The Brockport Yacht Club was organized in May and June, 1904, with the writing of a Constitution, the first race and race committee, and the election of officers. Sid Nichols of Brockport was the first Commodore. Membership quickly grew to over one hundred. Dues were $1.00 a year. The Club thrived during the next decades, but almost did not survive the 1930s.
During the worst of the Depression there were only a handful of active members and racing stopped. By 1940 membership had rebounded to nearly
seventy. Racing and social programs resumed, although on a limited basis during World War II. The first woman member was Marian Thompson in 1976.
In 1905 the Club incorporated legally, the purpose being to lease land on which to build a clubhouse. The building was originally close to the lakefront, where it appears in early pictures. In 1910 the Club purchased a 200 x 200 foot lot on the creek, to which the building was moved. Over the years the clubhouse has been much remodeled and altered. The first kitchen was
installed in 1927, electric wiring in 1940, and the enclosure of the second-floor porch and adding the current porch in 1972. In 1948 the Club purchased the parking lot and beach. The jetty was begun in 1957. Around 1960 the Club began leasing the basin for additional docks. In 1993 a water line was installed. Dock maintenance and dredging have been constant concerns.
The first race, Memorial Day, 1904, was twice around a triangular course. The early racing boats were sixteen to twenty-foot sloops, with gaff-rigged mainsails, spinnakers, and long bowsprits. The first cruising boat was the Waubaushene, a thirty-two foot, double -masted schooner with an eight horsepower engine, owned by Gifford Morgan. The racing program
expanded in the 1950s with the Club hosting regattas for different classes of boats, culminating the the Day Sailer Nationals in 1977 and 1986. Members also ventured to regattas around the lake, often with respectable results. In 1976 there was a race to Port Hope, Ontario, Yacht Club, beginning the tradition of reciprocal visits. In 1968 a Learn to Sail program was started, mostly using Sunfish, which has—with interruptions—continued.
The mainstay of the Club’s social program is dinner meetings, either at the Club or in Hamlin, Brockport, or other locations. From 1905 to 1916 the Club sponsored balls in Brockport, which drew as many as five hundred people. For many years the Club put on a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. Holiday cocktail parties, corns roasts, clam bakes, corn beef and cabbage,
pig roasts, and awards banquets provide opportunities for members and their guests to enjoy themselves.
As former Commodore Lori Hannigan wrote, “BYC is more than boating; it is a lifestyle. A lifestyle that includes good friends, many happy times, and a challenging sport.”