new york yacht club visit

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Yacht Clubs

New York Yacht Club

The mission of the New York Yacht Club is to attract and bring together a dedicated group of yachting and naval members to share and foster their interest in yachting and yacht racing; to sustain a leadership role in yachting, its history, its development, the preservation of its traditions, and the furtherance of good seamanship; to promote the highest form of Corinthian sportsmanship in national and international yachting forums and yacht racing competitions.

Stories from New York Yacht Club

On July 30, 1844, John Cox Stevens (1785-1857) and eight of his friends met aboard Stevens’ yacht Gimcrack, anchored off the Battery in New York Harbor. That afternoon, they established the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) and made three critical decisions that day: first, they elected Stevens as Commodore of the Club; second, they agreed to develop rules and regulations to govern the Club; and, third, they resolved to cruise to Newport, Rhode Island, initiating the enduring connection between the Club and New England. The Club’s young fleet of eight schooner yachts set sail from New York Harbor for Newport three days later, marking the Club’s first Annual Cruise. During the passage, they made stops at various ports on Long Island Sound and even held informal speed trials. Upon reaching Newport, the members met up with yachtsmen from Boston to socialize and engage in racing activities. On August 8, the Club hosted a fleet race around Conanicut Island, a popular racecourse today. The year that followed was a busy one for the Club. It adopted its Rules and Regulations, opened its first clubhouse and held its first Annual Regatta.

The New York Yacht Club held its first Annual Regatta–a fleet race for a prize cup–on July 17, 1845. Nine yachts started opposite the new clubhouse at 9 a.m. on the Hudson River. They sailed to a turning mark near Sandy Hook in the Lower Bay and returned—a 38-mile course. The yacht Cygnet won, earning fame as the first winner of North America’s longest-running sailing regatta. Today, the New York Yacht Club has its signature clubhouse, a National Historic Landmark, on West 44th Street in New York, and a waterfront clubhouse, Harbour Court, in Newport. The Club’s first clubhouse survives. It was installed on the grounds of Harbour Court in 1999, where it serves as a reminder of the Club’s origins.

The Club continues to run its Annual Regatta, presented by Rolex. The Club also hosts the biennial Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, for international Corinthian sailors representing their yacht clubs and nations and the parallel event for U.S. yacht clubs, the Resolute Cup. The Club also hosts and participates in other national, North American and world championships.

rom 1884 to 1900, the clubhouse was a townhouse at 67 Madison Avenue. By 1898, it was chockablock with “models, members, and memorabilia,” according to the New York Daily Tribune. It was then that Commodore J. Pierpont Morgan stunned fellow members by announcing he would donate three lots on West 44th Street to build a new clubhouse. The building, brilliantly designed with nautical motifs by Whitney Warren, opened in 1901. It is famous for its Model Room and Library. The New York Times wrote of the clubhouse in 1906, “Except for the absence of motion, one might fancy oneself at sea.”

In 1987, the New York Yacht Club acquired Harbour Court, the former summer home of Commodore John Nicholas Brown, in Newport, creating a new energy and focus. The waterfront clubhouse opened in 1988 with 1,500 members and guests in attendance. In 2019, Harbour Court hosted the Club’s Dosquicentennial Celebration for members and friends to celebrate the Club’s 175 years of history.

The New York Yacht Club has hosted Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex since 1998 and many other regattas in recent years including world championships for the Etchells, J/70, Farr 40 and Melges 20 classes, the J Class Worlds, the Global Team Race Regatta, the Transatlantic Race, and the IC37 National Championships to name a few.

The Club is also highly active in team and match racing. In 2006, the Club purchased 14 Sonars in dedication of these activities. In 2014, the fleet was increased to 22 Sonars, and today, team racing at the New York Yacht Club offers some of the most intense competition in the country.

Since 2009 the New York Yacht Club has conducted the biennial Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup. After a successful decade of racing in the Swan 42, the eighth one-design class created by the New York Yacht Club since 1900, the Invitational Cup transitioned to using the Club’s fleet of 20 IC37 race boats in 2019. These purpose-built machines, combined with one-design sails from North Sails, identical gear and standardized rig tune, create a level platform for amateur big-boat racing. Yacht club teams worldwide and Corinthian (amateur) sailors flock to Newport to race in this competition. During the first Invitational Cup in 2009, 19 yacht club teams from 14 countries and four continents competed, and the New York Yacht Club emerged as the winner. Since 2009, more than 1,000 sailors, comprised of teams from more than 40 yacht clubs representing 21 countries and all six continents, have competed in at least one edition of the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup.

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The Sailing Museum & National Sailing Hall of Fame

365 Thames St. Newport RI 02840 401.324.5761

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Safe Harbor Marinas + New York Yacht Club Regatta Association

Safe Harbor Marinas is proud to partner with the New York Yacht Club Regatta Association and invites New York Yacht Club members to explore the Safe Harbor network.

Through our partnership, New York Yacht Club members receive a preferred rate at any Safe Harbor location and access to Safe Harbor Membership Concierge, an exclusive service providing personalized assistance navigating the Safe Harbor network.

For assistance visit  https://shmarinas.com/membership-concierge/  please submit your transient request by completing the form below and mention you are a New York Yacht Club member in the comment section and a Membership Concierge teammate will contact you.

* Offer cannot be combined with any other promotions, and may only be applied to a maximum of 7 consecutive nights of transient dockage.

We appreciate your interest and welcome your questions or comments. Please submit them using this form.

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New York Yacht Club

New York Yacht Club tobacco felt (or tobacco flannel.)

Tobacco felts, or more appropriately, tobacco flannels, were collectibles available to purchasers of tobacco products between 1900-1920. Like related premiums as cards and silks, felts could represent a variety of interests, in this case, yachting.

The New York Yacht Club was founded in 1844. The Club won the first America's Cup race, holding on to the trophy until 1983.

Date Made: ca 1910

Maker: American Tobacco Company

Location: Currently not on view

Web Subject: Sports yacht club Subject: yachting Sailing

See more items in: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1999.3052.102 Nonaccession Number: 1999.3052 Catalog Number: 1999.3052.102

Object Name: emblem silk tobacco silk, collegiate silk, tobacco tobacco felt

Physical Description: fabric, silk (overall material) Measurements: overall: 4.5 cm x 11.1 cm; 1 3/4 in x 4 3/8 in

Metadata Usage: CC0

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-99a2-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1347922

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to  sharing our collection online .

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's  Terms of Use . If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit  Rights and Reproductions .

Join in a tradition of philanthropy that began more than a century ago.

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These buildings represent so much to American history, and to adventurers everywhere who have sailed the open seas.

William Mathews Brooks (Chair Emeritus, New York Yacht Club Foundation)

NYYC Foundation

Founded in 2007, the mission of the New York Yacht Club Foundation is maintaining and restoring the New York Yacht Club’s magnificent Clubhouses on 44th Street in Manhattan and at Harbour Court in Newport, Rhode Island. Through tax-deductible contributions and donations, the Foundation grants funds for the Club’s important, ongoing capital projects in New York and Newport. “Preserving our past, safeguarding our future” is the goal of the NYYC Foundation.

Our Clubhouses

The “stations” of the New York Yacht Club are located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, and at Harbour Court in Newport, Rhode Island, overlooking the historic waters of Brenton Cove and Narragansett Bay.

40° 43′ 50.1960” N and 73° 56′ 6.8712” W

44th Street, New York, NY

37 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036

41° 29′ 26.0808” N and 71° 18′ 36.7056” W

Harbour Court, Newport, RI

5 Halidon Ave, Newport, RI 02840

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Upcoming & past projects.

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Restoring and Reforming the Formal Garden

Almost a century after Natalie Bayard Brown first wandered along the bluestone pathways of her beloved Formal Garden at Harbour Court, by the spring of 2018 the harsh New England weather had taken its toll: the paths, steps and fieldstone walls were crumbling and restoration work was needed.

Shedding New Light on the Palm Café

Architect Whitney Warren created an aura of French “café society” when conceiving the curved, glass-conservatory design of the iconic room on 44th Street known as the Palm Café.

Clear Windows Upon the City

First impressions are always the most lasting, which is certainly the case with the New York Yacht Club’s incomparable Clubhouse on 44th Street, the defining feature of which are the 149 windows that grace the façade. But windows, of course, don’t last forever, and after 120 years those in Manhattan require serious attention.

A “Face Lift” at Harbour Court

In 2012, the distinctive stucco-and-limestone frontage of Harbour Court—originally completed in 1905—was deteriorating almost literally before Club members' eyes.

CONSIDER MAKING A

Over the next decade, with important work either completed, in the planning stages or under way at Harbour Court or 44th Street, there are multiple projects that require major funding to ensure that the Clubhouses are preserved for future generations. These efforts—including a seawall to rebuild and a boathouse to restore at Harbour Court—and the ongoing annual maintenance of these historic buildings are made possible by the New York Yacht Club Foundation and your generous support.

A MESSAGE FROM THE

Board of directors.

For over a century, a long line of generous donors and philanthropists have played a central role in conserving and restoring the Club’s extraordinary buildings and grounds. Today, this important work is carried on by the New York Yacht Club Foundation, and you are invited to join in their vital, ongoing mission.

The Club and the Foundation are the stewards of a pair of matchless architectural jewels. In many ways, the Foundation’s current calling is continuing the NYYC’s philanthropic legacy that was originally launched by Commodore J. Pierpont Morgan, who in 1897 donated the Midtown property on which the 44 th Street clubhouse was erected. 

To maintain such a treasured historical icon’s façade and interior in the style and finish that it deserves requires long-term planning and significant financial support, which is provided directly through donations to the New York Yacht Club Foundation.

If the 44 th Street clubhouse, with its famous, unsurpassed Model Room, offers members a spiritual connection to the seas, the Newport “station” at Harbour Court is their literal gateway to blue water. Together, these buildings forge a meaningful connection between the New York Yacht Club’s past, present and future.

For more information or assistance with making a contribution, please contact the Foundation by calling 401-608-1125 or [email protected] .

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New York Yacht Club

• 5 Halidon Avenue, Newport, RI 02840
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Clarence Thomas, in Financial Disclosure, Acknowledges 2019 Trips Paid by Harlan Crow

The justice amended an earlier filing to include vacations to Bali and an exclusive California club paid for by the Texas billionaire Harlan Crow.

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By Abbie VanSickle

Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged on Friday additional luxury travel he had accepted from a conservative billionaire, amending a previous financial disclosure to reflect trips he had taken to an Indonesian island and a secretive all-male club in the Northern California redwoods.

The trips, taken in 2019, were earlier revealed by ProPublica , but it is the first time that Justice Thomas has included them on his financial disclosures .

Other Supreme Court justices chronicled their gifts, travel and money earned from books and teaching. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reported receiving four concert tickets valued at about $3,700 from Beyoncé and $10,000 of artwork for her chambers from the Alabama artist and musician Lonnie Holley .

The financial disclosures, released yearly, are one of the few public records available about the justices’ lives, providing select details of their activities outside the court. A steady drumbeat of revelations about ties between some of the justices and wealthy donors has only intensified interest in the reports, particularly after disclosures that Justice Thomas had accepted lavish gifts and travel from affluent friends over decades.

Books are one of the few ways that the justices can earn outside, uncapped money . Justice Jackson reported $893,750 from an advance for her coming book, a memoir. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch listed a book advance of $250,000.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh disclosed a $340,000 advance. He is working on a legal memoir, still untitled, and is expected to offer a firsthand account of his contentious confirmation hearing in 2018 and an attempt on his life in 2022. The deal was earlier reported by Axios .

Justice Sonia Sotomayor continued to earn royalties for her books, including about $87,000 in proceeds this year. She cited about $1,900 for voicing a character on an animated children’s show on PBS, “Alma’s Way,” about a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx and her family. The narrative arc is not unfamiliar to the justice, whose Puerto Rican parents raised her in public housing in the Bronx.

The 2019 trips disclosed by Justice Thomas refer to two excursions with Harlan Crow, a Texas real estate magnate and donor to conservative causes. During one, he and his wife, Virginia Thomas, flew aboard Mr. Crow’s private jet to Indonesia, where they spent more than a week island-hopping on Mr. Crow’s superyacht.

Justice Thomas did not provide a dollar value on his disclosure form, but ProPublica had estimated that if Justice Thomas had paid for the plane trip and yacht himself, the trip could have exceeded $500,000.

The second trip, listed as a visit to Monte Rio, Calif., appears to be an excursion to Bohemian Grove, an exclusive retreat held on a 2,700-acre property in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco. Mr. Crow is a member of the club.

Justice Thomas did not report any gifts or private jet flights or travel from benefactors for 2023, the year covered by the most recent disclosures. He listed only one gift, a pair of photo albums worth $2,000 from Terrence and Barbara Giroux. Mr. Giroux is the departing executive director of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, an exclusive group that includes figures at some of the highest echelons of society.

As a member of the group, Justice Thomas has granted it unusual access to the Supreme Court, presiding over an annual ceremony in the courtroom and meeting with and mentoring the recipients of college scholarships awarded by the group and worth millions of dollars a year; many come from backgrounds that mirror his own.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was granted an extension this year, said the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which offers support for the federal judiciary and handles the financial records . That is in keeping with his typical practice. According to Fix the Court, an advocacy group critical of the court’s lack of transparency, for more than a decade he has delayed filing his disclosure.

Last year, both Justice Thomas and Justice Alito requested and received extensions on filing their disclosure forms. Neither cited a reason in asking for a delay.

Read Justice Clarence Thomas’s Financial Disclosures for 2023

The Supreme Court justice also included an amendment for his 2019 filing.

When his form was released to the public , Justice Thomas had included an unusual addendum, a statement defending his acceptance of gifts from Mr. Crow . In reporting a real estate deal, a sale of his mother’s single-family home to Mr. Crow, he said in the statement that he had “inadvertently omitted” such information, which also sought to justify his decision to fly on private jets. He stated that he had been advised to avoid commercial travel after the leak of the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. However, he did not list any private plane travel in 2023.

The Supreme Court, under mounting pressure and intense public scrutiny, adopted its first ethics code in November. Judges in lower federal courts have long been bound by a code, but the Supreme Court has never been subject to those requirements because of its special constitutional status.

Still the lack of enforcement mechanism or a process to handle ethics complaints drew criticism , as did the absence of any specific restrictions on gifts, travel or real estate deals.

However, the nine-page code cautioned that members of the Supreme Court should not participate in activities that “detract from the dignity” of the job, interfere with a justice’s ability to carry out official duties, “reflect adversely on the justice’s impartiality” or “lead to frequent disqualification.”

Elizabeth A. Harris contributed reporting.

Abbie VanSickle covers the United States Supreme Court for The Times. She is a lawyer and has an extensive background in investigative reporting. More about Abbie VanSickle