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OUR STORY


Our Founding

Richmond Inner Harbor and founded the Richmond Yacht Club

In August of 1932, twelve men gathered in a tin shed on the Richmond Inner Harbor and founded the Richmond Yacht Club. Their goal was to build a clubhouse where they could gather, share tall tales and store their skiffs. The Club began by sponsoring the Snipe Class and becoming one of the original six members of the Yacht Racing Association (YRA). By the end of 1933, the volunteers had leased land and built the first RYC clubhouse at the foot of South Second Street. During the Great Depression, the Club moved to two other locations in the inner harbor. Even with the amazing level of volunteerism required to rebuild the clubhouse, RYC members made time to race, cruise their boats and enjoy family nights, dinners and 50-cent dances with free wine and music.

El Toro

In the Fall of 1940, RYC members were looking for a boat that would do double duty as a dinghy to get to their moored boats and as a sailing skiff. They found plans for an 8-foot dinghy, the Sabot. They thought it had promise but needed some redesign: a centerboard replaced the leeboards, a rudder replaced the steering oar, and a stick mast replaced the folding mast. With the approval of the Sabot publisher, this boat was now the El Toro, so named because “of all the bull thrown around” during the redesign, and a shovel became the El Toro logo because a bull was too difficult to draw.

WWII

Then there was World War II. In 1942 the Maritime Commission took over the clubhouse and harbor to build a shipyard, and RYC was forced out. Membership meetings moved to the basement of the Richmond City Hall. The goal of the Club was to have a clubhouse for the service men to come home to, so after the war, the members purchased a portable building and moved it to another temporary location in the parking lot of Boats Inc., where many members already stored their boats.

The JIB

From its very beginning, RYC published a monthly newsletter. Professionally published with photos and ads, The Flying Jib was printed throughout the war years, serving as important communication to members scattered far and wide. After the war, publishing costs skyrocketed and funds were tight, so The Flying Jib was last issued in December 1947. Its successor soon appeared in June 1948. As member Art Bullfinch noted, “We are going to do what any smart sailor does when the going gets too tough: Shorten Sail! The FLYING JIB goes back into the sail bag . . . and we will carry on with the STORM JIB.”

Inclusiveness

It is important to note that until the early 50’s, the members of RYC were only men, not women, not families. In the 50’s RYC established official membership classes that included both women and junior/student sailors. It wasn’t until 1999 that spouses became members. Membership was extended to domestic partners in 2011.

Permanent Home

Brickyard Cove

In the early 60’s short-term renting was too uncertain, so the membership again searched for a site for a permanent home for RYC. They settled on the Club’s current location in Brickyard Cove. RYC completed the purchase of its own property and financed and built a new harbor and clubhouse while continuing to cruise, maintain a great junior program and host a record number of events. It was the determination, spirit and volunteerism of the members that forged through the bureaucracy and the hard work required to build the clubhouse.

Signature Regattas

The Big Daddy and Great Pumpkin Regattas are staples of RYC’s racing season. Both originated in the 80’s. The Big Daddy began as an IOR regatta opening the racing season; its name honored ”Big Daddy” Bob Klein, twice commodore of the club. The first Great Pumpkin was held a few years later to close the main racing season. It combined a late Fall one-design regatta with the traditional Beachcombers party, creating a very party-oriented end-of-the-year event. Both events continue today with a variety of local, national and sometimes world championship sandwiched in between – and the Small Boat Midwinters bridging the winter season.

RYC has hosted many major events, many featuring small boats.

  • 2000 – Olympic Trials for the Finn class; the winner represented the United States in the 2000 Olympics in Atlanta (Savannah).
  • 2001 – Byte North Americans, for which US Sailing awarded RYC the St. Petersburg Trophy for outstanding regatta management for the year.
  • 2004 – Etchells Worlds
  • 2012 – Laser Masters North Americans
  • 2014 – International Canoe Worlds
  • 2018 – International 14 Worlds
  • 2011 and 2019 – US Junior Women’s Single-Handed Championship (Leiter Cup)

Additionally, RYC has hosted many national championship regattas.

Renovations

In the early 2000’s, it became clear that the harbor needed attention. The Club undertook a redesign and complete rebuild of its harbor piers and berths, completed in 2005. Several years later, members noted the clubhouse was showing its age, some of the structures were sagging and major systems were problematic. At the same time, property adjacent to both sides of the club became available for purchase. The land purchases and clubhouse renovation (which required a 6 month move to “the tent” in the harbor) were completed in 2016. Members rallied to find creative ways to develop financing for all three projects, digging deep into their pockets to provide the Club with personal loans to cover the spending.

Today

Richmond Yacht Club has a long tradition of a hard-working, fun loving membership -- a membership that bands together to find the funds and time to create a place to sail, cruise, learn, host fabulous regattas and events, and above all, have FUN!