The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) was started on July 30, 1844, when John Cox Stevens invited eight friends to his yacht Gimcrack, anchored in New York Harbor. The nine who met 161 years ago resolved to form the New York Yacht Club and named Stevens commodore.

The first commodore of the NYYC announced that three days later, members would be departing on a yacht-club cruise to Newport, Rhode Island. This came to be called the Annual Cruise. In 2006, the NYYC will celebrate its 150th Annual Cruise.

The NYYC’s first clubhouse was built in 1845 on land donated by Commodore Stevens at the family estate at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, NJ, overlooking the Hudson River. The clubhouse, a Gothic-revival building, opened in 1845. A regatta, billed as a “trial of speed” followed. This became the “Annual Regatta.” In June 2004, the NYYC celebrated its 150th Annual Regatta presented by Rolex.

Cowes, on the Isle of Wight in the Solent, has long been considered the epicenter of yachting in England. In 1851, a schooner painted black arrived there looking to win races and wagers on those races. This was the yacht America, owned by Commodore Stevens and other club members.

No yacht was willing to race her, however. Finally, America entered a free-for-all hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron on Friday, August 22, around the Isle of Wight. Watching the race, which included 14 English yachts, was Queen Victoria, who supposedly inquired, “Which is first?” Told it was America, she asked, “Which is second?”
“Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second,” was the reply. Or so the story goes. America won the Royal Yacht Squadron’s “Hundred Guinea Cup.”

On July 12, 1857, surviving members of the America syndicate donated the silver trophy they won in England to the NYYC. They called it the “America’s Cup,” in honor of the yacht that won it. Boats flying the club flag held onto that trophy for 132 years, or until 1983. Journalists have described that as the “longest winning streak in sports.”

In 1866 NYYC members George A. Osgood and Pierre Lorillard Jr. organized the first transatlantic race. Each wagered $30,000—winner takes all. James Gordon Bennett Jr., soon to be commodore of the New York Yacht Club—indeed its only two-term commodore—learned of the race and entered Henrietta, his schooner. The only owner to go on the wintertime race, Bennett’s Henrietta finished first oon Christmas day. He won $90,000—more than $2 million in today’s money. Another famous transatlantic race was started by the NYYC in 1905. Here the 185-foot Atlantic set a course record of 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds. It is this record—100 years old this year—that will be contested in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge 2005. This is the 11th transatlantic race organized by the NYYC.

In 1898 the NYYC was billeted on the second floor of a house on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. It was then that Commodore J. Pierpont Morgan surprised fellow members by announcing he would donate three lots on West 44th Street to build a new clubhouse. The building, designed in the beaux-arts style by Whitney Warren, features a ship-like exterior and Grill Room with tumble home that caused a visitor in 1905 to say, “Except for the absence of motion, one might fancy oneself at sea.” It is known for its Model Room, which displays a large part of the NYYC’s collection. The clubhouse celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2001.

The NYYC finished “second” in the America’s Cup in 1983. A significant piece of the club was gone. Then in 1987, it acquired Harbour Court on eight acres overlooking Newport Harbor, where the America’s Cup had been contested from 1930 to 1983. This was the former summer home of NYYC Commodore John Nicholas Brown.

Harbour Court created a new energy and focus at the NYYC. In 1994, with Rolex as its partner, the NYYC hosted its Sesquicentennial Celebration for 1,500 members and friends. Other events organized by the NYYC at Harbour Court, included the biennial NYYC Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex, the Disabled World Sailing Championship, the ILC Maxi World Championship, Rolex IMS Offshore World Championship, Laser Masters North Americans and the Swan North Americans. This summer, the club will conduct the ISAF Team Racing Worlds, the 12 Metre Worlds and the Swan North Americans, as well as the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge – to start in New York May 21st.

The first clubhouse (above) originally located in Hoboken, NJ, now stands on the grounds of Harbour Court, where it is known as "Station 10"

© 2005 Newport Harbor Guide. All rights reserved.

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