Sea Going Yachts Needed for Immediate War Duty In connection with the quiet campaign of preparedness which is being carried on under the orders of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and about which there has been no previous public announcement, an active effort has been under way during the last month to procure seagoing yachts for immediate war duty. [...]

The Isle of Wight in the Solent has long been the epicenter of yachting in England. In 1851, a schooner painted black arrived there looking to win races. This was the yacht America, owned by John Cox Stevens, the first commodore of the NYYC and other club members. (Photo shows America, winner of a race in 1851 in England and a trophy that came to be called the America's Cup.) [...]

Image: Illustration of Cleopatra's Barge from Peabody Essex Museum Yachting, or sailing for recreational purposes, can be traced in the United States to George Crowninshield of Salem, Massachusetts.  Crowninshield, described as a "swell and a dandy," was  a member of a prominent and wealthy mercantile family whose trading ships sailed between American and European [...]

Gimcrack was the first flagship of John Cox Stevens, first commodore of the NYYC. Later, he was part of the syndicate that owned America that won what became the "America's Cup" in 1851 in England. John Cox Stevens and eight other progressive New York yachtsmen met aboard Stevens new yacht Gimcrack during the afternoon of Tuesday, July 30, 1844. Gimcrack was anchored off the [...]

  John Cox Stevens was the first commodore of the NYYC and the prime mover in the America syndicate. The trophy America won in 1851 became the America's Cup. This portrait of Commodore Stevens and his family is excerpted from The Low Black Schooner by author and NYYC member John Rousmaniere. John Cox Stevens was from one of the more remarkable families in U.S [...].

  By Michael Levitt, communications director NYYC George M. Isdale Jr., commodore of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), announced on December 18th, 1999, that the first clubhouse, built in 1845, has arrived at Newport, RI. The building, described in historical records as "a little edifice in the gingerbread style of the period," is today situated on the club's Harbour [...]

P rior to the enactment of income tax laws in the early twentieth century, the federal government obtained most of its operating funds from the collection of tariffs and customs duties levied on foreign goods entering American harbors.  All vessels were subject to inspection, including private yachts.  As the popularity of yachting increased, the burden of customs [...]

The NYYC Annual Regatta presented by Rolex By Lindsay Shuckhart, NYYC’s curator of collections The clubhouse opened in Hoboken, NJ, on the banks of the Hudson River in 1845. Two days after the opening, there was a "trial of speed." This became the Annual Regatta. On July 15, 1845 the members of the New York Yacht Club met in their Hoboken, NJ, clubhouse for the [...]

Navy Membership The 1845 annual meeting at Windhams Tavern produced not only the first full slate of officers and the club burgee, but it marked the beginning of the New York Yacht Club's relationship with the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard which continues to this day.

James Gordon Bennett in white suit entertains friends on Namouna, including actress Lillie Langtry, to right. James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was the son of James Gordon Bennett, the founder and publisher of the New York Herald. The son was groomed to be publisher all his life, and as sole owner and publisher, he busied himself throughout his long life in finding ways to spend the largest [...]

By Charles A. Dana, Commodore 2001-2002 Lucy Carnegie was the first woman to join the NYYC; the year was 1894, and it was not all smooth sailing. Much debate was heard in the board room and echoed in the New York Herald that wrote, " [...]Legal lore scintillated across the room. Eloquence leaped skyward in volumes. "Seen and unseen reefs were talked of, and the reverse of smooth [...]

By Dan Nerney The legendary yacht designer Captain Nathanael Herreshoff, an honorary member of the NYYC -- see photo above -- designed a fleet of boats back in 1896 called the Newport 30 class. This fleet would prove the genesis of a series of one-design classes organized within the NYYC. Members who had seen or sailed in these Newport 30s went to "Cap'n Nat," and in [...]

From a speech by Gregg K. Dietrich I was honored when David Tunick, the chair of the Model Committee, asked me to speak about the collection. About three weeks ago I asked the librarian at NYYC to pull some information together for me on the collection, so I could add some anecdotes and details to my talk. Well, what I found were more questions and interesting facts about the model [...]

By Peter J. Sweetser, chair of the Model Committee The collection of the New York Yacht Club totals 1,230 models of which 147 are full-hull, rigged models, and the balance are half-models. Our earliest model dates from 1819, a builder's half-model of Hornet, which was originally a Maryland oyster sloop rebuilt in 1846 as a Hell's Gate Pilot Boat with a schooner rig [...].

On July 15, 1845, the New York Yacht Club opened its first clubhouse – one year after its founding. It was a one-room Gothic Revival building designed by noted architect A. J. Davis, on land owned by Commodore John Cox Stevens in Hoboken, New Jersey -- across from Manhattan. Over the next half century, the Club would occupy four additional clubhouses: two in Manhattan and two on [...]

By John Rousmaniere In honor of the Centennial of the 44th Street Clubhouse on January 22-25, 2001, the NYYC published a book about the clubhouse written by member John Rousmaniere and designed by member B. Martin Pedersen. This is an excerpt. Clubhouse circa 1901. The [New York Yacht Club] established a set of objectives for the new clubhouse and sent it to more than a [...]

  By Michael Levitt This gathering in England in the summer of 2001 is to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the America’s Cup, “the oldest trophy in sports.” It began with a letter penned February 22, 1851. The writer was the Earl of Wilton, commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS), in England. It was addressed to John Cox Stevens, the first commodore [...]

By Henry H. Anderson Jr., commodore Prince Albert was the protagonist for the Great Exhibit -- the first world's fair -- the Earl of Wilton, commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) in 1851, was the protagonist for the £100 Cup. This was the first significant international regatta that led to the transformation of the sport of yachting from a national pastime to an [...]

By John Rousmaniere Photo courtesy of Pierpont Morgan Library J. Pierpont Morgan's advice about yachting, "If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it," is so familiar that it's trite. But what did the commodore of the NYYC, from 1897-99, really mean? Morgan measured the values of objects and people not so much by their financial cost (although [...]

  Yacht ensign was created by John Cox Stevens, the first commodore of the NYYC, to distinguish yachts from commercial vessels. The New York Yacht Club has been an organization of remarkable achievement for all its 150 years. Auspiciously, it was founded on a yacht, and equally auspiciously, some might say, it was born with a certain autocratic air. Our founder [...]