A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SHINNECOCK YACHT CLUB
The Shinnecock Yacht Club was organized on April 20, 1887 by a group of summer residents
whose mission was to promote sailboat racing in Shinnecock Bay in general, and in the
waters of Weesuck Bay and Tiana Bay in particular. Then known as the Shinnecock Bay
Yacht Club, its first race was held on July 4, 1888, from a dock on Philips Point in East
Quogue. A photograph from that day can be found on the walls of the current yacht club,
showing fifteen boats underway, or soon to be.
The name was shortened to the Shinnecock Yacht Club in 1901, and after using a series of
shacks, shooting boxes and commodore’s flagships as headquarters, an agreement was
reached with the Trustees of the Town of Southampton to establish a club house at the east
end of Niamogue Lane in Quogue. There a building was erected (with a contract price of
$1,053) in 1904. Despite a number of ruinous storms which required the rebuilding of the
clubhouse, most notably the Hurricane of 1938, the structure standing at that location today
is very similar to the original.
After a number of classes of sailboats were introduced and raced by the members, with
varying degrees of success, a fleet of one-design boats was purchased in 1908. These boats,
designed and built by Benjamin Hallock of East Moriches, were the first of the fabled SS
Class. This class was so successful that they were the boat of choice for racing, not only at
Shinnecock Yacht Club, but at yacht clubs all along the south shore of Long Island. This
continued until the late 1950’s, when the Sailfish and Sunfish were introduced. In the mid
1970’s the Shinnecock Yacht Club began sailing and racing Celebrity Sloops. Today the yacht
club has an active senior fleet of Celebrity’s racing every Saturday in the summer months on
Tiana Bay, and also has a junior fleet of Opti Prams and JY 15’s.
The Shinnecock Yacht Club is proud of its firm place in the history of boating on Shinnecock
Bay. The Yacht Club has been instrumental in establishing and continuing the fine traditions
of one design sail boat racing, not only on the south shore of Long Island, but nationally as
well. We celebrated our first century in 1987, and are well on our way to a second century of
promoting boating on Shinnecock Bay, which continues to be our mission, just as it was at
that first regatta on Phillips Point many years ago
(For a complete history of the Shinnecock Yacht Club and boating on Shinnecock Bay, please
find and read “Shinnecock Sails – Tales of the Western Shinnecock Bay and The 100 Years
of the Shinnecock Yacht Club”, written by George Carmany, III. Copies can be found at the
Westhampton Public Library, and are also available at the Shinnecock Yacht Club.)
The Shinnecock Yacht Club was organized on April 20, 1887 by a group of summer residents
whose mission was to promote sailboat racing in Shinnecock Bay in general, and in the
waters of Weesuck Bay and Tiana Bay in particular. Then known as the Shinnecock Bay
Yacht Club, its first race was held on July 4, 1888, from a dock on Philips Point in East
Quogue. A photograph from that day can be found on the walls of the current yacht club,
showing fifteen boats underway, or soon to be.
The name was shortened to the Shinnecock Yacht Club in 1901, and after using a series of
shacks, shooting boxes and commodore’s flagships as headquarters, an agreement was
reached with the Trustees of the Town of Southampton to establish a club house at the east
end of Niamogue Lane in Quogue. There a building was erected (with a contract price of
$1,053) in 1904. Despite a number of ruinous storms which required the rebuilding of the
clubhouse, most notably the Hurricane of 1938, the structure standing at that location today
is very similar to the original.
After a number of classes of sailboats were introduced and raced by the members, with
varying degrees of success, a fleet of one-design boats was purchased in 1908. These boats,
designed and built by Benjamin Hallock of East Moriches, were the first of the fabled SS
Class. This class was so successful that they were the boat of choice for racing, not only at
Shinnecock Yacht Club, but at yacht clubs all along the south shore of Long Island. This
continued until the late 1950’s, when the Sailfish and Sunfish were introduced. In the mid
1970’s the Shinnecock Yacht Club began sailing and racing Celebrity Sloops. Today the yacht
club has an active senior fleet of Celebrity’s racing every Saturday in the summer months on
Tiana Bay, and also has a junior fleet of Opti Prams and JY 15’s.
The Shinnecock Yacht Club is proud of its firm place in the history of boating on Shinnecock
Bay. The Yacht Club has been instrumental in establishing and continuing the fine traditions
of one design sail boat racing, not only on the south shore of Long Island, but nationally as
well. We celebrated our first century in 1987, and are well on our way to a second century of
promoting boating on Shinnecock Bay, which continues to be our mission, just as it was at
that first regatta on Phillips Point many years ago
(For a complete history of the Shinnecock Yacht Club and boating on Shinnecock Bay, please
find and read “Shinnecock Sails – Tales of the Western Shinnecock Bay and The 100 Years
of the Shinnecock Yacht Club”, written by George Carmany, III. Copies can be found at the
Westhampton Public Library, and are also available at the Shinnecock Yacht Club.)
| Past Commodores |
Dr. George Milvern Eddy
William M. Lawrence
Henry B. Howell
John Gilsey
Morgan J. O’Brien
Charles deHart Brower
Thomas A. Howell
William A. Keys, Jr.
Baily Brower
F. Dayton Canfield
Henry Schroeder
Sifrein F. Maury
Edwin Shuttleworth III
Howell Post Young
Gerard McAllister
T. Decker Orr
Robert B. Baird
Chester Billings, Jr.
George W. Fennell
William E. Hines
Ambrose A. Carr, Jr.
William L. Russell
Frederick E. Schaefer
George W. Carmany III
John M. Sartorius, Jr.
C. James McDermott III
J. Richard Prior
Richard D. Buckley
James E. Schelter
Robert D. Wilson, Jr.
Thomas Cauchois
Michael H. Sargent
David J. Kepner
John Morgan
Ralph Worthington, IV
Allison Conway Carey
| Elected 1887 1888 1896 1899 1901 1902 1905 1912 1930 1931 1938 1952 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1983 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2008 |
| Post Office Box 443 Quogue, New York 11959-0443 Organized 1887 |
| Shinnecock Yacht Club |
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