Races and fleets
As one of four sailing clubs on Mobile Bay, BucYC hosts the Dauphin Island Race once every three years. This is "arguably the largest single day point to point sail race in the U.S.A." with over 300 boats and 1000 crewmembers. In 2007 it hosted the 87th annual Sir Thomas Lipton Inter-Club Challenge sailboat race, an Olympic style GYA racing event for sailors of Flying Scot dinghies. [2]
BucYC members maintain the largest surviving fleet of Fish class sailboats in the world and the club hosts the majority of races for this class. Fish boats were designed in 1919 and were the original Gulf Yachting Association inter-club racing boat until they were replaced by Flying Scots in 1969. They "...incorporated features of the New England Sharpie and some of the Biloxi Cat--the straight lines and chine of the Sharpie, the wide beam and low free-board of the Cat..." as well as a vee bottom, lead keel and gaff rigged sail. [3] [4]
The club is one of over forty nationwide hosts of the Leukemia Cup Regatta, a major fund raising event organized by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise donations for medical research into the causes and treatment of leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma.
Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
A Squib is a type of small racing keelboat designed in 1967 by Oliver Lee as a successor to the Ajax 23. It is a strict "one-design" class of boat, having a length of 19', beam of 6'1½", a sail area of 170 sq. ft. upwind, 310 sq. ft. total and a weight of 1500 lb (680 kg). The usual crew is two people and the boat can be cruised or raced with a Portsmouth Yardstick of 1142. The Squib has been adopted by the RYA as the National Keelboat and is big enough to race at sea and small enough to be trailed easily behind a family car.
The Sunfish is a personal-size, beach-launched sailing dinghy. It features a very flat, boardlike hull carrying an Oceanic lateen sail mounted to an un-stayed mast.
The Buccaneer 18, also called the Buccaneer dinghy and the Gloucester 18, is an American planing sailing dinghy that was designed in 1966 by Rod Macalpine-Downie and Dick Gibbs as a one-design racer and day sailer. The prototype was first shown in 1967 at Yachting's "One of a Kind" Regatta, in which it placed second.
Land sailing, also known as sand yachting, land yachting or dirtboating, entails overland travel with a sail-powered vehicle, similar to sailing on water. Originally, a form of transportation or recreation, it has evolved primarily into a racing sport since the 1950s.
The Fireball is a British sailing dinghy that was designed by Peter Milne as a one-design racer and first built in 1962.
The Sabre Dinghy is a class single-handed sailboat that is 12'4" or 3.76 m long. The boat was designed in 1974 by Rex Fettell, who also designed the Minnow. As of 2017 over 2,000 sail numbers have been issued.
The Southern Yacht Club is located in New Orleans, Louisiana's West End neighborhood, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Established on July 21, 1849, it is the second oldest yacht club in the United States and a founding member of the Gulf Yachting Association.
The New Orleans Yacht Club (NOYC) was founded in June 1949 and is dedicated to further the sport of yacht racing, marine safety and seamanship. The club is located at West End's Municipal Yacht Harbor on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and is a member of the Gulf Yachting Association since 1953.
A sailing yacht, is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applies here to sailing vessels that have a cabin with amenities that accommodate overnight use. To be termed a "yacht", as opposed to a "boat", such a vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities. Sailboats that do not accommodate overnight use or are smaller than 30 feet (9.1 m) are not universally called yachts. Sailing yachts in excess of 130 feet (40 m) are generally considered to be superyachts.
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 the US Gulf Coast in the early 20th century and was the Gulf Yachting Association one-design racer until it was replaced by the Flying Scot in 1969.
Gary Jobson is a former sailor, television commentator and author based in Annapolis, Maryland, and a former Vice President of the International Sailing Federation. Jobson has authored 19 sailing books and is Editor-at-Large of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines. He is currently president of the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
The Biloxi Yacht Club (BYC) is located in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA, on the shores of the Mississippi Sound. The BYC is a founding member of the Gulf Yachting Association, as well as the Mississippi Coast Yachting Association. Established in 1849, it is the fourth oldest yacht club in the United States.
The Mississippi Coast Yachting Association was organized to promote the sport of yacht racing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and nearby areas.
The Wawasee Yacht Club was formed in 1935 and is located at 6338 E Trusdell Ave. on the northeast shore of Lake Wawasee, Indiana. It currently has 75 families and 35 social members sailing 28-foot E-Scow, 19-foot Lightning, and 13-foot Sunfish class boats in three regattas held from June through early October.
Joanna Ayela Aleh is a New Zealand sailor. She is a national champion, a former world champion, and an Olympic gold medallist.
David Ullman is an international yachtsman, sailboat racer, and sailmaker. Ullman founded Ullman Sails in Newport Beach, California in 1967.
The Sugar Bowl Regatta has been held since 1934. The races have taken place on Lake Pontchartrain every year since 1935, except during World War II and immediately after Hurricane Katrina in 2006. Lake Pontchartrain is a 630 square mile lake with a mean depth of 10–16 feet.
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 the sport of yacht racing, marine safety and seamanship, the GYA is the oldest organization of yacht clubs in the United States.
Aileen Shields Bryan was an American sailor who won the 1948 United States' women's national sailing championship.
United States 