 | |
| Short name | SPYC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1909 |
| Location | Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 |
| Website | www |
The St. Petersburg Yacht Club (SPYC) is a private yacht club located in St. Petersburg, Florida (United States) and a member of the Gulf Yachting Association and the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs.
The club won the Adams Cup in 1979.
The St. Petersburg Yacht Club was founded in 1909 and the clubhouse was inaugurated on its current site in 1917. [1] One-Design Racing began two years later, when six Fish Class sailboats were acquired. [2] Offshore racing started with the Havana Race in 1930 as the forerunner for the Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC). [3]
Ed Baird, Allison Jolly, Mark Mendelblatt and Jennifer French are world class sailors from the SPYC.[ citation needed ]
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.
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the largest city in the state that is not a county seat. Along with Clearwater, these cities are part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup. Matches are held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. There is no fixed schedule, but the races have generally been held every three to four years. The most recent America's Cup match took place in March 2021.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
World Sailing (WS) is the world governing body for the sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutive Games held between 2000 and 2012.
The Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race (MHOR) is a biennial sailing race which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. It runs between Marblehead, Massachusetts and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is believed to be the longest running offshore ocean race in the world and is considered one of the pre-eminent ocean races of the North Atlantic.
Gary Mull was an American yacht designer who created many popular fiberglass sailboats.
The Bermuda Fitted Dinghy is a type of racing-dedicated sail boat used for competitions between the yacht clubs of Bermuda. Although the class has only existed for about 130 years, the boats are a continuance of a tradition of boat and ship design in Bermuda that stretches back to the earliest decades of the 17th century.
Allison Blair Jolly is an American sailor and Olympic champion. Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, Jolly began sailing at the age of 10 and attended the Florida State University where she won the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association National Championships in 1975 and 1976. In 1976 she placed second in the European women's championship, and also took second place in the Timmy Angsten Regatta. In 1976, at the age of 20, she became the youngest woman ever to win the US Sailor of the Year Awards, "considered the top prize in yachting in the U.S." and was presented the award again after the Olympics in 1988. In 1979, she won the Adams Cup with the St. Petersburg Yacht Club team.
The Twelve Foot Dinghy was designed by George Cockshott, an amateur boat designer from Southport, England in response to a 1912 design contest. It became the first one-design racing dinghy to achieve international recognition. The class was granted the 'International' status by the IYRU in 1919 and remained this status until 1964 when it was revoked by the same authority. The class was selected as the dinghy class for the Olympics in 1920 & 1928. In 1924 the French wanted to use an alternate French design.
Charley E. Morgan is a legendary American sailboat racer and designer. He is best known as the founder of Morgan Yacht Corporation.
The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among teams. Additionally, there are specialized competitions that include setting speed records. Racing formats include both closed courses and point-to-point contests; they may be in sheltered waters, coast-wise or on the open ocean. Most competitions are held within defined classes or ratings that either entail one type of sailing craft to ensure a contest primarily of skill or rating the sailing craft to create classifications or handicaps.
The Transpac 52 (TP52) is a class of yacht used for competitive 52 Super Series yacht racing, and the Audi MedCup previously, besides the world championship of the class. The class is recognised by the International Sailing Federation which entitles the class to hold an Official World Championships.
Mark Mendelblatt is an American yachtsman. Married to windsurfer Carolina Mendelblatt, he primarily sails the Laser Radial, a one-design class of small single-handed sailing dinghy. Beginning in 2005, he also started to race in the two-person keelboat Star class.
David J. Mendelblatt is an American yachtsman and ophthalmologist.
The Biscayne Bay Yacht Club is a private yacht club located in Coconut Grove, Miami. Founded in 1887 by Commodore Ralph Middleton Munroe, the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club is one of the oldest yacht clubs in Florida.
Lauderdale Yacht Club is a private yacht club located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The club belongs to the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs.
The C&C 61 is a Canadian sailboat, that was designed by Cuthbertson & Cassian and first built in 1970.
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.