On the Waterfront
The Santa Barbara Yacht Club turns 150
Four beautiful schooners racing in the channel in the early 1920s. Many of these large boats came here from the Los Angeles area to compete.
Written by Joan Tapper | Photography by Michael Haber
Archival imagery courtesy of Santa Barbara Yacht Club
There’s a lot to celebrate this summer at the Santa Barbara Yacht Club—150 years of history, to be exact. It was in 1872 that Lloyd’s Register of American Yachts, the repository of maritime records, noted the establishment of SBYC, making it the second oldest yacht club on the West Coast. That milestone is not to be taken lightly. And for those of us who associate the yacht club mostly with those picturesque sailboat races on Wet Wednesdays, it’s an opportune time to look at the bigger, splashier picture.
For one thing, it’s useful to remember that the yacht club is not just the on-the-sands building, which dates to 1966. No, the SBYC is and has always been, in the words of the current commodore, Eli Parker, “a great group of people who share a common interest in being out on the water.” And those interests have long been intertwined with the history of Santa Barbara.
Think back to the year 1872. At that point the town and its 3,000 or so residents were just beginning to be connected to the wider world. The railroad had not yet arrived. But that year the construction of John Stearns’s 1,600-foot-wharf meant that travelers arriving by sea no longer had to transfer to a small boat and then be carried unceremoniously through the surf to the beach. Tourism was on the horizon as wealthy visitors—including many boating enthusiasts from the East Coast—began to visit and stay. Members of the fledgling yacht club, who seem to have gathered in private homes at first, paid an initiation fee of $20 and annual dues of $10. Undoubtedly, they sailed for pleasure and raced for fun, taking good advantage of the wonderful climate and predictable afternoon breezes on the ocean.
The first regatta, a three-part racing event, was held here in 1907, and Milo Potter, a sailing enthusiast whose impressive hotel graced the waterfront, donated an elegant cup for the winner. The Potter Trophy, which is still awarded on Wet Wednesdays, is just one of the gleaming goodies that fill the pristine glass shelves of the yacht club building, which has undergone a top-to-bottom renovation just in time for anniversary festivities.
A fleet of Geary 18s (aka Flatties) race at Lake Cachuma in the 1950s.
Other notable trophies are here as well, including the ornate Sir Thomas Lipton Cup, donated in 1923 by the Lipton Tea owner (and five-time America’s Cup contender) himself. That towering trophy of pure silver boasts shields, a yachting scene, a dolphin, a mermaid, Sir Lipton’s shamrock flag, and the yacht club burgee—its signature pennant. Also in the trophy case is a cup given by Italian premier Benito Mussolini in 1931. Stored in a closet during World War II, it was permanently retired and is now on display as an intriguing part of SBYC history. Not all the awards are serious though; the Royal Dolt-On trophy (a chamber pot) goes to the skipper with the biggest “goof of the year.”
The year 1923 also saw SBYC’s first clubhouse, a 20-foot-by-35-foot cottage at the end of Stearns Wharf that was destroyed in a storm just one year later. That was yet another reminder of the need to protect boats in a permanent harbor in Santa Barbara, which was the impetus for a decades-long campaign by club members to erect a breakwater here. They had organized a survey in 1921 to determine if and where they would construct a yacht harbor, and a year later the commodore, Earle Ovington, successfully lobbied town leaders by hosting a barbecue for about 300 on Santa Cruz Island. Major Max Fleischmann, the yeast company scion and a local philanthropist, wrote a check for $200,000 to the city, and by 1928 the initial breakwater was complete. Fleischmann and others, who purchased the wharf in 1927, commissioned famed architect Winsor Soule to build a clubhouse for the yacht club in 1929.
The years that followed were anything by smooth sailing, however. The Great Depression ravaged the club’s finances, leading to bankruptcy, and there were rifts among the members. Then with the onset of World War II, Stearns Wharf came under the control of the U.S. Coast Guard, and the harbor was closed to pleasure boats until September 1945.
By 1946 the yacht club had another building for its home, one of several that it would occupy for the next two decades. Even more important, wartime technology and the development of fiberglass meant that suddenly boating was no longer just a rich man’s sport.
Today the SBYC membership has grown to include families who enjoy racing—including women skippers and crew—and embrace water-oriented and social activities. The club holds about 200 races each year, among them the Wednesday evening and weekend races, as well as events that draw other competitors beside local sailors. Since 2005, the annual Charity Regatta in September has raised more than $2 million for Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Santa Barbara.
Also important are the youth activities that the yacht club has supported, from Sea Scouts and Mariners to the Santa Barbara Youth Sailing Foundation, founded in 1968, which encourages youngsters to learn to sail, build self-reliance, foster teamwork, and gain water-safety skills, and offers scholarships to local children for after-school and summer sailing programs.
“This is a club of volunteers that are totally engaged,” says Dennis Friederich, who served as commodore in 2004 and is chairman of the club’s milestone anniversary committee. “We’ve been valuable and contributing members of the community for 150 years.”
Of course, there have been memorable parties over the years, too. Trish Davis, a longtime member, remembers events honoring commodores that turned the dining room into a Greek wedding and another that transformed the place into an Italian restaurant, complete with singing waiters. “One big party is the luau in September,” she says. “The club is so old with such great traditions. There’s a diverse group of people, and we try to be welcoming. Something about being on and near the water sets us aside.”
This year, to celebrate the anniversary, the season kicked off at the beginning of April with a blessing of the fleet and the dedication of a commemorative plaque. There are three special races (the third of which is scheduled for August 3) with a 150th anniversary trophy to be awarded, and a video history of the club is slated to be finished by summer. Watch for a tall ship event as well, thanks to club members Roger and Sarah Crisman, who acquired a schooner—to be renamed the Mystic Cruzar— and have brought it to the Central Coast, where it will be used for scientific, history, and educational programs.
“To be part of the folks guiding the yacht club this year is an honor,” says Parker. “I’m thrilled that we were able to muster the resources and collective will to get the remodel done. It will serve us well for the next 30 or 40 years. It’s where we go to socialize and hang out. And it’s been great to see new, younger members. That’s our future.” •
The club-owned Caprice took an estimated 20,000 club and community members to the offshore islands and coastal waters before it burned and sank near Santa Cruz Island in 1925.
