By
Rev Fred Jensen
In
2010, the Buffalo Yacht Club will be recognizing its 150th
anniversary with a yearlong celebration.
I spoke with Trey Barrett, the secretary for the club, about the role the yacht
club has played in the community of Buffalo in promoting the sport of sailing
and in providing a social support network for area residents. Trey stressed that the club was not
just about boating; in fact the social membership is greater than the active
membership – active meaning those members who have yachts stored on the club’s
property.
The private membership restaurant (where I enjoyed I fantastic meal of Mahi Mahi) is a wonderful
attraction sailors and landlubbers can both enjoy, and their full-time chef
does cooking demonstrations and wine tastings once a month. If an engaged couple wishes to
celebrate their nuptials with a beautiful view of the Erie Canal, they may do
so at the Yacht Club, and it also provides a venue for events of community
interest, such as Sam Hoyt’s event entitled “Buffalo’s Other Water Front.” The club also provides a pleasant place
to entertain friends and business colleagues.
Of
course, it is also an excellent place to learn to sail – which takes a scant
ten hours, and with modern navigation equipment, it is quite safe. Safety and CPR training are a part of
the sailing learning courses, offered for adults and juniors.
Is
Yachting a sport for snobs? Not at
all, Barrett explains. While it is
true that owning a boat is expensive, you do not have to own a boat to be a
member, or for that matter, to sail.
The club owns a yacht that members in good standing can borrow for a day
if they reserve it ahead of time. Furthermore, the club saves some members money by allowing them
to store their yachts on land, rather than on the water. When these members are ready to sail, a
large crane lifts the craft up and deposits in the water.
“The
spectrum of income levels are a lot more broad than you might think,” says
Barrett. It would be unfair to say
that being in a yacht club is about lifestyles of the rich and famous. Initial membership is reasonable; a
person under forty years of age can join the club for less than five hundred
dollars, and membership dues after that are less than one hundred dollars a
month. Given the benefits of
membership, Barrett believes this is a bargain. One benefit is that membership is honored not just in
Buffalo, but nationwide and even in Canada. When you become a member in Buffalo, you become, in effect,
a member of all the yacht clubs in North America. “Some country clubs are twenty or thirty thousand dollars to
join,” Barrett says, “We are pretty darn reasonable when it comes down to it.”
The
club hosts sailboat races in the Buffalo Harbor with over fifty boats sometimes. Every year when the basin is opened in
June, the club members honor those members who have passed on with a ceremony
in which roses are thrown into the water.
Even in the wintertime, races are held. In the winter when the water is frozen, the sailors “sail”
in iceboats, which Barrett describes as “coffins with blades and a sail.” (Mind you, he is talking about their
structural appearance, not their relative safety. As mentioned, the club has a very good track record for
safety).
Barrett
has been a member of the club now for almost twenty years; and when asked “What
keeps you here?” he did not reply that it was the food, or the races, or the
networking possibilities. Instead,
he simply answers, “The camaraderie.”
As club member after club member greeted us warmly during the course of
the interview, it was clear the claim of camaraderie was watertight.
Buffalo
Yacht Club
1 Porter Ave
Buffalo, NY 14201
716.883.5900