![New Basin Canal Lighthouse 2013 - New Orleans, Louisiana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/New_Basin_Canal_Lighthouse_2013_-_New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana.jpg)
The Southern Yacht Club is located in
's
West End neighborhood, on the shores of
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west ...
. Established on July 21, 1849, it is the fifthe oldest
yacht club
A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting.
Description
Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mari ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and a founding member of the
Gulf Yachting Association
The Gulf Yachting Association (GYA) formed in 1901, is a non-profit organization consisting of 39 member and affiliate yacht club's from Houston, TX to Sarasota, FL along the Gulf of Mexico in the United States. Organized specifically to further t ...
.
Sailing
Southern Yacht Club is an extremely active sailing club and is the organizing body for the
Race to the Coast, the oldest point to point
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
in the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...
. Initially raced on July 4, 1850, the race continues to this day with the course starting on the shores of
on
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west ...
and finishing in
Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan ...
.
Southern Yacht Club also is host to an active
Viper 640
The Viper 640 is an American trailerable sailboat, that was designed by Brian Bennett for racing and first built in 1996.
The Viper 640 is an accepted World Sailing class boat and the official one-design boat of the Gulf Yachting Associatio ...
,
Rhodes 19, Vanguard 15, Sunfish, 420, Laser,
Optimist (dinghy)
The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by young people up to the age of 15.
The Optimist is one of the two most popular sailing dinghies in the world, with over 150,000 boats officially registered with the c ...
and
J-22 fleet as well as multiple Handicap and Offshore Racing Fleets and several
high school sailing programs. Additionally, the Southern Yacht Club has, for over fifty years, hosted
Intercollegiate Sailing Association
The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) is a volunteer organization that serves as the governing authority for all sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada.
History
The fi ...
regattas including The New Orleans Sugar Bowl Regatta, often partnering with
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
.
Southern Yacht Club is home to four U.S. Sailing Olympic medalists including
Gilbert Gray who in 1932 won a Gold Medal in Los Angeles in the Star Class, G. Shelby Friedrichs Jr. won Gold in the Dragon Class in Mexico City, 1968 and most recently,
John C. Lovell who received a Silver Medal in Athens in 2004 as well as numerous other national and international champions.
History
![Southern Yacht Club House c 1894](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Southern_Yacht_Club_House_c_1894.JPG)
The Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans, traces its roots to the
Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...
resort of
Pass Christian
Pass Christian (), nicknamed The Pass, is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,307 at the 2019 census.
History
Pre-European history
...
,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
and to the year 1849, making it the second oldest yacht club in the United States.
in the antebellum era was a proud, thriving port city, banking center and cultural leader. However, during the summer months, many New Orleanians retreated to the Gulf Coast to flee the heat, humidity and yellow fever. Summer homes, hotels and boarding houses dotted the coast from
Waveland,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
to
Mobile Bay
Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The ...
. A favorite among New Orleanians was the Pass Christian Hotel. There, SYC’s organizational meeting was held on July 21, 1849 and the hotel became its headquarters for several years. On August 8, 1849, Southern Yacht Club's first regatta was sailed in the Mississippi Sound off of Pass Christian, Mississippi with twenty-two yachts answering the starting gun and was won by Captain Robert A. Hiern of Mobile, Alabama sailing on the sloop ''Undine''. Activities continued at "the Pass " until 1857 when the club relocated to New Orleans and held its regattas on Lake Pontchartrain.
The seventeen years of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
and
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
greatly curtailed boating activities until 1878 when the club was reorganized and its first postwar regatta held. The following year, a handsome clubhouse was built over the water. It became the scene of many elaborate social events as well as sailing competition.
In 1899 a new and larger clubhouse was erected under the leadership of Commodore Albert Baldwin. Regattas continued annually on the lake with the fleet competing each summer in interclub races on the gulf coast.
Designed by
Rathbone DeBuys
Rathbone Emile DeBuys (December 1, 1874 − June 27, 1960) was an American architect and sailing enthusiast based in New Orleans, Louisiana. On December 1, 1874, he was born to James Gaspard De Buys, a cotton magnate, and Elizabeth Maria Stell ...
, a Southern YC member, the one design
Fish class sloop The Fish class sloop, also known informally as the Fish Boat, is a one-design sailboat designed in 1919 by New Orleans resident Rathbone DeBuys, member of the Southern Yacht Club. It is reputed to have been the most popular sailboat racing class on ...
had its debut in 1919 and quickly became the most popular one design class in the Gulf South. Other early classes of yachts introduced were the Massachusetts Bay 21 Footers,
Stars
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
and Sound Interclubs.
The 1899 clubhouse had been extensively enlarged and renovated in 1920, but by 1949 it had deteriorated and was replaced by a modern, concrete and steel structure. This building was expanded in the 1960s and 1980s, and another major expansion was to begin in 2005. However,
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
struck in August of that year, causing widespread destruction throughout the region. Heavily damaged by wind and flood waters, the clubhouse was ultimately destroyed by a massive fire which burned, unchecked, in the hours following the storm. Sadly, many historic yachting trophies and other priceless artifacts were lost in the fire.
Under the leadership of Commodores Ewell Potts III and Hjalmar Breit, an interim facility was quickly erected to meet the needs of the membership and the renowned local firm of Waggoner & Ball Architects was retained to design a new facility. SYC's fourth clubhouse was dedicated September 12, 2009. It is a modern structure containing luxurious appointments and state-of-the-art sailing accommodations. Commodore James Wade, christened the clubhouse in September 2009, in anticipation of Southern's 160th anniversary in October 2009.
Through more than one hundred and sixty years of prosperity, depressions, wars, yellow fever epidemics, flood and hurricanes, the Southern Yacht Club has maintained a Corinthian tradition of keen competition, sportsmanship and eponymous hospitality.
References
Further reading
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External links
Southern Yacht ClubNew Orleans Municipal Yacht HarborGulf Coast Sailing
{{Authority control
1849 establishments in Louisiana