Yacht Club Hosts 124th Race Week

By Stephen E. Lipken

Ernie Dunn, General Manager, Larchmont Yacht Club (LYC), appeared at LYC with Treasurer Com Crocker and Sailing Coordinator Ariel Jamil on Saturday, July 16th, the first day of Race Week, continuing through Sunday, July 17th; ending Saturday, July 23rd and Sunday, July 24th. 

“My understanding is that on our 124th Race Week, we typically don’t have wind like we had today, which is awesome,” Dunn observed.  “People are very excited about the fact that we actually have a July with some wind. We were able to get all three groups off to a great start.  We have the smaller fleet, ldeal 18 Summer Series Event II; One Design which has Shields, Vipers, International One Design (IOD); Etchells; Vanguard 15 Team Race and J-105’s.” 

Jamil noted that 300 students signed up for Junior Race Week. “The first weekend we had ‘Expressly for Fun,’ which are the larger Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) boats, Racer/Cruisers; One Design Series which is all the village from the Mid-Sound One Design Collective with Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound (YRALIS), including boats like Vipers, Shields, S-Boats and Etchells,” Jamil added.

In the early evening of Memorial Day in the year 1880, five young men warmed themselves over a bonfire built in a cleft of rocks on what is now Horseshoe Harbor.  Since a bonfire is scarcely the most comfortable to close a hard day at sea, these young men discussed the possibility of organizing a yacht club.  They were Frank L. Anthony, Fred W. Flint, Loring Lothrop and Charles E. Jenkins.  

In 1887, LYC was legally incorporated and the present site of 11 acres was purchased for $10,000 from Benjamin A. Carver, a railroad magnate.  The east and west wings were added following the purchase and the Pandemonium was constructed in 1902.