Inland & ICW · Vero Beach
Founded 1926 on the Indian River Lagoon at Vero Beach. FCYC member with a waterfront clubhouse and marina just inside the ICW from the Sebastian Inlet.
Set expectations before you drive over: this is a social and dining club that happens to sit on the water, not a racing program. The club has run as a private club since 1926, and its published calendar is built around the waterfront dining room, entertainment, and Saturday nights. There is no sailboat racing schedule, no one-design fleet, and no junior sailing program to speak of. Sailors looking for a start line on the Treasure Coast should look elsewhere; sailors looking for somewhere to tie up, eat well, and meet the local boating population have found it.
Membership does not require a boat, which is unusual enough among Florida yacht clubs to be worth saying plainly. What membership does carry is reciprocity through the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs: access to more than thirty-five member clubs around the state, which for a cruiser working the ICW is the practical argument for joining a club in the first place. The clubhouse sits on Rio Vista Boulevard next to the Vero Beach City Marina, just inside the waterway.
One genuinely distinctive thing: in 2016 the club adopted Boat Club Island, spoil island IR25 in the Indian River Lagoon, and committed to cleaning it at least four times a year and clearing invasive vegetation to keep parts of it open for outings. Spoil-island stewardship is a quietly serious business on the lagoon, and a club taking one on is a better signal of local investment than most of what ends up in a membership brochure.
Vero Beach 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. Members of reciprocal yacht clubs can usually arrange visiting access with advance notice.
Featured Private Inland & ICW · Eustis · est. 1953
Racing and sailing club with 60+ days of one-design racing each year on Lake Eustis, among the busiest race calendars in Central Florida. Active MC Scow, Flying Scot, Wayfarer, and Laser fleets. Partners with Lake Eustis Youth Sailing Foundation for adult and junior instruction.
Private Inland & ICW · Indian Harbour Beach · est. 1907
Founded 1907, one of the older yacht clubs on Florida's east coast. Sits at the mouth of the Banana River adjacent to the Intracoastal; relocated to its current Indian Harbour Beach campus in 1960.
Reciprocal Inland & ICW · Fort Pierce · est. 1980
Power, sail, and social club organized 1980, on the Indian River Lagoon at Seaway Drive in downtown Fort Pierce. Monthly offshore PHRF races plus spring, fall, and all-ladies regattas; any YCA-club member is welcomed, with transient berths next door at the city marina.