harlem yacht club

Harlem Yacht Club

Description

417 Hunter Ave. Bronx, NY, 10464

(718) 885-3078

Top Places to Visit in NYC Right Now

Coney Island

Brooklyn's beachside attraction holds the Cyclone roller coaster, the Wonder Wheel, the New York Aquarium, the original Nathan’s Famous and a boardwalk.

Queens Night Market

This expansive open-air night market celebrates the rich cultural diversity of NYC.

Historic Richmond Town

Watch history come alive at this living history village.

Yankee Stadium

Home to baseball's 27-time champs, the new Yankee Stadium was built in 2009 across the street from its former location.

Central Park

An urban oasis in the heart of Manhattan, the 843-acre park encompasses rolling fields, woodlands, trails and waterways, plus a number of family attractions.

• CLASSIFIEDS
• NEWSLETTERS
• SUBMIT NEWS

Harlem Boat Clubs, New York 1883

The earliest means of transportation around New York City Harbor, from Harlem to Brooklyn and Staten Island and to trading was moored offshore was rowboats from 96th Street to 155th Street.

The rowboats would unload trade goods at the rear of the buildings.

The boatmen from the rowboats who ferried from ships to coastline regularly had races and rivalries with each other. These early races were the start of rowing in the United States.

Many of the first clubs like Harlem Rowing , the Bohemians were composed primarily of immigrants from one ethnic group, who continued to carry on the traditions from their homeland.

The race among high school crews was popular, as were those among professional organizations. Policeman, trolley car drivers, and Wall Street workers were the first among the professionals that held races on Harlem River.

Harlem had become a rowing centre so much so that it was called “ Scullers Row “, because it had over 1,000 rowers by 1902. Some of the best oarsmen in the world came to row along with the Riverside Speedway Course. The most recognized names of early rowing history, including the Biglin Brothers, Thomas Hanlan, and the Ward Brothers Came to Harlem.

Harlem boat club on the Harlem River by B. J. Falk, June 19, 1902. The Harlem Yacht Club (aka Harlem boat club – see photo above), now of City Island, was initially founded at 124th Street and the East River in June of 1883.

Harlem boat club on the Harlem River by B. J. Falk, June 19, 1902. The Harlem Yacht Club (aka Harlem boat club), now of City Island, was initially founded at 124th Street and the East River in June of 1883.

It spent most of its first two decades three blocks further south at the old Randall mansion (former home of the same Randalls who owned Randalls Island), and it also operated a ‘station’ at College Point from whence most of its regattas were conducted.

In 1894, the club gave up its station at College Point in favor of one on property it had purchased at City Island. It then occupied both locations – its ‘city house’ at the Randall mansion and its City Island station– for about ten years, even conducting occasional bicycle runs from one house to the other in those early days before the advent of automobiles.

It had towed its College Point clubhouse to the new site at City Island, but decided in 1898 to replace it with a larger structure, and erected a lovely Victorian manse.

Its opening in June of 1899 was heralded by a “salute of seventeen guns … an illumination [of the fleet], and fireworks ashore and afloat.” (New York Times, June 20, 1899, p. 5)

Finally, in 1903, the club gave up its headquarters at the Randall mansion in Harlem and took up permanent, and sole, residence at its property in City Island.

The old Victorian building burned in 1915 and was promptly replaced by the club’s current three-story building, which houses a bar, restaurant, and members’ lounge on its main floor, a second-story ballroom, and third-floor offices and steward’s quarters.

The HYC was a founding member of three yacht racing associations: the New York Yacht Racing Association (no longer in existence), the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound (YRALIS), and the Eastchester Bay Yacht Racing Association. These latter two are still very active today.

From its inception, the Harlem Yacht Club conducted numerous regattas and became known in local waters for its Memorial Day Regatta, which it conducted on its own initiative, then later as part of the YRALIS championship circuit.

For 60 years, this race was said to kick off the yacht racing season in western Long Island Sound. In that golden era of yacht racing, the public could enjoy following a regatta by purchasing a ticket for a steamer that followed the boats around the racecourse.

The steamers could carry up to 2,000 passengers, and this club enjoyed a popular following of such spectators in its early years on the Sound, until the practice ended with the rise of other spectator sports.

The club also ran several long-distance races such as the HYC Stratford Shoal Race, which ran from 1905 to 1920, and even evolved into a combination sail and powerboat race.

Meantime, the club’s racers also competed, and won honors, in the regattas of other clubs in the YRALIS circuit.

In its 1911 YRALIS Memorial Day regatta, the HYC hosted a historic race – the first regatta of the Star class – a small fixed-keel sloop that became immensely popular in all parts of the world and was in 1932 established as an Olympic Games class and is still raced there today.

In the late ‘30s the HYC became instrumental in the founding of the Eastchester Bay Yacht Racing Association in order to foster the growth of small boat bay sailing.

HYC Race Chairman Sidney J. Treat presided over its first race and for his efforts in promoting Star racing was also appointed Honorary and Life Commodore of the East River Star Fleet. The club boasted a fleet of 12 Stars, and several of the club’s racers were active Star competitors.

Most notable among them were Mike Treat, a champion Sound racer, and Charlie “Buster” Ulmer, who represented the East River Star Fleet in the International Championships in both Lisbon and Havana. “Buster” Ulmer later went on to found Ulmer Sails, now known as UK-Halsey Sailmakers.

With the outbreak of World War II, and because of the depletion of its members to the armed services, the club was forced to abandon the YRALIS Memorial Day Race and its Star racing program dwindled.

In the 1950s, with the rise of powerboats, the club’s members began to lean more heavily toward motor yachts.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, as sailing reclaimed a measure of its former popularity within the club, the proportion of sailing members again rose to prominence.

The club is currently one of the four City Island yacht clubs which co-sponsor the Eastchester Bay Yacht Racing Association. In addition, the HYC enjoys a number of club races of various types.

These include an around-the-buoy race (Treat Race), an overnight (Higgins Race), a J24 one-design (Hoxsie Race), a short-handed series, and a just-for-fun race called the Vice Commodore’s Regatta in which non-sailor members are recruited to actively crew upon their host member’s sailboat.

Today, the club enjoys a complement of about 150 members, in five categories. Its fleet of 123 boats is comprised of 80% sail and 20% power.

And, although its membership still draws heavily from the immediate Bronx/Lower Westchester area, it also enjoys a sizeable contingent of New Jerseyans, Manhattanites, and others from points further out, who find its location ideal for accessing the Sound.

All are comfortably accommodated in their beautiful clubhouse on City Island, and the club continues to pride itself as being one of the friendliest on Long Island Sound.

Photo credit: Source .

Become a Harlem Insider!

Sign-Up for our Newsletter *

Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from Harlem World Magazine. (You can unsubscribe anytime)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Related Articles

Harlem Week’s 50th Anniversary In Harlem Is Strong

Sponsored Love: Transform Your Reception Area, A Guide To Premium Office Tables

Sponsored Love: Elegance Meets Function, Discover Our Premium Office Reception Tables

Sponsored Love: Lista IPTV, Understand Everything About IPTV And Draw Your Conclusions

Leah Abraham Shares On Opening Settepani, Harlem’s Flagship Italian Restaurant Part 2

Sponsored Love: Accelerate Manufacturing Success, Expert Marketing Partners

Snag-A-Slip Booking

Harlem Yacht Club

+1 (718) 885-3078

[email protected]

http://www.hyc.org

Monitored: 72 | Working: 72

City Island, NY | N 40° 51.000' / W 073° 47.410'

417 Hunter Avenue

City Island, NY 10464

Body of Water

Eastchester Bay

Location Reference Point

Western L.I. Sound

Launch Chairman

Peter Green

Suggest Edits

Marina Login

Contact Request

Your request has been sent to the dockmaster at Harlem Yacht Club

Last Marina Login : 05/25/21

Have moorings $35/ night

Call ahead to confirm as prices are always subject to change

Noteworthy:

The Harlem Yacht Club has a restaurant & bar, shower facilities, etc.  Most ammenities available within walking distance. Mass transit available to N.Y.C., etc.including Amtrack.

Guests are welcome but need to sign-in upon arrival.

• Download The App
• Destinations
• Knowledge Center

Apple Sign-In

Sign up to get Navigation Alerts and News delivered to your inbox!

Invalid Email

Invalid Captcha

Check out our latest newsletter

Newsletter Sign-Up

A is a facility where you can keep your boat tied in a slip.

The captcha question was answered incorrectly.

The email is invalid. Please close the modal window and try again.

Signing-up...

Festival, ahoy! A dozen things to know about St. Paul's Minnesota Yacht Club

I t's the biggest music festival launched in the Twin Cities in 12 years. It's expecting more than 30,000 musicheads per day. And it's being produced by the same company that puts on Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits fests.

There's a lot to learn about the Minnesota Yacht Club — especially for deprived Twin Cities music lovers who haven't been to a big, nationally promoted festival like this since Live Nation's ill-fated River's Edge Music Festival on the same site in 2012.

With its inaugural voyage scheduled Friday and Saturday at Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul, the river-themed event features a Gen-X-nostalgic all-rock lineup led by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alanis Morissette, Gwen Stefani, Black Crowes, the Offspring, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, the Hold Steady and a dozen more acts. New Orleans' soul-funk troupe Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue are the only non-rock act on the bill, and they actually rock harder than most of them.

Here are some pointers, talking points and pointed opinions going into this weekend's mega-bash.

1. Saturday's single-day tickets are sold out. Even though they just played in town last year , the Chili Peppers' day as headliners quickly proved more popular than Morissette's. However, two-day general admission festival passes (now $255) and one-day Friday tickets ($135) were still available at press time via minnesotayachtclub.com .

A profits-generating trademark of promoter C3 Presents and other big festivals, there's also a wide array of VIP, platinum and "GA+" options, ranging from $285-$925 for single-day and $255-$1,395 for two-day. Those priciest options come with things like front-of-stage viewing access, express entry, lounges, free booze and back rubs from St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter. Or maybe we read that latter item wrong?

2. No, it's not a "yacht rock" festival. There actually has been a lot of confusion about this. The event's name is simply a fun spin on its riverside location and the relative irony of someone having a yacht in Minnesota. It has nothing to do with the genre of music associated with breezy and cheesy '70s-'80s hitmakers like Toto, Seals & Crofts and Christopher Cross. How fun would it have been to see one of those acts sandwiched between the Hold Steady and Offspring, though?

3. Boats actually are part of the experience. "Riverboat VIP" ticket holders ($825) can lounge in air-conditioning on the Jonathan Padelford and even take a 60-minute cruise on the paddleboat during the fest. Why anyone would want to go to a music fest to set sail for South St. Paul, we're not sure, but it's a unique idea for a festival.

4. The company behind it is in the festival business. C3 got its start with the hugely successful Austin City Limits Music Festival in the early 2000s before turning Lollapalooza into a one-weekend Chicago event. Live Nation bought a 51% stake in the company in 2014 but mostly leaves C3 to do its own thing when it comes to festivals. Other fests in its portfolio include Boston Calling, Atlanta's Shaky Knees and New York's Governors Ball — all steeped in unique branding and preparations for each city.

"We've been talking to the city well over a year now and working with them on the logistical plans," C3 promoter Tim Sweetwood said of MYC.

5. There will be only two stages (and no overlapping performances). While many festivals require fans to make tough decisions and Iditarod-like treks between competing stages — OK, maybe that's being a little dramatic — the setup at MYC in its first year features just two stages with alternating music that never runs concurrently. Dubbed the Skipper Stage and Crow's Nest Stage, they are only about a quarter-mile apart, too.

6. Gwen Stefani's appearance is the rarest among the top names. Last seen in town making a surprise appearance with husband Blake Shelton at the TC Summer Jam in 2022 , the former No Doubt singer and ex-coach on NBC's "The Voice" has not been performing a lot of late; just a handful of fly-in gigs this summer.

In the solo gigs she has done in 2024, Stefani has been revisiting many songs from No Doubt (with whom she reunited at Coachella fest in April ), including "Don't Speak," "Just a Girl" and "Hella Good."

7. The lineup isn't entirely a nostalgia trip. All these aforementioned acts make it look exclusively like a '90s and early '00s throwback fest, but there are actually modern stars and buzzmakers on the lineup.

Texas slinger Gary Clark Jr. has been the most thrilling blues-rock guitarist on tour over the past decade . Harmonious Seattle rockers the Head and the Heart have racked up a swath of radio hits and TV/film placement with songs like "Lost in My Mind." Twangy singer Morgan Wade has made a couple of well-reviewed records with Jason Isbell's guitarist Sadler Vaden as her producer. Indie-rocker Michigander is a critical favorite.

The Twin Cities' own pop-rock darlings Hippo Campus have become a big draw , too, recently playing New York's Governors Ball festival and selling out the Armory in Minneapolis.

8. There's good local representation. In addition to Hippo Campus, we'll see hard-charging local faves Gully Boys help kick off the fest Friday ahead of viral sensations Durry . On Saturday, fuzz-rocky kids Bugsy play before a fun afternoon twofer with Soul Asylum and the semi-local Hold Steady. As rock-only lineups go — musical diversity is not Yacht Club's strong suit — these are some of the state's most relevant acts present or past playing live in 2024.

9. The list of items you're allowed to bring in is short. Leave the chairs, coolers and umbrellas at home. Only small fanny packs, clutch purses, emptied hydration packs or small clear bags are allowed in. Other permissible items include: phones, baby strollers, blankets/towels, binoculars, reusable water bottles, non-aerosol sunscreen (3.4 ounce max) and Frisbees. For our sake, though, please don't bring any Frisbees.

10. There's a longer list of alternative transportation options. Coming from Austin, Texas, a city with notorious traffic problems, C3 makes a point of encouraging biking, ride-sharing and public transit options at all its festivals.

There's a designated rideshare dropoff site (Uber, Lyft, taxi) near the Wabasha Street entrance at 49 E. Fillmore Av. Bike lots are located at both that entrance and the second set of gates along W. Water Street (bring your own lock). For light rail, the Green Line's Central Station is a half-mile walk away. Ample public bus route stops also can be mapped out via metrotransit.org .

11. Harriet Island isn't really an island, and it isn't all that hard to get to. You wouldn't know it from the maps on the festival's website — or if you're one of those uppity Minneapolitans who never visit the other Twin City — but you can approach the park from the southwest side of the river as well as the downtown side. There are assorted parking options over there, too.

That said, the 15- to 20-minute walk across the Wabasha Street Bridge from downtown parking sites can be quite lovely if it's not sweltering heat. You can handle it, Minneapolis peeps.

12. This is just a start. "It's sort of a slow burn to start," C3′s Sweetwood said, promising expansion in the years to come. "We'll try to give it a little more color and better branding, the kind of things we have a good feel for at C3, being primarily a festival producer."

Friday lineup (in order, 12:45-10:30 p.m.): Harbor and Home, Gully Boys, Michigander, Morgan Wade, Durry, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, the Head and the Heart, Gwen Stefani, Black Crowes, Alanis Morissette.

Saturday (1-10:30 p.m.): Nico Vega, Bugsy, Wilderado, Soul Asylum, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Hippo Campus, the Hold Steady, the Offspring, Gary Clark Jr., Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Tickets: $135-$925 Fri. only, $255-$1,395 two-day.

Website: minnesotayachtclubfestival.com .

©2024 StarTribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

HARLEM YACHT CLUB

Established 1883

General inquiries  [email protected] Event planning  [email protected]

Membership info  [email protected]

Phone Bar 718-885-1225 Catering Manager 914-497-4267 Reservations 914-514-0993 Office 718-885-3078 Launch House 718-885-3235

Mail The Harlem Yacht Club 417 Hunter Ave City Island, NY 10464

VHF Radio HYC launches monitor VHF-72 during hours of operation.

We are on the west side of City Island, in the northeast corner of Eastchester Bay. The approaches to the club can be found on NOAA charts 12364 and 12366 .

Latitude: 40° 51' 00'' N

Longitude: 73° 47' 24'' W

Social Media Facebook:  HarlemYachtClub Twitter:  @HarlemYachtClub HYC

Blog: Wordpress: https://harlemyachtclub.wordpress.com/

Anne Booth  [email protected]  

914-497-4267

Office Manager

[email protected]

718-885-3078

Launch Supervisor

David Sandoval

718-885-3235

Flag Officers

Douglas McCormick  [email protected]

Vice Commodore

Tim Hiel  [email protected]

Rear Commodore

Mark Cetta, PC  [email protected]

Ellen Murphy  [email protected]

George Morstatt  [email protected]

Food, Beverage, and Entertainment

David Perez  [email protected]

Brian Hendricks, PC  [email protected]

Grounds and Lockers

Erin Lewis  [email protected]

David Sexton  [email protected]

Moorings and Launch

David Paterson  [email protected]

John Downs  [email protected]

Membership 

Anthony Rosco, PC  [email protected]

Drexel Harris [email protected]

Appointed Officers

Club Boat Chairman

Bob Fleno, PC  [email protected]

Drexel Harris  [email protected]

Environmental Compliance

Walter Tyler  [email protected]

Fleet Captain

Roger Karlebach  [email protected]

Fleet Surgeon

Chin Ju Li, MD  [email protected]

Nancy Curtiss  [email protected]  

Historian 

Evelyn Schneider  [email protected]

Race Chairman

Paul Beaudin   [email protected]

Peter M. Trunfio, PC  [email protected]

Sean E. Ashe  [email protected]

Art Director

Wendy Beaudin [email protected]

Big Tom Yacht Racing Representatives

Peter Trunfio, PC, and Matt Stainback, [email protected]​