southern yacht club

Come to the club on Tuesday, July 1 at 1900 to celebrate the team's victory.

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PENSACOLA, FL (June 29, 2014) - Regardless of what happens in Sunday's final race, SYC has secured it's seventh straight Challenge Cup victory. Besides the team sealing the deal with one race to go, two of the team's boats, ROUGAROU and BRUJA, have secured first place in their respective classes. The team will meet back at SYC to re-hang the banner in the bar.  The SYC team consists of Andy Lovell skippering ROUGAROU (Melges 32, Burt Benrud/A. Lovell), Vice-Commo. Scott Sonnier on REVOLUTION (Melges 24), Norman Vallette, Jr. on DEMITASSE (J/27, B. Benrud) and Cardwell Potts, skippering SYC's own BRUJA (Soverel 26).  .

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GULPORT, MS - The Gulfport to Pensacola fleet awoke to an unusual forecast this morning: a light northerly at the start, clocking to the west and building throught the night.  After several years of upwind conditions, this edition may see spinnakers the whole way!  The Pensacola Yacht Club will be open all night and, indeed, thirsty sailors may be arriving in the wee hours!

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GULFPORT, MS - Light winds early and a building breeze in the Mississippi Sound favored the faster-rated boats in the 2014 edition of the Race to the Coast.  The fleet was lucky through the bridges, as not one boat reported Bridge Time for the event.  Almost all of the fleet finished between 730p and 830p.  Read more for awards.

The annual Defender Challenge is hosted by SYC to honor - and entertain! - our local military sailors and their families.

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Southern Yacht Club and Allstate Sugar Bowl cordially invite your Optimist Team to attend the Inaugural Southern Yacht Club Junior Team Race Championship Regatta, May 16-18, 2014. We look forward to having you in New Orleans for two days of Optimist Team Racing.

Boats & sails will be provided for this event. Please refer to the NOR or contact Duff Friend This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ' ); //--> should you have any questions.

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SYC Commo. Ewell C. "Corky" Potts, III will be presented as GYA Commodore.

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Boats entered in Opening Regatta are entered in this series.

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Photo: The SYC officers aboard Guy & Dale Williams' CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, a vintage Broward 52.

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WEST END - 8 High School teams sailed 16 races in windy, overcast conditions. Clear Falls High School of Houston, TX advances to the National HS Doublehanded Championship in San Diego, CA.   |   |  

WEST END - Six high school teams from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi sailed one complete team race rotation today in Club 420s. Jesuit High School advanced to the National HS Team Racing Championship in Seabrook, Texas with a perfect 5 win, 0 loss record. Congratulations to the SYC based Blue Jay team, led by Jonathan Pottharst, Devin Keister, Connor Housey, Max Bell, Michael Haupt, Nick David, and John Kemmererly.  - Photo of Jesuit Team Click on More..

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Fleet 96 and Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, Louisiana welcome you and invite you to participate in the 2014 FSSA Midwinter Championship Regatta. 

- February 22-23, 2014 -

- March 15-16, 2014 -

- March 29-30, 2014 -

Wells Fargo Advisors J/22 Midwinter Championship - February 13-16, 2014

Southern Yacht Club and the J/22 class are proud to announce the following sponsors for the 2014 Midwinters:

Title sponsor: Wells Fargo Advisors LLC Supporting sponsors: New Orleans Audi and Freight Management Logistics Featured sponsors: North Sails, Quantum Sails, Ullman Sails .

SIs | NOR | Event Web Site | Entry List   |  Photos Race 4   |  Results

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Yacht Clubs

Southern Yacht Club

Southern Yacht Club is located in the West End area of New Orleans, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Established in 1849, it is the second oldest yacht club in the United States.

From the SYC Commodore :

Video: The Story of the Southern Yacht Club

The Second Oldest Yacht Club

New Orleans in the antebellum era was a thriving port city, banking center and cultural leader. However, during the summer months, many New Orleanians would retreat to the Gulf Coast to flee the city’s heat, humidity and outbreaks of yellow fever. Summer homes, hotels and boarding houses dotted the coast along the Mississippi Sound to Mobile Bay. The first recorded regattas in this region were held as early as the 1830s in the coastal ports of Biloxi and Mobile.

A favorite destination among New Orleanians was the Pass Christian Hotel. There, SYC’s organizational meeting was held on July 21, 1849 and the hotel became its headquarters for several years. James W. Behan was elected as the club’s first president (the title “commodore” was not used until 1854) and eighteen yachts answered the starting gun for the club’s inaugural regatta that summer.

Activities continued at “The Pass” until 1857 when the club relocated to New Orleans and held its regattas on Lake Pontchartrain. Meetings were held at various locations in the city.

The Race to the Coast

The year after its founding, on July 4th, 1850, SYC held the first of what was to become an annual race from New Orleans to Pass Christian. The racecourse winds its way across Lake Pontchartrain, through The Rigolets to Lake Borgne and then into the Mississippi Sound. This annual Race to the Coast continues today and is among the oldest regattas still regularly contested in the United States.

A Clubhouse, at last

The seventeen years of Civil War and Reconstruction greatly curtailed boating activities until 1878 when the club was reorganized and its first postwar regatta held. The following year, a handsome clubhouse was built over the water on the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain. It became the scene of many elaborate social events as well as sailing competitions. In 1899 a new and larger clubhouse was erected under the leadership of Commodore Albert Baldwin. Regattas continued annually on the lake with the fleet competing each summer in interclub races on the Gulf Coast.

The Fish Class sloop, designed by SYC member Rathbone DeBuys, had its debut in 1919 and quickly became the most popular one design class in the Gulf South. Other early classes of yachts introduced were the Massachusetts Bay 21 Footer, Star and Sound Interclub.

The 1899 clubhouse was extensively enlarged and renovated in the 1920s. The grand ballroom addition hosted many gala events which featured many of the emerging jazz pioneers of the day. The grand structure saw heavy use by the US Navy and Coast Guard during World War II and, in 1949, it was replaced by a modest, concrete and steel structure. This building was expanded in the 1960s and ’80s, and another major expansion was set to begin in 2005.

The Gulf Yachting Association

In 1919, America’s Cup celebrity and sailing benefactor, Sir Thomas Lipton (who lived in New Orleans as a young man), donated an elaborate trophy to SYC for an Interclub Challenge amongst Gulf Coast yacht clubs. This effort helped spark the reorganization of the Gulf Yachting Association. Originally conceived in 1901 by members of SYC and several other Gulf Coast clubs, the GYA brought together yachtsmen from Houston to St. Petersburg and as far inland as Arkansas to encourage the sport of yacht racing.

The popular Fish Class became the standard-issue yacht of each GYA club for the annual Lipton Cup Challenge, which remains keenly contested to this day. The GYA’s year-long interclub series is named for SYC Commodore Auguste Capdevielle, who passed away in office in 1940.  In 1968, the Flying Scot replaced the aging Fish Class as the GYA interclub yacht.  Today, the GYA has over thirty member clubs.

The Olympic Games

The 1932 Olympic Games saw SYC Star Class skipper Gilbert Gray and crew, Andrew Libano, win a Gold Medal.  It was U.S.A.’s first-ever Olympic medal in sailing.  SYC sailors continued to be regular participants in the Olympic Trials, but none would reach the games until G.S. “Buddy” Friedrichs, Jr., with crew, Barton Jahncke and Click Schreck, won the Gold Medal in the Dragon Class in 1968.

SYC’s next Olympian was Flying Dutchman sailor, Steve Burdow, crewing for Paul Foerster in the 1992 Games.  The pair won the Silver Medal that year.

From 1996 to 2008, SYC was represented in four straight Olympic Games.  Skipper Johnny Lovell and crew, Charlie Ogletree, dominated the Tornado Class during this period, winning multiple national and international class championships.  Their greatest success came in 2004, when they won the Silver Medal.  In 2008, SYC would be represented in two Olympic classes in Tsingtao, China.

Luxury yacht builder John Dane, III had made several runs at the Olympics during his lifelong sailing career, but it was not until 2008, at the age of 58, that he finally achieved his goal.  Sailing in the uber-competitive Star Class, with his son-in-law as crew, John peaked at just the right time to win the Olympic Trials and represent U.S.A. in the 2008 games.  Unfortunately for both Dane and Lovell, the conditions were not as expected and their careful light-air preparation became a liability.  Neither team won a medal.

The Olympic Sailing Association at New Orleans

A Founding Member of the NSHOF, the Olympic Sailing Association was founded by SYC members to encourage development of future Olympians. This successful non-profit organization maintains a strong presence throughout the Gulf Coast region.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina made landfall just east of New Orleans on August 29, 2005 causing widespread destruction throughout the region. Though only modestly damaged by wind and flood waters, the clubhouse was ultimately destroyed by a massive fire which burned, unchecked, in the hours following the storm. Sadly, many historic trophies and other priceless artifacts were lost in the fire.

After two years of construction and countless hours of work by Commodore Jim Wade and the Governing Committee, the new clubhouse was opened in 2009.  Once again, SYC had a permanent home and, like the previous clubhouses, it is the crown jewel of the New Orleans Lakefront.

Over the years, SYC sailors have won four Olympic medals and numerous national and international championships. Through more than one hundred and fifty years of prosperity, depressions, wars, yellow fever epidemics, floods and hurricanes, the Southern Yacht Club has always maintained a tradition of keen competition, sportsmanship and eponymous hospitality.

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Browse by genre, featured programs, featured programs & series, more gpb news, for kids & teachers, ghsa sports, high school football, browse by type, browse by category, for parents & caregivers, support gpb, gpb newsletter cta, banner image, section branding, header content, tagged as: , search resumes for british tech magnate and 5 others after yacht sinks off sicily.

August 20, 2024 4:11 AM

• The Associated Press

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PORTICELLO, Sicily — Rescue teams and divers were returning to the site of a storm-sunken superyacht off Sicily on Tuesday to search for six people, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, who are believed to be still trapped in the hull, 50 meters (164 feet) underwater.

Divers were loading a rescue dinghy at the port of Porticello, near Palermo, after a first search Monday ended unsuccessfully. Fire rescue crews reported that divers were unable to access the below-deck cabins because they were blocked by debris that had shifted during the violent storm that toppled the luxury sailboat early Monday.

Fifteen people survived, including a mother who reported holding her 1-year-old baby over the waves to save her. One body has been recovered, officials said.

“Access was limited to the bridge, due to the difficulty represented by the presence of furnishings obstructing the divers’ passage,” the fire crews said in a statement.

The search was made particularly difficult because the ship was resting on the seabed at a depth of 50 meters, which limits the amount of time divers can be underwater, said fire rescue spokesperson Luca Cari. As a result, the search is expected to take time, he told The Associated Press early Tuesday.

The 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged Bayesian luxury yacht had been moored about a half-mile off Ponticello when a storm rolled in around 4 a.m. Monday. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, which had passed over the area.

Fifteen of the Bayesian’s 22 passengers and crew managed to escape, first onto a lifeboat and then by a nearby sailboat, the Sir Robert Baden Powell, that had also been moored offshore to ride out the storm, Karsten Borner, the captain of the Baden Powell, told reporters at the scene.

One body, belonging to the Bayesian’s chef, was recovered nearby.

Among those missing was Lynch , who was once hailed as Britain’s king of technology. He was cleared in June of fraud and conspiracy charges in a U.S. federal trial related to Hewlett Packard’s $11 billion takeover of his company, Autonomy Corp. His wife, Angela Bacares, survived.

The vacation appeared to be something of a celebration after Lynch's acquittal, with guests including some of the people who had stood by Lynch throughout the ordeal. Among those unaccounted for, according to the civil protection agency, were one of Lynch’s U.S. lawyers, Christopher Morvillo of Clifford Chance, and Morvillo’s wife. Also among the missing was Jonathan Bloomer, the former head of the Autonomy audit committee who testified at Lynch’s trial, and his wife.

Among the survivors was Charlotte Golunski, who said she momentarily lost hold of her 1-year-old daughter Sofia in the water, but then managed to hold her up over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were both pulled to safety, Italian news agency ANSA reported. The father, identified by ANSA as James Emslie, also survived.

The yacht, built in 2008 by the Italian firm Perini Navi, was carrying 12 passengers and 10 crew. According to online charter companies, it has been available for charter for 195,000 euros (about $215,000) a week and is notable for its massive 75-meter tall aluminum mast, one of the tallest in the world.

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Lynch, a tech entrepreneur, had recently been acquitted on federal fraud charges in the U.S. The yacht he was on, the Bayesian, sank two days after Lynch's co-defendant was killed by a car.

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Temperatures were in the triple-digits in much of the area on Tuesday and authorities warn that they could top 110 degrees F in southern Spain in the coming days.

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Sailor Tony Bullimore became famous for surviving four days in capsized yacht

Experts have speculated that air pockets could have formed as the Bayesian superyacht sank during a storm, enabling the missing six people to survive.

With hopes that six people missing after a luxury yacht sank are sheltering in air pockets, the most famous survivor of such an incident is solo round-the-world yachtsman Tony Bullimore.

Experts have speculated that air pockets could have formed as the Bayesian superyacht sank during a storm off the coast of Sicily.

Among those missing are technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah.

Dr Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a senior lecturer in mechanical, biomedical and design engineering at Aston University, said the speed at which the yacht sank while remaining intact could favour the formation of air pockets.

“This is obviously highly speculative and impossible to predict accurately,” he said.

“But whether air pockets formed on the Bayesian is simply impossible to predict.”

Bullimore’s amazing four-day fight for life inside the upturned hull of his capsized yacht captivated the nation in 1997.

The Bristol-based mariner survived by sheltering in an air pocket in his wrecked vessel while storms battered the craft in the icy Southern Ocean.

The yacht’s makers thought enough air could be trapped in pockets inside the hull for someone to survive for about 140 hours.

The only nourishment Bullimore had during his ordeal was a bar of chocolate and some fresh water.

He only dared to swim out from underneath the vessel after crewmen from the Australian Navy frigate HMAS Adelaide on an inflatable Zodiac rescue craft banged on the hull.

The hardy sailor suffered mild hypothermia, a fractured tooth, abrasions to his hands, frostbite on his forehead and fingertips, and moderate dehydration.

Both the prime minister of the day, John Major, and the Queen praised his extraordinary feat of survival.

His yacht, the Global Exide Challenger, was one of two vessels to capsize in wild seas about 900 miles from Antarctica and 1,400 miles from the Australian coast during the Vendee Globe race.

Speaking a year after his rescue, Bullimore said: “Looking back on this time last year there’s no one thing that stands out.

“But one of the greatest thrills is just being at home now and especially having my wife, Lalel, close.

“She has had to put up with a great deal of trauma and she was scared that I had gone, but we are thrilled to be together again.

“Sitting in the hull of my boat things were looking pretty grim. I’ve been granted a second chance, which I’ve grabbed with both hands.”

The former Royal Marine died in 2018 aged 79.

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