The Long Winded Club History

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Organized recreational sailing in the United States  began in the mid-1800s.   The first organized racing was held right here in New York harbor.  The first organized club is generally considered to have been the New York Yacht Club, organized in 1844 (although other clubs sometimes lay claim to this title).  Following were some of the earliest local yacht clubs and their founding dates:

• New York Yacht Club 1844
• Hoboken Yacht Club 1856
• Brooklyn Yacht Club 1857
• Jersey City Yacht Club 1858
• Atlantic Yacht Club 1866
• Williamsburg Yacht Club 1869
• Manhattan Sailing Club 1870
• New Jersey Yacht Club 1871

You can see that Manhattan Sailing Club is listed as being founded in 1870. This was the original Manhattan Sailing Club which somewhere along the way ceased to be active (to know why, we are waiting for a member to take on the duty of club historian, a process which would involve researching through old newspapers at the New York Public Library for references to the old Manhattan Sailing Club). Our present club is the second incarnation.

Following the introduction of organized boating to the United States in the mid-1800s, yacht clubs began springing up all over. At this time, there were few slips or docks available for recreational boats. To solve this problem, a group of sailors would organize into a club, raise money for a dock, drive the pilings and then be off on the water. Clubs quickly evolved into full social organizations offering cruises, races and social events for its members.

By the 1980s, the growth in the number of yacht clubs had almost stopped, despite the fact that boating was growing at the fastest rate ever. One reason was cost. Waterfront land had become so valuable that a normal group of recreational boaters could no longer afford to purchase waterfront facilities. Instead, commercial marinas began supplanting clubs as the prime source of high quality dock space. During the fiberglass-driven boating boom from the 1970s on, most new boaters simply rented slips in commercial marinas. The result was thousands of new and well-equipped marinas while the number of yacht clubs grew at a minimal rate.

In 1986, the Centennial of the Statue of Liberty was celebrated and thousands of boats converged on New York Harbor. One week later, almost all were gone. Apart from a few commercial sailboats such as the schooner Pioneer and the yawl Petrel, the only sails seen on the harbor were traveling through it.

But the harbor is a great and natural sailing area. There is a steady sea breeze and tides to carry ships when there is no wind. The climate is mild. The harbor is deep and there is plenty of shoreline. The rough conditions of the ocean are blocked at the Narrows and the harbor protects ships from storms. To understand how the best harbor on the East Coast became a virtual sailing desert, you must consider economic development.

In colonial times, many cities developed around ports such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. But the opening of the Erie Canal made New York the capital of commerce. The canal linked the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. New York became the main transportation hub in the country. Commerce through the port multiplied faster than anywhere else.

Transportation during this period meant sailing ships. From a sailing perspective, this was a glorious time for the harbor. New York was the sailing capital of the country. Square riggers lined the "Street of Ships" along the East River. In 1848, when gold was discovered in California, the clipper ship era began and vessels of unmatched speed sailed in and out of the harbor. In addition to large commercial vessels, local fishermen and oystermen plied their craft from sailboats. On weekends, many of these small boats were re-rigged with huge amounts of sail for sandbagger races.

Then technology marched forward and sail was replaced by steam and combustion. Soon the harbor became the power capital of the world. Square riggers gave way to steam ships. The mud flats, home to small sailboats, were developed into shipping piers. As New York Harbor reached its commercial zenith, there was no place left for sailing.

World War II brought another change in transportation. The container ship made its appearance and became the most efficient method for moving commodities. Because container ships require large spaces for loading and unloading, terminals were built on vacant land. The largest terminals sprouted in Newark Bay. Ships which previously entered the harbor and continued to Manhattan, now turned left at the Narrows and entered Newark Bay. Passenger shipping also declined with the advent of air travel. By the mid-1970s, commercial shipping was only a fraction of what it had been just 20 years earlier.

On the day before the Statue of Liberty's Centennial in 1986, a 23 year-old sailor looked out from the Battery to see how many boats had assembled. For two months, he had been working on a plan to reintroduce recreational sailing to the harbor.

Michael Fortenbaugh had come to the city after graduating from Princeton University in 1985. Previously, he spent the summers working on Wall Street. Like many other sailors moving to the city, he had given up the recreation he enjoyed most. But looking out onto the magnificent harbor, Michael could not accept that there was no sailing. The conventional wisdom said it was not possible to sail in the harbor because of the tides and commercial traffic.

In May 1986, Michael explained his concept of re-introducing recreational sailing to New York Harbor to a sailor and friend at the Bay Head Yacht Club in New Jersey. This sailor, already a prominent businessman in New York, gave encouragement and agreed to help raise the capital to start a club. A business plan was written in the second floor reading room of the Princeton Club and by late summer, three financial supporters had been found. Armed with $60,000, Manhattan Sailing Club was born.

To bring sailing back to the harbor, several innovative concepts had to be created. The first innovation was a club-owned fleet of boats. Most yacht clubs were formed around members who owned private boats. This was not possible in Manhattan because of the lack of dock space and the high cost of land. Michael conceived of a fleet of boats which would be used by all members. The analogy published in early club literature equated sailing to tennis. In the 1800s, the only people who played tennis were those rich enough to have a tennis court in their backyards. Then, tennis clubs were created which owned and maintained the courts and made them available to members. With this idea, the sport of tennis was opened up to more people. Manhattan Sailing Club brought this idea to sailing.

The second innovation was a corporate racing program to help defray operating costs. Most yacht clubs charge members dues which equal the cost of operation plus capital projects. Because the cost of operation in Manhattan was so high, an additional source of revenue was necessary to keep individual dues at a reasonable level. Manhattan Sailing Club created the country's first corporate racing program which was called the Blue Chip Challenge.

At this point, a digression about our club's name is appropriate. Early in our formation, it was decided that the name should be "Manhattan Sailing Club." But it was discovered that this name was already registered as a corporation. After some research at the city office of records of incorporation, Michael found and inspected the original articles of incorporation of the first Manhattan Sailing Club. But the club was no longer active. Then someone at the NYS Department of State in Albany agreed to look into the corporate file of the old Manhattan Sailing Club. They found a certificate of disillusionment from the 1950s. It had been a clerical error which caused the name to remain on the books and therefore protected until someone with enough interest came along. The old name was removed form the state's corporate register and moments later, our new club claimed the name.

With the name secured and the idea of the club created, the next thing we needed were docks. In 1986, there were only three facilities with floating docks in Manhattan. Two of these, the 79th Street Boat Basin and the 23rd East River Marina would not work for sailing because they were too far from the main harbor. The only option was the South Street Seaport Museum where some small floating docks hosted the Liberty Cup once each year. Our club rented 100 feet of dock from the Museum. Then negotiations began with J/Boats about a fleet deal to purchase twelve J/24 sailboats.

In January 1987, Manhattan Sailing Club set up a sign at the New York Boat Show. One of the first people to request information was Gazi Alkaya, who subsequently joined as the first member and is still actively sailing with his wife today. Inquiries from the boat show provided the first group of members. The club also began receiving lots of press for its innovative concepts. The corporate program got off to a good start in the first year with Lefty Lewis being the first to sign up, forming a team from the New York Stock Exchange with Buck Margold and Kate Morgan (all of whom are still active).

As May approached, the new boats were driven one by one on a trailer from Rhode Island to a marina on Staten Island. At that time, Staten Island had the only hauling facilities in the harbor. On May 4, 1987, the first Manhattan Sailing Club J/24 sailboat was brought by water to the Seaport. For the next three days, the weather was windy, rainy and cold and no one went sailing. But when it cleared, sailing began and the harbor sprang to life. By mid-June, all twelve boats were operating and our club was launched.