Yacht club

“ A number of gentlemen connected with yachting propose to form a club under the above designation, with the view of furthering a greater amount of emulation amongst the proprietors of small yachts. It is proposed to take in yachts under 8 tons only, being the smallest acknowledged by the Royal Northern Yacht Club, and to have an annual regatta, to be held in rotation at the various watering-places along the coast. ”

“ It was decided that in future the qualification to become a member should be the ownership of a yacht not under 10 tons, and an entrance fee of £2.2. The distinguishing flags adopted by the Club were a white ensign with the Union Jack in the corner, and a plain white burgee at the mast head.
The formation of The Yacht Club marked a new era in yachting history, for until then the word "yacht" had never been used in connection with a club or its vessels. Probably no club has ever been founded with a more distinguished membership, and certainly no club has kept to its traditions more faithfully. ”

“ About twenty years after the organisation of the New York Yacht Club, the Brooklyn Yacht Club was formed, and, soon following it, the Atlantic Yacht Club appeared. The new clubs were composed of men who owned generally a smaller class of yachts than that in the older club, but their members were interested and active, and races were held in early summer and in autumn, as well as a cruise to Newport in midsummer. ”

“ Kingstown is the headquarters of the Royal Alfred Yacht Club, the Royal Irish Yacht Club, the Royal St. George Yacht Club, and several minor sailing clubs, including the Water Wags.
The pleasantest part of a coast to reside on is, perhaps, that which has a sandy beach shelving gently down into deep water. Along such a beach in fine weather boating, bathing, and fishing are easy and enjoyable occupations; the wavelets ripple, making soft music with the pebbles, and the little skiff lies half in the water waiting to be stepped into and pushed off. ”

“ An owner must belong to some 'recognised yacht club' or his entry is void. A hired yacht cannot be entered for any race under Y.R.A. rules (Rule 6) .
An owner cannot enter two yachts to compete for one prize, but he can enter one yacht for two simultaneous races (Rule 7) .
An owner who has entered his yacht for a prize may sail over the course for half the value of the prize should no other competitor start (Rule 8) , and should the race officer not postpone the race for bad weather (Rule 2) . ”

“ A yacht race can only be said to occur when the competitors have carefully prepared for it, and when it is under the (p. 152) direction of some competent nautical authority. In arranging a private match, it is therefore important to appoint both a race officer and a referee, the latter having the power to decide any dispute or to refer the same to the Y.R.A., should he think fit to do so.
Club and Open Matches
Private matches are less frequent than of yore, and modern racing is generally for prizes given by yacht clubs or by town regattas. ”

“ The club was known as the Northern Yacht Club. There is no record in the minute-book of the burgee adopted, but in an old picture, now in the club-house at Rothesay, the yachts are shown cruising off Garroch Head, in the Clyde, with red ensigns, the burgee also red, with the letters N.Y.C. in white. The present secretary has courteously sent a photograph of this picture, also of the flags, as an historical contribution. The first prizes offered were for pulling (rowing) matches to take place in Ireland. ”

“ Any organized yacht Club of a foreign country, incorporated, patented, or licensed by the legislature, admiralty or other executive department, having for its annual regatta an ocean water course on the sea, or on an arm of the sea, or one which combines both, shall always be entitled to the right of sailing a match for this Cup with a yacht or vessel propelled by sails only and constructed in the country to which the challenging Club belongs, against any one yacht or vessel constructed in the country of the Club holding the Cup. ”

“ In about the year 1884 a club was formed for steam-yacht owners only, called the American Yacht Club, and for several years it offered prizes to be run for in Long Island Sound; but steam-yacht racing did not become popular, principally because of the danger of forcing machinery to its utmost limit of safety, and also the difficulty of classifying yachts of different size and power of engine. ”

“ The Corinthian Yacht Club, however, by arranging a system of handicaps and other races to suit the vessels belonging to the club, nearly always succeeded in getting good entries for its matches, an annual handicap race from Erith to Ramsgate, open to all yachts in the club, being still one of the most popular events of the season. ”

“ James’s Street, under the presidency of Lord Grantham, and decided to form a club which should consist only of men who were interested in the sailing of yachts in salt water. These gentlemen nominated themselves with others to the number of forty-two to form a list which should constitute the original members of the club, decided upon a small subscription, and drew up a few simple rules to govern their newly-formed yacht club. ”

“ When the year 1867 closed the Clyde Yacht Club's first racing decade, the club was well under way and able to hold its own with any existing yacht-racing community, both as a provider of sport and for the attractions offered to the lovers of yachts and yachting, when with their friends they were brought together on the waters of the 'Bonny Clyde.' This was noticeable in 1863, but it became much more so in 1865, when the well-known clippers 'Mosquito,' 59 tons ”

“ There is a yacht club in San Francisco with a large membership and a goodly number of yachts, but most of their sailing is done inside. The scarcity of coal, and consequent large cost, seems to hinder the introduction of steam yachts, but a large number of naphtha launches are used with evident satisfaction.
South of Point Conception the conditions are far more favourable for yachting than in the north; but the want of good harbours, well distributed, will always serve as a block to the sport. ”

“ The crew, including helmsman, is not to exceed one man for every 7 ft. or fraction of 7 ft. One of these may be a paid hand.
Centreboard boats are allowed to compete, but the plates are never to be lowered beyond the limit of one-sixth of their load-water-line and must be kept down at a fixed draught during the whole race. (If the latter part of this rule has been altered, it is only lately that the alteration has been made.)
The Royal Alfred Yacht Club is still houseless, and keeps to its original purpose of devoting all its available funds to the encouragement of match-sailing. ”

“ William Cooper, so well known to all patrons of the sport by his valuable works on the pastime he loved so well, written under the pseudonym 'Vanderdecken.'
Royal Irish Yacht Club Cup, Kingstown, July 24, 1873
(from a picture by Admiral Beechy) .
'Smartness' might have been the motto of the newly launched club, for within a few weeks of the above date the Irish Model Yacht Club—thus it was christened while yet on (p. 109) the ways—had taken on board all the essentials necessary for a lengthened and prosperous voyage. ”

“ Jarrod paid it.
"But I've got no sail-boat," said he.
"That's all right," observed Stakes, a little fellow with a peppery and pugnacious countenance. "None of the crowd upstairs owns a sail-boat, but they're all club members, just the same. We four—Homperton, Berwin, Diller and myself—own boats, and we're the yacht club in reality. We built this shop on credit, and run it ourselves, but we let the folks upstairs support it by paying ten dollars a year. It pleases 'em to be members of a yacht club, you know, and helps us out financially. ”

“ There are few sailing yachts in commission nowadays, but there are several yacht clubs, and the time may come when the sport will be properly revived and encouraged. The Chicago Yacht Club, whose office is at 655 Rookery building, has many members. ”

“ Some years elapsed, after The Yacht Club was established, before racing or its annual regatta became features of yachting at Cowes. The yachts composing its fleet were fine sea-going vessels, built, rigged, and manned in imitation of vessels of a similar class in the Royal Navy, and were often commanded by Naval officers on leave of absence. Speed was regarded as of less importance than good seamanship at the reviews of the fleet, which were occasionally held in the Solent, or, keeping the decks, guns, spars, and rigging in shipshape and man-of-war fashion. ”

“ Belfast, and the document was adopted as the constitution of the Belfast Yacht Club. The second article declared that the officers should consist of a "Commodore, Vice-Commodore, Captain of the Fleet, Secretary, Treasurer, Measurer, a Board of Trustees, and a Regatta Committee;" and the next business was to elect them, which had to be done by written or printed ballots. As the first three officers were required to be owners in whole, or in part, of yachts enrolled in the club, there was found to be an alarming scarcity of yachts. The Skylark, Sea Foam, Phantom, and Christabel were on hand. ”

“ During the season of international matches, in 1885-87, the public interest awakened was extreme; reports of the racing were read with interest from Maine to California. When there is no international work on hand, the chief yachting event of the year is the cruise of the New York Yacht Club. Following the lead of 'Gimcrack,' in 1884, the cruise always takes place during the first week in August, embracing also a part or whole of the second. ”

“ Lawrence Club, at Montreal, with its fleet of eighty yachts, some five years. At Halifax there used to be a very sporting club, called the Royal Halifax Yacht Club, which would hold precedence of the R.N.S.Y.C., as one of the oldest societies of the kind in Canada, did it exist as such, but it is believed to have been blended into the latter club and to have assumed its new name.
Canada is rich in all the necessaries that are called into play in ship- and yacht-building, the woods she provides for the purpose being some of the finest in the world. ”

“ There was hardly wind enough for that; but it would be some time before the tide would rise high enough to float the boat, and the club were not in a state of mind to wait.
"Tell you what, boys, we'll have a cruise," said Bob Fogg. "She's a beauty. Let's have a 'lection of officers before we start."
They were all agreed on that, but Joe McGinnis insisted that the grown-up yacht clubs never had any elections.
"They just draw cuts, boys, and they give the longest straw to the man that owns the club, to begin with." ”

“ There are other designers and builders of fast boats, which have, however, nothing peculiar in build or rig to justify especial notice. They are simply well-designed boats of light displacement and large sail-area, very fast and very handy.
There are two boating clubs in existence which provide regattas for the encouragement of sailing. The senior and more select club is the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club, which professedly holds races for the 9-and 10-tonners—the 'large yachts' of the Norfolk rivers. ”

“ The sight was beautiful in the extreme; for, independent of the racing-vessels, hundreds of other yachts were sailing about in every direction. The course also being round the Nab light, and a similar light-vessel moored at the mouth of the Southampton Water, the racing-yachts were the whole time in sight of Ryde. The Royal Victoria Yacht Club-house was decorated with banners, and from a battery in front of it were fired the necessary signals and salutes, while several yachts anchored off the pier-head were also gayly-decked with flags. ”

“ There are probably few sports more interesting than that of model power-boat racing. The Central Park Model Yacht Club of New York city is one of the most progressive clubs in America, and its members not only have a sail-boat division, but they also have a power-boat division. ”

“ The Bembridge Sailing Club was started in 1886 under the name of the Isle of Wight Corinthian Sailing Club, changed in 1890 to the present name in order to avoid confusion with the Isle of Wight Corinthian Yacht Club (Ryde) since defunct.... Many men of moderate means, but fond of boat-racing, thought a club whose leading features were:—
1st. Racing in boats of uniform pattern.
2nd. Racing in boats of small Y.R.A. rating (2 and under) ... would be a success, and in order to keep down expense and to suit the harbour, draught was limited to 3 feet. ”

“ That don't make any difference," puffed Gus. "The owner of the yacht has to foot the bills. Besides, we want you, Don John, for you know more about a boat than all the rest of the fellows put together." [54]
"Well, I shall be very glad to do anything I can to help the thing along; but there are plenty of fellows that can sail a boat better than I can."
"But you know all about a boat, and they want you for measurer. We have the printed constitution of a Yacht Club, which Bob Montague got in Boston, and according to that the measurer is entitled to ten cents a foot for measuring a yacht ”

“ There is accommodation in the forecastle for four men. The yachts carry 20,000 pounds of lead ballast, of which 18,000 pounds is on keel. Another one-design division is the Riverside Yacht Club dory class, which has been adopted by many of the clubs enrolled in the Yacht-Racing Union of Long Island Sound. These boats are thirteen feet on the keel, seventeen feet over all, with four feet beam, fitted with a centerboard and rigged with a small jib and a 61leg-of-mutton sail. They are for single-handed racing, but for pleasure cruising or fishing a man can take his chum along. ”