Tampa Bay · Gulfport
Welcoming, affordable sailing club on Boca Ciega Bay in Gulfport, four miles from the Gulf: cruising, one-design and handicap racing, Sea Scouts, and a well-known basic sail school on a fleet of Catalina 16.5s.
Handicap keelboat racing on Boca Ciega Bay as part of the monthly Club Weekend; visitors welcome to come crew.
Evening Sunfish and Capri 16.5 racing on Boca Ciega Bay.
Weekly racing with the club's nationally recognized Sunfish Fleet 756.
The rhythm of the club is easiest to read off its racing week. Handicap keelboats race the PHRF series on Club Weekend Sundays through the spring and fall; Tuesday evenings in summer belong to Sunfish and Capri 16.5s off the clubhouse; and when the snowbirds are down in winter, the Sunfish come out on Saturdays instead. None of it requires owning a race boat: visitors are welcome to turn up and crew on the Sunday series, which remains the least expensive way ever devised to find out whether you like keelboat racing.
The sail school is the other thing BCYC is known for around Tampa Bay. Basic instruction runs on the club’s own fleet of Catalina 16.5s with dedicated training boats and staff: a small-boat, tiller-first education four miles from the open Gulf, on a bay protected enough to learn in and breezy enough to matter.
Gulfport suits the club. It is the low-key, artsy corner of the St. Petersburg peninsula, and BCYC matches it: member-run, affordable by yacht-club standards, with a Sea Scout ship attached and a culture that treats sailing as the point rather than the amenity.
Boca Ciega Yacht Club is a private club. Membership is subject to the club's approval. For current membership costs and how to apply, contact the club's membership office.
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Member-owned private club at the south end of Davis Islands in Hillsborough Bay. Long-standing Thursday Night Races open to anyone, plus a robust junior program through the Davis Island Youth Sailing Foundation.
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City-owned sailing center at Demens Landing, operated under agreement with the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Hosts youth and adult programs, adaptive sailing initiatives, and regional regattas, the city's public-access counterpart to SPYC.
Featured Private Tampa Bay · St. Petersburg · est. 1909
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