corinthian yacht club marblehead dues

Monday, November 6, 2017

The three yacht clubs in marblehead, massachusetts.

I haven't been in any of the three yacht clubs in Marblehead, Massachusetts, for some years, but I remember how each used to demonstrate physically its place on the New England social ladder. Out on Marblehead Neck, where all the summer people have their places, are the Eastern Yacht Club and the Corinthian Yacht Club. Old families with old money — that is, families that have been in the area (including the Boston area) for a number of generations — belonged to the Eastern Yacht Club. No one else was allowed to join. The clubhouse itself always looked to me as if it might collapse. It needed stain or paint, there always seemed to be a loose board or two out on the porch, and the dining and other facilities were modest, though with a certain quiet, old charm. However, belonging to the Eastern meant you were "in." If you didn't belong, you were "out" — and might just as well join the Corinthian Yacht Club.

The Corinthian accepted new people with new money, and its clubhouse and docks were new, meticulously maintained, modern, and posh. To a Texan or anyone else not knowledgeable in New England ways, inspection of the physical facilities of the Eastern and the Corinthian back in those days would have caused the Corinthian to be the immediate and obvious choice. From the New England point of view, that would be all well and good. As my aunt on my father's side once told me, "A Texan may be a braggart, but he can never be a snob."    

Then there was the Boston Yacht Club, located across the harbor from "the Neck," in the town of Marblehead. It was always considered the place for those not in any way interested, or able to be interested, in social considerations. It was for townspeople. So its clubhouse was neither run down nor posh. It was straightforward, perfectly comfortable, practical. Of course, some members of old area families, particularly the young ones with old money, deliberately chose the Boston Yacht Club over the Eastern. That's a related but slightly different form of snobbery, which was negated completely if you belong to both, as some did.

- Judson Hale, Inside New England < http://amzn.to/2x2m576 > 

13 comments:

Very amusing, but where does the Boston Yacht Club fit in this pecking order--the yacht club on the other side of the harbor not on "The Neck" and the sponsor of the venerable Marblehead-Halifax Ocean Race?

In my opinion, it's number 1!!

Meghan, right? :)

This all reminds me of the book The Status Seekers written in 1959 by Vance Packard. It's one of the most searing and sardonic looks at social status I've ever read. It really opened my eyes.

Jud with one d - I bet he'd write it the same way now!

But what about Pleon?

Pecking order is quite a bit different today. And Marblehead has 3 clubs on the town side and 3 clubs on the neck side.

Hilarious, but I think a Texan can be a snob. A lot are old southern families going back to the First Families of Virginia and the Jamestown group can be just as snobby as the Plymouth haha

If that's the case you will never know it because FFV and Jamestowne Society members do not brag. The snobs are the Highland Park new monied.

For many years my family enjoyed "belonging" at the Boston Yacht Club. We always parked just outside that quite small parking lot at the club and for good reason. We would take the launch out to our sailboat and sound the horn for pickup when it was time to get a ride back at the end of the day....one prolonged, two short if my memory serves me right. What a wonderful aura to the place...until they finally figured out we weren't actually members! Ooops! My father had an uncanny knack for walking into places he didn't belong as if he owned them. Ultimately we joined the Corinthian for real...I think. If we weren't members there I feel for whoever had to pick up our food tab at the pool.

That is a great story, I'll bet your father is/was an interesting man.

Are these ‘rules’ still applied in 2018 ? I am a member of the Royal Cape Yacht Club ( 44 years good-standing) and I can tell you things have changed. When I joined in 1974 I was given a ‘look up, and down’. I recall a superior of mine, possibly twice my age, who applied at the same time but was ‘blakballed’ as not being ‘suitable’. Somehow I doubt this still goes on. Except perhaps at certain clubs in the St James club area in London.

Comments are moderated.

Recent Comments

Search this blog, product suppliers include:.

Corinthian Yacht Club

• Country Clubs & Yacht Clubs
• Visit Website
• Request Info

Upcoming Events

• Generic -->

Proud Partners With

The Magazine

• Subscription information
• Eat + Drink
• Shop + Renew
• Faces + Places
• Arts + Culture
• Northshore Home
• Purchase Issues

Marblehead – Yacht Clubing

A visit to Marblehead’s sailing society

With more boats per capita than anywhere on the planet, Marblehead has long been known as “the sailing capital of the world.”

For those who wish to join the sailing set, Marblehead has a variety of clubs to choose from.

Two of the town’s clubs are found on Marblehead Neck, an exclusive community separated by the mainland by a long causeway that is perfect for jogging or biking.

Founded in 1885, the Corinthian Yacht Club on Nahant Street ( www.corinthianyc.org ) offers a beautiful clubhouse as well as swimming and tennis facilities.

“There’s many things yacht clubs can offer,” says Dave Titus, Corinthian’s clubhouse general manager, “but the view of the harbor we have here is spectacular!”

In addition to their frequent social events and tennis tournaments, Corinthian also hosts special yachting events, including the Trans-At Challenge in September, which brings a squadron of 60-foot boats from as far away as England.

“They’re quite a [thing] to view,” Titus says.

At present, Corinthian has 520 members.

“We have an extremely active membership, which is happy with what the club offers them,” says Titus. “It’s a very friendly community.”

According to membership committee member Jack Frankel, however, the club doesn’t take unsolicited applications.

“It’s a private club and new members are sponsored in a multiyear process,” he says.

Nearby on Foster Street is the Eastern Yacht Club ( www.easternyc.org ) with its six tennis courts and pool.

According to club lore, EYC was started in 1870 by “12 hardy men.” Its halls are packed with trophies, including one that was once carried on the flagship of famed British sailor Admiral Nelson! No wonder, then, that the Eastern has often been chosen to host Olympic sailing trials and many vanguard regattas.

“We consider ourselves a yacht club and try to encourage it at all levels,” says a member who wished to remain anonymous (the Eastern places a premium on privacy).

Across the harbor are the Boston, Dolphin, and Marblehead yacht clubs.

Organized in 1866, the Boston Yacht Club ( www.bostonyachtclub.net ) offers a dining room and bar, commodore’s lounge, and other facilities. And as it is located on Front Street, which runs along the harbor, the BYC also offers an amenity that the Neck clubs don’t.

“You can get dropped off here and walk around downtown Marblehead,” says general manager Mark McMahon, citing his club’s proximity to mainland shops and restaurants.

According to membership chair Martha Quigley, the BYC also requires sponsorship for new members. Even so, McMahon noted, around 20 slots tend to open at the end of each sailing season.

Though it may be difficult for people to gain immediate entrance to some clubs, there are other ways to get into the sailing scene. Among these are getting started early as a member of Marblehead’s youth yacht club, Pleon ( www.pleon.org ), or taking memberships at clubs that do not require sponsorship, meeting others at multi-club events (such as Marblehead’s world-famous Race Week) and then having them sponsor you down the road.

Though the 55-year-old Dolphin Yacht Club on Allerton Place ( www.dolphinyachtclub.com ) has no tennis courts or pool, the view of the harbor is beautiful, the kids’ room is a great place for younger sailors to hang out, and the food (provided by Sylvan Street Grill) is rather tasty. As for membership, it is inexpensive and does not require sponsorship.

“You don’t need to wait 10 years to get in,” says commodore/treasurer Patti Cohen of the club that, for many years, was the only place for Jewish sailors to congregate. And, as the club’s website states, “We are actively seeking new members!”

One caveat: If you want a full boating membership, you need to have a mooring in Marblehead Harbor. There are 1,400 of these and the waiting list is about 15 years. However, you can still be an out-of-harbor member for $350 or a social member for $225. The Dolphin also offers a kayaking membership for small-craft fans.

Lastly we come to the club that takes its name from its hometown. Built in 1878, the Marblehead Yacht Club on Cliff Street ( www.marbleheadyc.org ) is the most down-home of all.

“This is by far the most inexpensive club,” says club manager Steve Karger, who has been a member for 25 years.

With food service Friday through Sunday (the MYC is BYOB), the club offers its 356 members three launches that cover 60 percent of the harbor and a fleet of rowboats you can take to your yacht.

“We’re the mirror image of the Corinthian,” Karger says, pointing across the harbor, “only in this way.”

In philosophy, the club mirrors the Dolphin more closely, as it was the first place Irish-Catholic sailors could join. In 1935, the MYC instituted a policy requiring that  “anybody joining be considered as an individual, not part of a group.”

These days, however, the only “group” that most members want to be counted among is Marblehead’s large group of sailors.

So whether you want cotillions and pool parties or just a way to get to your boat, join the club!

Published on April 14th, 2017 | by Editor

Celebrating its Contributions to Sailing

Published on April 14th, 2017 by Editor -->

by Laurie Fullerton, wickedlocal.com The Corinthian Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA) celebrated 130 years of sailing history and small boat design when it unveiled an elegant, “compendium of luminous personalities, historical details, and major events” in “Marblehead’s Corinthians” during a gala publication party on April 8.

Written by Matthew Murphy, who by day is the editor of “Wooden Boat Magazine,” but by night became absorbed by the archives, rarely seen photographs and newspaper clippings that led to the book about the history of a club.

“It’s really a beautiful book,” said Commodore Robert Howie Jr. “The thing that really struck me though is that the history of the Corinthian is really the history of small boat design.”

Commodore Robert Howie Jr (left) and Wooden Boat Magazine editor Matthew P. Murphy.

Described in 1888 as having “one of the most beautiful views in American waters,” few would argue that the view from the Corinthian Yacht Club is one of the finest in town, but the club is not only known for its location, but also for its unparalleled contribution to small boat racing, design, and innovation in the early part of the 20th century.

When the club was founded in 1885, the idea was to give recreational sailors a place to race their own boats, Howie explained. That gave way to innovation.

Murphy, originally of Salem, proved to be the perfect choice to put the history book together, which took about three years all in all. He not only grew up as a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club and sailed out of Marblehead, but he is a keen expert on classic yachts and has been editor of “Wooden Boat” for over 20 years.

When he embarked on the project, working mostly at night, he began to uncover a treasure trove of classic one design boats designed by greats like Starling Burgess, L. Francis Herreshoff and C. Raymond Hunt, who, Howie said were all members of the Corinthian Yacht Club.

The collection was so great Murphy asked other yachting experts like naval historian Llewellyn Howland, III, “Wooden Boat” expert Maynard Bray and MIT’s Kurt Hasselbach to weigh in on the significance of the designs and the stories behind the owners, sailors, club members and yachting enthusiasts.

Howland offers his thoughts on the club in the preface to the book, where he notes the Corinthian might not be America’s oldest, largest of most famous yacht club, but it has been among the most “forward-looking and influential–and until now one of our most reticent.” He said he applauded the club for ending its long silence and sharing its rich history.

When Murphy began researching the book on the Corinthian Yacht Club, he said he had no idea he would uncover tens of thousands of articles and photographs in newspapers like the Boston Globe or in particular the Boston Herald Traveler, where photographer Leslie Jones worked from 1917 and 1956.

Reporters like Leonard Fowle of the Globe and photographers like Jones, who described the club as having “magnificent ocean scenarios, jolly people who are fond of a good time and banded by geniality,” chronicled Marblehead yachting in the first half of the century with the kind of expertise and enthusiasm.

Murphy was not the only one to make great finds while researching the book.

Howie, who is a trained historian, said he was going through the archives when “I came across this sheet music baking in the heat of the third floor.”

“One Step” was composed by Guillermo Urquidi in 1914 and dedicated by him to “the members of the Corinthian Yacht Club.” Howie said he asked a member, Bill Larkin, to play the piece and it was used as the backdrop to a video on the club’s history.

During the night’s event, Murphy spoke to about 300 people, many who had had helped research the book in their own way. With grandchildren and children of some of the earliest members in attendance, Murphy described some long forgotten summers at the Corinthian, including 1925 when President Calvin Coolidge kept his presidential yacht in the waters off of the Corinthian Yacht Club and came and went from the club to his summer White House in Swampscott.

“Who would have known that Calvin Coolidge would have a floating White House off the Corinthian,” Howie said.

Murphy also spoke of founder Benjamin Crowninshield, Everett Paine, Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams and of course the beginnings of the legendary Marblehead Race Week.

There is a photograph of William Carlton, the club’s longtime Race Committee chairman sailing a “Brutal Beast” to a second place finish in what Murphy called “a colorful one-off Corinthian race.” He is wearing a suit and tie. According to Murphy, Carlton led the effort to open the once invitation only summer race series to the public, which gave way to Marblehead Race Week.

With chapter headings listed by decade the book talks about sailors like Ted and Bruce Hood, Bradley Noyes, Robbie Doyle, Norm Cressy, Richard and Ellie Thayer and many more who contributed to the club’s and the town’s yachting legacy.

It also touches on historic moments like how World War I impacted the club, Hurricane Carol and when in 1985 a measure passed “resoundingly” that offered full membership in the club to women.

On a final note, Murphy spoke of the Corinthian staff and its current stewards whose dedication to maintain a club like the Corinthian is a labor of love, preserving, “one of the most beautiful views in American waters.”

Howie called the publication party a wonderful event and for him the book represents a platform for the club.

“The past is a prologue,” he said “We honor history by really doing today what they did back then, being innovative, pushing the envelop in small boat design and racing and programmably … What we do in the 21st century to continue to move the dial forward.”

Marbleheard Reporter reporter Chris Stevens contributed to this story

Tags: Corinthian Yacht Club , Laurie Fullerton , Marblehead’s Corinthians

Related Posts

Corinthian claims 2022 Resolute Cup →

Morgan Cup: Corinthian YC team on top →

Women’s Team Race Invitational 2021 →

Chatting with Charlie Enright →

© 2024 Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Inbox Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. made by VSSL Agency .

• Privacy Statement
• Advertise With Us

Get Your Sailing News Fix!

Your download by email.

• Your Name...
• Your Email... *
• Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

• CLASSIFIEDS
• NEWSLETTERS
• SUBMIT NEWS

Boats for sale

• Latest videos, from 2023

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser .

• Sign in Facebook Google or Forgot password? Sign in Sign up

• Corinthian Yacht Club, Massachusetts, United States

United States

Massachusetts

Sailing / Yacht Club

Corinthian Yacht Club

View on map

Contact Person

Founded Year

The Corinthian Yacht Club (CYC) is a full-service club offering members and visiting skippers a broad range of sailing and racing events. For more than 125 years, the Club has made yachting, racing and cruising history, for which all members can be truly proud.

1 Nahant St

781-631-0005

781-639-4792

Contact Person Email

[email protected]

http://www.corinthianyc.org

Corinthian Yacht Club

Posted by HarborMoor Crew | Aug 5, 2020 | Community | 0

The club that more families want to belong to than any other, and the leader in sustainability.

ABOUT The Corinthian Yacht Club is idyllically situated at the head of Marblehead Harbor, with views of the Marblehead and Boston skylines.  For 135 years the Corinthian has made yachting and racing history with an inclusive and family friendly culture.  The Corinthian is the innovative leader in sustainability among all town clubs, and members and guests enjoy a wide range of programs on and off the water. 

HISTORY The history of the Corinthian is, in fact, the history of the development of small sailboats. In an era when proper yachts were kept and raced by paid crews, Corinthians maintained and sailed their own boats.  The Corinthian Midsummer Series was the forerunner Marblehead Race Week.  By the 1920s, Corinthian was considered to be one of the country’s best yacht-racing institutions.  The schooner yacht America , first winner and namesake of the America’s Cup, was a sometime member of the Corinthian Fleet.  Corinthian Charles Adams, descendant of two presidents and later Secretary of the Navy, successfully defended the America’s Cup in 1920.  President Calvin Coolidge, an honorary member, sailed each summer to Marblehead in the Presidential Yacht Mayflower , anchoring off the Corinthian.  In 2015 Wooden Boat editor and maritime historian Matthew Murphy published the club’s first history, Marblehead’s Corinthians: 1885-2015. 

TODAY The Corinthian’s culture is friendly and welcoming, values families, and offers a wide range of boating, recreational, and social activities. This includes junior sailing, tennis, and pool programs, and rooms for guests and visiting sailors.  Corinthian’s beautiful fin de siècle clubhouse includes notable paintings, models, and trophies; formal and casual dining rooms, porch dining, two bars, and a massive porch.  It’s Harbor Bar, perched at the harbor’s mouth with views along the coast, is the most beautiful of any along the New England seacoast.  Corinthian members own a variety of one-design boats, including Etchells, IODs, Sonars, Stars, J-70s, J-133s, Rhodes-19s, Lasers, Vipers, Herreshoffs, Town Class, and Alerions among other production classes and custom yachts, and have won world and national championships.  The annual Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta is renowned for its yachts from the glorious age of sail.

CHECK IT OUT To learn more about the Corinthian, or to inquire about membership, visit  https://www.corinthianyc.org/

Related Posts

Makers & Shapers: Jim Taylor

July 31, 2020

Marblehead Pump Out Boys

August 21, 2020

Eastern Yacht Club

Sailors for the Sea

September 21, 2020

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search Blog

• Anglers (17)
• Commodores (6)
• Community (14)
• Cruisers (75)
• Downeast (13)
• Expert Advice (8)
• Liveaboards (22)
• Powerboats (76)
• Racers (22)
• Sailboats (81)

Recent Posts