St Thomas Yacht Club - Cowpet Bay

A Short History of the
St Thomas Yacht Club

Established informally during the 1950s, the Virgin Islands Yacht Club was the first sailing organization on St. Thomas. Recognizing the need for a permanent yacht club with full member facilities, 15 far-sighted sailors in October 1964 contributed $1,000 each to form the Deck Point Corporation and founded the Yacht Club of St. Thomas.

Charter Members included: Charles Adams; Benjamin Arnet; William Bachman; Hein Christiansen; Lee M. Cole; James Evans, Jr.; William Evans; John Foster; Harry Goodheart, Jr.; William Tyerman; Charles Waggoner; Ahto Walter; Ted Walter; Frank Warner and John Wiggins.

Later changing its name to the St. Thomas Yacht Club (1969), the club consisted of the founders and 15 regular members who selected a site bordering Cowpet Bay, a beautiful anchorage on the Eastern end of St. Thomas noted for its proximity to the pristine cruising grounds of neighboring island of St. John.

Sailors well-adapted to the laid-back Caribbean lifestyle, members celebrated their first beach-side social event in December 1964 complete with barbecue lamb, makeshift bar and cable-spool seating. By New Year's Eve 1964, a small shack has been erected to shelter the festivities.

A volunteer-oriented club from the start, members cut a road, cleared scrub to reveal a sugary white beach and installed moorings for a modest fleet that then consisted of fewer than a dozen sailboats, power boats and Sunfish. They set about filling in a two-acre salt pond that dispersed hoards of pesky mosquitoes and `no-seeums' and set about designing their clubhouse.

By unanimous consent, Ahto Walter, was named the STYC's first Commodore. Documented in Thomas Olsen's book "Racing the Seas", Walter is credited with a record 18-day, 16-hour crossing of the North Atlantic in a 28-foot sloop from Sandy Hook to Bishop Rock, England.

Borrowing a clockwise course favored by former Virgin Islands Yacht Club members, the STYC sponsored its first day race around St. Thomas in 1965. First to cross the finish on his 46-foot Rhodes yawl Lady Tristam, Colonel John Brindley was so perturbed by the absence of an elapsed time award that he donated the Lady Tristam Cup as a perpetual trophy for the Round St. Thomas Race. The Club's first overnight event, the Coral Bay Race from Hassel Island off St. Thomas, to Coral Bay, St. John was held in April 1965.

Under Commodore John Wiggins, the STYC Clubhouse celebrated its official opening in March 1966. A banner year for racing , club members Rudy Thompson and John Hamber won silver medals in the 1966 Caribbean and Central American Games sailing the two-man centerboard Olympic Class Flying Dutchman.

The current STYC flag mast is an 85-foot greenheart tree trunk, delivered by boat from Surinam. It replaced the original mast donated by the West Indian Company that had salvaged the spar from the 1920s-built schooner "Flight". STYC members tell an intriguing tale of Commodore John Battle's unsuccessful effort to "smuggle" an earlier Surinam hardwood specimen (so dense that it wouldn't float), that involved a secret rendezvous in Pillsbury Sound with the Surinam-to-New York- bound Atlantic Clipper, some questionable knot-tying skills, and Battle's tug "Sabot", that later served with distinction for over a decade as the STYC Committee Boat.

Donated by Casey Lambert, the STYC cannon was smelted in St. Louis, Missouri, and flown to Puerto Rico where the Air National Guard ensured delivery to St. Thomas. The cannon was restored by Dick Avery.

When the U.S. Virgin Islands finally gained Olympic status in 1967, the Thompson / Hamber Flying Dutchman team represented the U.S. Virgin Islands at the Pan American Games (Canada), and later joined STYC members Per Dohm (Finn Class) and Dick Avery (Finn Class alternate) at the Mexico City Olympics.

During John Foster's 1967-68 term as Commodore, the STYC launched its junior sailor program with a fleet of Sunfish and Prams, and counted 140 islanders among its membership. Utilizing the new Clubhouse, the STYC hosted its first regional competition, the Caribbean Midwinter Regatta (Finns, Snipes and Sunfish), in February 1968.

Backed by member volunteers, Rudy Thompson organized the Caribbean's first Sunfish World Championships in 1970. Chris Rosenberg won the North American Junior Sunfish Championships in 1971. STYC members -- Dick Holmberg, David Jones, John Foster, John Hamber, Peter Jackson, and Richard Griffin represented the Club at the 1972 Olympics in Germany.

By 1972, the STYC had purchased an additional acre of land and constructed two tennis courts. A third court was added in 1973 to expand membership, accommodate a tennis pro and allow tennis tournaments that alternated with sail races. The addition of a squash court in 1974 marked the start of competition for the Canine Cup with teams from neighboring Tortola. Later that year, Finn Class sailor, Art Andrew, captured a gold medal at the 1974 Pan American Games.

Peter Holmberg made his Olympic debut in Finn Class at the 1984 Summer Games, which also saw competition from John Foster, Sr. and John Foster, Jr. (Star Class), Jean Kurt and Marlin Sing (Soling Class), Eric Zucker and Trace Terbo (470 Class), Kenny Kline (Windglider) and Chris Thompson (exhibition windsurfing). Introduced in 1984, the Open Laser Regatta sparked Caribbean-wide interest in Lasers and regional class competition that continues to this day.

Traveling to Newport, RI, for the 1985 J/24 World Championships, Lynn Reid, Nancy Frank, Terry Petrosky and Ingrid Avery met with stiff competition -- both from J/24 competitors and Hurricane Gloria. Back on St. Thomas, the Clubhouse underwent an overhaul.

The Women's Laser Championships was begun in 1986 by Nancy Frank, Dee Speer and Sharon Bend to energize female sailors in the Caribbean.

Two women's teams represented the Club at the 1987 J/24 World Championships.

During the 1987-88 term of Commodore Henry Menin, now a distinguished IYRU Judge and Umpire, the Virgin Islands hosted the Maxi World Championships that attracted 85-footers from around the globe.

While training for the Olympics, Peter Holmberg and three other world-class Finn sailors invited as Club guests, lost all their gear to a 1987 fire that destroyed the Junior Clubhouse. The STYC rallied with a fundraiser that allowed training to continue.

Holmberg went on the become the first Olympic medalist in Virgin Islands history, taking the silver in Finn Class at the 1988 Olympic Games in Korea. Joining Holmberg at the Summer Games were John Foster Sr. and Jr. (Star Class), Luke Baldorf (Boardsailing) and alternate Billy Jurczyk.

On September 17, 1989, Hurricane Hugo hammered the Virgin Islands and extracted its toll on the STYC racing fleet, Clubhouse and dock. Club members rebuilt in time to host the 1990 International Rolex Cup Regatta, the final leg of the '90 Maxi World Championships -- where native son, Peter Holmberg, steered Matador 2 to victory before the likes of Dennis Conner, John Bertrand and Mark Pajot and the 50s World Championships.

During the 1991-92 term of Commodore Peter Holmberg, the Club constructed a Junior Clubhouse and storage lockers that could double as a bandstand/ bar for social activities.

When Hurricane Marilyn struck in September 1995, most of St. Thomas and much of the STYC racing fleet and facilities were devastated. With a grit borne of necessity, the Club rallied yet again to continue the traditions of a yacht club, now 300-plus members strong, that's determined to stay on course into the 21st Century.

In 1996, St. Thomas Yacht Club Commodore, Carol P. Hindels, became the first woman in history to affix her signature to an America's Cup declaration when the St. Thomas Yacht Club - Team Caribbean filed its challenge with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for the America's Cup 2000.

Since 1974, the STYC has hosted the prestigious International Rolex Regatta -- the "Crown Jewel of Caribbean Yacht Racing" held in conjunction with the three-legged Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle (CORT) Series that annually attracts racing yachts from around the globe. Aside from the annual Commodore's Ball, the Rolex Cup prize giving is one of the few occasions when STYC members forego casual island attire for formal club blazers and cocktail dresses.

Still the quintessential Caribbean yacht club in spirit -- short on pretense, but long on serious yacht racing fun -- the STYC's colorful history, ability to overcome adversity, and member accomplishments, combine to make it a worthy contender as a future home for the America's Cup.