Buccaneer Yacht Club (abbreviated formally as BucYC or in local tradition as BYC) is a member-run sailing club which has operated out of Mobile Bay, Alabama since 1928. It is a member club of the Gulf Yachting Association and the

United States Sailing Association The United States Sailing Association (US Sailing) is the national governing body for sailing in the United States. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Bristol, Rhode Island, US Sailing is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. US Sailing offers t ...

. Its members are active competitors in

Finn The word Finn (''pl.'' Finns) usually refers to a member of the majority Balto-Finnic ethnic group of Finland, or to a person from Finland. Finn may also refer to: Places * Finn Lake, Minnesota, United States * Finn Township, Logan County, Nor ...

, Viper 640,

420 420 may refer to: * 420 (number) * 420 (cannabis culture), informal reference to cannabis use and celebrations on April 20 **California Senate Bill 420 or the Medical Marijuana Program Act *AD 420, a year in the 5th century of the Julian calendar * ...

, Fish class sloop, Flying Scot, Laser,

Optimist Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled wi ...

, Sunfish, PHRF and Portsmouth class events. While the Mobile Yacht Club predates it, BucYC remains arguably the oldest ''continuously operating'' sailing club in Alabama.

Races and fleets

As one of four sailing clubs on Mobile Bay, BucYC hosts the

Dauphin Island Dauphin Island is an island town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States, on a barrier island of the same name, in the Gulf of Mexico. It incorporated in 1988. The population was 1,778 at the 2020 census, up from 1,238 at the 2010 census. T ...

Race once every three years. This is "arguably the largest single day point to point sail race in the U.S.A." with over 300 boats and 1000 crewmembers. In 2007 it hosted the 87th annual Sir Thomas Lipton Inter-Club Challenge sailboat race, an Olympic style GYA racing event for sailors of Flying Scot dinghys. BucYC members maintain the largest surviving fleet of Fish class sailboats in the world and the club hosts the majority of races for this class. Fish boats were designed in 1919 and were the original Gulf Yachting Association inter-club racing boat until they were replaced by Flying Scots in 1969. They "...incorporated features of the New England Sharpie and some of the Biloxi Cat--the straight lines and chine of the Sharpie, the wide

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

and low free-board of the Cat..." as well as a vee bottom, lead keel and gaff rigged

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

. The club is one of over forty nationwide hosts of the

Leukemia Cup Regatta Leukemia (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood ce ...

, a major fund raising event organized by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise donations for medical research into the causes and treatment of leukemia, lymphoma,

Hodgkin's disease Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition wa ...

and myeloma.

Sailors

Its notable members include Sunfish sailor, Karl Kleinschrodt, who won fourth place among international contenders in the 2007 Sunfish North American championship race. Karl's mother, Amy Champman Kleinschrodt, has won the coveted Adams Cup 4 times, in 1977, 1980, 1997, and 2009. Another member, Donnie Brennen, (also a member of

New Orleans Yacht Club The New Orleans Yacht Club (NOYC) was founded in June 1949 and is dedicated to further the sport of yacht racing, marine safety and seamanship. The club is located at West End's Municipal Yacht Harbor on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and i ...

) has been named as boatwright for the 2008 U. S. Olympic sailing team.

Intercollegiate sailing

In the interest of providing sailing education and race training BucYC is the sponsoring club for the University of South Alabama Sailing Club, which competes in intercollegiate races against teams such as those from Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M University and Tulane University.http://www.southalabama.edu/sailingclub/constitution.htm USA Sailing Club Constitution

Notes

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External links

Buccaneer Yacht Club

Fish Class Association

Gulf Yachting Association

Inter-Collegiate Sailing Organization of North America (ICSA)

US Sailing
1928 establishments in Alabama Sailing in Alabama Sports clubs and teams established in 1928 Sports in Mobile, Alabama Yacht clubs in the United States