The Florida Yacht Club

The Florida Yacht Club was chartered in 1876 by seventeen members, with the New York businessman William Backhouse Astor Jr. as the driving force, to promote yachting and social life on the St. Johns River. It is the oldest social club in Jacksonville and among the oldest continuously operating yacht clubs in the country, often ranked the fourth-oldest surviving in the United States.

Its first clubhouse, an elegant Swiss-chalet building at the foot of Market Street in downtown Jacksonville, was one of the finest structures of its day until it burned in the Great Fire of 1901. The club regrouped, and in 1928 opened a larger waterfront clubhouse on gifted land in the Ortega neighborhood, marked with a regatta and dance on April 21 that year. The Ortega campus has grown ever since and now wraps two marinas, a dedicated Sailing Center, and resort-style amenities around the riverfront clubhouse.

Sailing remains central. The club runs a junior program out of its Sailing Center and hosts regattas on the St. Johns for members and visiting fleets: the spring Orange Peel Regatta, the Cowford Cup, and one-design events including a J/24 midwinter.

The Florida Yacht Club is a private, member-owned club that honors reciprocal privileges for visiting yacht-club members. Membership is by sponsorship and board approval; the club’s membership office handles applications and reciprocal visits.