996, the club made history when Club Commodore Carol P. Hindels became the first woman to sign an America’s Cup Declaration when the STYC/Team Caribbean filed achallenge with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron during the America’s Cup 2000.
Thoughthe social calendar is full, no one minds if you take off your blueblazer and relax. The STYC keeps true to its Caribbean location by being “short on pretense,but long on serious yacht-racing fun.”This focus on the casual is reflected in the open-air Club Dining Room,which overlooks scenic Cowpet Bay. The meals are as delicious as the water lapping on the nearby beach is serene. Twice a year, the casual island attitude is set aside in favor of more traditional yacht club attire. The formal club blazers and cocktail dresses are donned for the annual Commodore’s Ball and the Rolex Cup awards ceremony.
7 San Francisco Yacht Club
At first the San Francisco Yacht Club may seem a bit daunting. After all,it is the oldest yacht club on the Pacific Coast of North America,founded in 1869. The serene setting of Belvedere Cove and Harbor add to the dignity of this well-regarded establishment and members are well known for their commitment to the Corinthian traditions of yachting.Yet, like the nearby city of downtown San Francisco itself, the club members are a lively group and take serious advantage of the year-round club facility that comprises the harbor, a dry sail area, and a superior restaurant and bar.
As part of its New Wave campaign, the administration encourages the development of new SFYC members from 21-40 years of age, as well as reacquainting themselves with current members in this age range. But this isn’t the usual “new member drive.” The focus, according to the club, is on quality rather than quantity to continue the high standards of their social, boating, and sailing activities.
The updated facility features just about everything young adults could wish for, including WiFi Internet service. In addition to a fine restaurant,the Cove House, a separate historic building on the property, that is perfect for wedding banquets or other large parties, business seminarsor corporate retreats. Another option is the Club House, which featuresa Commodore’s Room, which can accommodate 40, and the main dining room,which can seat 175. Casual barbecues are held on the bayside deck.
8 Chicago Yacht Club
Whether you’re looking for a place to actively race sailboats, to indulge in upscale amenities, or to host power lunches and first dates on Lake Michigan, the Chicago Yacht Club (CYC) on Lake Michigan fits the bill.This is a very social club with get-togethers planned regularly. One such notable event is the Caribbean Rendezvous, set to occur in the Virgin Islands in 2007. The club’s main location near Grant Park in downtown makes it a perfect venue from which to experience non-club events such as the Air & Water Show,Tall Ships, Taste of Chicago,and more.
One doesn’t normally associate a yacht club with a two-for-one deal, but such is the case with CYC’s two club houses with full marine facilities,both of which are located on prime Chicago area boating waters: Monroe Station on East Monroe Street and Belmont Station on West Belmont. Both locations feature fine dining, Sunday brunch, evening seminars,temporary dockage for members and visiting yachtsman, dinghy storageand private gathering rooms.
In addition to a grand tradition of notable regattas, the club is grooming the next generation of yacht owners with youth programs, which come inhandy for the divorced dad looking to entertain his children on the weekends he has them. There is also a Sea Scout program, and adult programs for new boaters or those in need of a quick refresher. Another way the CYC is helping move boating into the 21st century is by promoting women in boating to assure that more women become powerboat owners, sailors, and captains. This well-rounded facility takes the best of the past and moves it into the future with the grace of asailing yacht.
9 San Diego Yacht Club
One of the many features that makes the San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) stand out in this listing of refined, esteemed yacht clubs is the Catalina Outstation. The Outstation is comprised of the Beach Club at Buffalo Beach/White’s Landing on the leeward side of Catalina Island, approximately 80 miles from the club’s main clubhouse. The Beach Club and surrounding environs are a natural paradise on flawless land leased from the Catalina Island Conservancy. Amongst the non-traditional yacht club amenities available at this site are kayaks, tent campsites, palapas and picnic tables, wildlife including buffalo and boar, as well as the extraordinary waters off of Catalina Island. Back at the main facility, one finds a laundry list of more traditional activities and services, including fine dining, tennis courts, a spa and a luxurious pool.
As “The home of the America’s Cup,” the SDYC is known for some of the best racing in the world. In addition to big-name sponsored regattas, the club boats many fleets: One Design 35, Beneteau 36.7, Beneteau 40.7, Etchells, J-105, J-120, Pacific Class, Snipe, Star and Sabot. If that wasn’t enough there is a biennial Commodore’s Cruise, the all-out fun of summer Beer Can races, plenty of barbecue, the Cruising Fleet Annual Summer Cruise, anglers’ fishing seminars and fishing tournaments, a weekly yachtsman’s luncheon with interesting speakers, Amateur Radio Group activities and more.
10 Yacht Club de Monaco
From a country known for its elite luxury sports and as host to the Monte Carlo Formula One Grand Prix, one would expect something astounding when it comes to yachting, and the Yacht Club de Monaco does not disappoint. The membership roster alone is a who’s who of the world,including but not limited to H.H. Prince Karim Aga Khan, H.M. King JuanCarlos de Borbon, H.R.H. Princess Caroline, H.R.H Victor Emanuel deSavoi and supersailor Paul Cayard.
Monaco has always had a close relationship with the sea, and this is reflectedin the Monaco Yacht Club, one of Europe’s oldest and most exclusive. This great history is celebrated every two years in September during Monaco Classic Week. The largest and most glamorous vessels from around the globe vie to attend, including motor yachts, powerboats, tall ships, antique vessels and more.
Club membership is extremely restrictive, as potential members must be sponsored by two social members. The privileged location overlooking Port Hercule features restaurants, salons, organized maritime and financial conferences and exhibition as well as themed evening scatering to the top echelon of society. After acceptance of the requestfor admission, a cocktail evening is arranged in the presence of H.S.H.the Hereditary Prince Albert, president of the Yacht Club de Monaco.