Sailing What Choosing the Ventura Yacht Club Means

By: KATHERINE M. CLEMENTS

VENTURA — A yacht club is there for those who enjoy social clubs centered around the sport of boating and the world of yachting.

The Ventura Yacht Club was founded in 1938 and headquartered at the Ventura Pier from 1949 to 1959, before the days of the Ventura and Channel Islands Harbors. Today’s clubhouse was built in 1967—the first building in Ventura Harbor.

T he VYC offers several amenities, such as a restaurant and bar available to members and their guests, with full services on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. During the “Wet Wednesday” series, the club also provides dinner for r acers, members, and their guests. For members, wet- and dry-storage space is available among the club’s 91-slip marina, kayak and dinghy racks, and storage yards to the north and south ends of the property. Additionally, laundromat facilities are available to VYC members and v isitors of the guest dock.

Ventura Yacht Club has offered youth sailing programs since its inception. It annually hosts spring and summer youth sailing camps, numerous youth and adult races (including a 150-person youth event every November and a “Wet Wednesday” racing series from April through September), our “Opening Day” in April, and an Open House in May. Currently, the VYC Youth Sailing Program is open to the public and accommodates those ages 8

– 18. In the last few years, the program’s growth has allowed VYC to become a year-round program offering monthly-hosted weekend events for youth sailors to experience the joy of sailing. Established in 2022, the Spring Break Camp offers a chance for new students to preview what a summer commitment would entail while also granting them substantial growth in sailing skills during the five-day class. For decades, VYC has hosted a nine-week-long Summer Camp, empowering thousands of kids with skills t hat last them a lifetime. The larger camps offered are based on the Ventura Unified School calendar.

The Ventura Yacht Club is complete with a 223’ guest dock equipped with multiple water hoses and electrical shore power connections. The dock is made available to members, and the club offers reciprocal privileges to members of other participating yacht clubs. Utilized by over one hundred guests every year, VYC provides a visiting point for those moving along the coast and a haven for those caught by unfavorable conditions— boats with a beam of 16’ or wider must be granted permission beforehand due to member-owned vessels needing space to maneuver out of their slips.

VYC also has a monthly newsletter, The Forecast, that provides information ranging from its list of Flag Officers a nd Board Members to contact information for the club itself. Ads for club events, member-owned businesses, and a few other harbor-based businesses also dot the pages. But the core of the newsletter highlights member- and staff-written articles. The Bridge, Membership C ommittee, Social Committee, and Junior Programs publish articles to keep memberships updated on the latest activities and upcoming events at the Ventura Yacht Club. A current copy is given t o all visitors interested in membership at VYC.

The Ventura Yacht Club, upon its founding, was known as the Ventura County Boat Club (VCBC). For the first two decades, with no official clubhouse or marina to support one, members of the VCBC had no reason to change the name. However, “Perhaps confident that the Ventura Marina would soon be a reality . . . members began to discuss changing the name of the Club to the Ventura Yacht Club. In January 1960, the discussion ended with members voting to officially change the name” (Mercer, 2021). Upon the completion of the marina on July 16, 1963, members’ hopes of having a clubhouse were then also within reach.

Those interested in becoming a member of the Ventura Yacht Club are encouraged to call ahead and drop by to get information on membership options and to receive a guided tour of our house and grounds.

For more information, please visit https://venturayachtclub.org/.