Shelter Island Yacht Club Anniversary Edition (LIB)

From the Gilded Age to modern times, here is the rich and colorful 125 year history of the Shelter Island Yacht Club, as told by nautical writer and sailor, John Rousmaniere.

Founded in 1886 at the entrance to Dering Harbor – one of the finest deep-water small harbors on either coast of the American Continent – the Shelter Island Yacht Club became a favorite stopping-off point for grand steam and sailing yachts from New York and Brooklyn. One visiting yachtsman heralded the harbor as “the snuggest little cubby hole that ever was.” It was so desirable as a summer sailing resort that in 1892 the New York Yacht Club designated Dering Harbor one of its outposts for its cruising members, and by the turn of the century, it could claim 21 steam yachts 79 feet or longer, with the queen of the fleet at 211 feet, the Hauoli, owned by the “Borax King” Francis Smith. In those early days, balls and dinner dances were the happy occasion for women to appear in their white gowns and finery. But even more popular were the sailboat races, which were the club’s main interest.

Over the past 125 years, the club has had more than a dozen one-design classes., as well as cutting-edge sailing yachts of all sizes designed by the brilliant Nathanial Herreshoff, “the Wizard of Bristol.” That tradition continues to this day. The club now boasts active fleets of Etchells, Optimists, and 420s, as well as the largest fleet of 1914-designed Herreshoff 12 ½ s in the nation, with more than 55 boats.

With its membership larger than ever, SIYC continues to thrive, a happy blend of tradition and modern, a place of camaraderie and lively sailing rivalries; and after 125 years still in the same building and still sailing on the same race courses.

As the author observes, “The story of the SIYC has its excitements and successes, and also its doubts and difficulties. But above all, the SIYC has benefited from the dedicated, enthusiastic women and men who, time after time, energetically and thoughtfully take the best of the club’s past, and marry it to the best of the club’s future.”

Beautifully written and lavishly illustrated, this book is a handsome treasure, worthy of its subject.

Raised around boats at Cold Spring Harbor, John Rousmaniere has sailed more than 40,000 miles, with many stops at Dering Harbor. In 2010 the Cruising Club of America presented him with its Richard S. Nye Award, stating, “His books have been a source of information and inspiration to sailors around the world.” He has written Fastnet, Force 10, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, In a Class by Herself, and histories of the New York and Fishers Island Yacht Clubs, the Newport Bermuda Race, and Piping Rock country club. He moderates safety seminars and makes other presentations. A graduate of Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary, John lives in Manhattan with his wife, Leah. His two sons and five grandchildren are sailors.