New York Yacht Club

	NYYC
	; Club stand
	; Club stand
Full name	New York Yacht Club
Founded	July 30, 1844 in New York
Association headquarters	37 West 44th Street, New York
Club facilities	Harbor Court, Newport (Rhode Island)
Homepage	www.nyyc.org

The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private Yacht Club in New York City and Newport ( Rhode Iceland ) and was founded in the 1844th It is one of the world's most important and influential sailing clubs , whose history is closely linked to the oldest sailing regatta that is still held today , the America's Cup .

Its members have contributed to both sailing and yacht development. The club has 3,000 members, and the number has increased significantly, especially in the last 20 years. The increase is largely due to the summer-oriented activities at the base in Rhode Island. Membership in the New York Yacht Club is only possible by invitation. The club has a chairman ( Commodore ), a vice and a lower Commodore, a secretary and a treasurer.

Clubhouses

New York Clubhouse, Manhattan, 44th Street

The first clubhouse was in a modest 1,845 neo-Gothic style in Hoboken ( New Jersey set up). The house was a gift from Commodore Stevens. Today's central clubhouse is located at 37 West, 44th Street, in Midtown Manhattan . It is a six-story building in superb style of Beaux-Arts architecture with a limestone - facade whose design nautical takes up issues. The house opened in 1901. The design came from the architectural firm Warren and Wetmore , which had recently designed the exterior facade of Grand Central Terminal . The center of the house is a model room with the world's largest collection of full and half models of ships . In 1987 the clubhouse was classified as a National Historic Landmark .

In addition to its onshore central building, the New York Yacht Club opened another clubhouse in 1988, which is located directly on the water at Harbor Court in Newport (Rhode Island).

history

Foundation and the first decades

Yacht America (lithography)

Nine men founded the New York Yacht Club on July 30, 1844 under the direction of John Cox Stevens . Stevens was a sports enthusiast and celebrity New Yorker and became the club's first commodore. Other founding members were George L. Schuyler and Hamilton Wilkes, who, together with Stevens and two other people, formed the consortium that built and steered the great schooner America . Wilkes became the first Vice-Commodore. Schuyler was an advisor to the club until his death in 1890 and played a decisive role in the establishment of the oldest sailing regatta that is still held today , the America's Cup . In 1845 the club's famous stander (burgee) was designed.

Since the club was founded, the waters off Newport have been a hub for NYYC sailing. On the day it was founded, the members decided to sail from Battery Park to Newport. It took them two days to get there. They made several stopovers and tried different speed.

James Gordon Bennett, Jr.

In the first decades of the association, the main goal of most members was to take part in sailing regattas endowed with prize money. After the America was built by NYYC in 1851, the crew won the One Hundred Sovereigns Cup around the Isle of Wight at the annual regatta of the Royal Yacht Squadron , the most venerable yacht club in Great Britain . The America won the One Hundred Sovereigns Cup on August 22, 1851 after 53 nautical miles at 8:37 p.m. local time, 20 minutes ahead of the 14 British participants ( Aurora , Arrow , Alarm and others). On his return to New York, John Cox Stevens donated the One Hundred Sovereigns Cup to the New York Yacht Club and with this award founded the America's Cup, which was first held off New York in 1870 between the yachts Magic (USA) and Gambria (Great Britain) (Winner: Magic ).

In 1865 the club adopted the motto Nos agimur tumidis velis . During this time the membership changed. The "old guard" was replaced by a new generation that built large schooners and had them steered by professionals. Characteristic of this transition phase was the resignation of Commodore Edwin Augustus Stevens , brother of the founder John Cox Stevens and consortium member of America in 1866 .

The year 1866 went down in club annals with the legendary "Transatlantic Race". In December, NYYC schooners Henrietta , Fleetwing and Vesta won the regatta from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to the Isle of Wight for a total of $ 90,000 in prize money. The winner was the Henrietta of twenty-one year old James Gordon Bennett, Jr. under the professional skipper Samuel S. Samuels in 13 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes. Bennett was then elected Commodore in 1871.

In 1876 the Mohawk , a large center board schooner, capsized in a sudden thunderstorm when the occupied (moored) pods could no longer be lowered (loosened) in time. Vice-Commodore William T. Garner, his wife and the crew were killed in the accident. The tragedy probably meant that the construction of this schooner type was discontinued.

In 1911, the then flagship of the NYYC, the Gunilda , sank after hitting the upper lake .

America's Cup and reorientation

New York 30 Class , designed by Nathanael Herreshoff

Over the years, various guidelines for the America's Cup have been developed to create a certain level of equality across the dimensions of the yachts. In 1889, NYYC passed the Seawanhaka Rule, a system of rules that would last for twenty years. The "Seawanhaka Rule" was created in collaboration with the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club from the New York settlement of Oyster Bay. In 1902, NYYC changed the system to the "Herreshoff Rule", which the famous boat builder and yacht designer Nathanael Herreshoff had developed. Later renamed Universal Rule , the majority of the leading American yacht clubs adopted this set of rules. It was supposed to fix the yacht dimensions for nearly forty years.

NYYC held the America's Cup for 132 years - the longest streak in sporting history. It was not until 1983 that the NYYC had to admit defeat to Australian businessman Alan Bond in his fourth participation, whose Australia II, controlled by John Bertrand , won the Cup on September 26, 1983. The Australians beat the legendary NYYC skipper Dennis Conner , who won the cup four times out of 9 participations.

The club has been breaking new ground since losing the America's Cup. So he took the team race (team racing), dinghy sailing (dinghy racing) and youth sailing (youth sailing) and numerous international regattas on in his program. In 2002 the NYYC hosted the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Sloop North American Championships and in 2006 the Blind Sailing World Championships.