Sailing At BHYC
Since our earliest days, Bay Head Yacht Club has always enjoyed strong sailing programs aimed at ably serving our family-oriented membership, as well as furthering the sport of sailing. That strength continues today with a nationally renowned Junior Sailing program, healthy, competitive intra-club and inter-club racing fleets, and a commitment to our sport, well beyond our Club docks, that demonstrates our love of all things sailing.
As founding members of the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association (BBYRA) in 1914, we continue to race weekly for the Association’s coveted trophies – some dating back to 1871 - and proudly display the BBYRA’s Rooster flags for participation. A former BHYC Commodore, John V. A. Cattus, was the BBYRA’s very first commodore at its founding in 1914.
Our twice weekly intra-club racing takes place in catboats, the Sandpiper and the Sanderling, while our BBYRA racing can be in any number of the 12 boat classes contested each Saturday by the Association’s 14 member clubs (with some 5000 members in all).
Last year, BHYC introduced our inaugural Club Boat program, which, for the very first time, provided Club-owned sail boats for the general use of members. An important initiative of Commodore Bob Koar to spur greater sailing participation, the initial six Turbo Tech dinghies proved to be a great success. This year an additional six Turbo Techs will join the Club Boat fleet as well as two Sandpiper catboats!
2016 also saw the inaugural editions of two, now highly regarded Club regattas – the Wounded Veterans Regatta, co-hosted with the National Sailing Hall of Fame, and the BHYC Commodore’s Challenge E Scow Slalom Race. Both regattas will return this year to the delight of the membership!
As good as the sailing is on Barnegat Bay, and it’s good, our sailors can’t be confined by its shoreline. Some seek challenges on distant waters, and we’ve had our share of regional, national and international successes. Last year, former Rear Commodore Russ Lucas, won the Melges 20 National Championship during Charleston Race Week and Travis Weisleder came second in the Melges 24 class at Charleston, and BHYC outstanding junior, Colleen O’Brien was the United States Optimist Dinghy Association’s Girls National Champion!
Some 200 sailboats make up the BHYC sailing fleet…from historic catboats, to scows, to large, all out “go fast” rocket ships! Some never venture very far from our docks, while others have carried our burgee to the Caribbean, England, Scandinavia, and the Mediterranean, enjoying cruising, or racing, with or against, sailing’s very best.
Their skippers, one and all, have in common - a love for sailing at BHYC!