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Celebrating Martha's Vineyard's Maritime Heritage

Edgartown is a favorite yachting port, and in the summer there will be numerous megayachts anchored well north of Chappaquiddick Point Beach. Deep water extends up close to the beach, and this is also a prime anchorage for visiting cruising boats of all sizes. Don’t be surprised if there is also a fleet of racing sailboats weaving through the anchored fleet along with many local fisherman–it is a busy place.

The entrance gets even busier as you round Chappaquiddick Point and proceed into the inner harbor. Beware of the small ferries running between Chappaquiddick Point and the town–they come out fast from both sides, and are often crabbing across the channel in the strong current.

Once past the ferries there are very busy docks to starboard and a crowded mooring field to port, with launches bringing people to and fro. There is no room to anchor in the inner harbor, so contact the harbormaster for a mooring. Conveniently, there is a water barge for filling your tanks across the channel from C9.

The harbormaster provides the following information on where to dinghy ashore:

  • Floating docks west side of Edgartown Yacht Club and in front of the Atlantic restaurant
  • Denoted by red painted pilings
  • Have at least an 8 foot bow line so others can land on the float.
  • Use the launch and leave your dinghy on your mooring if you’ll be gone for more than a day– this will help ease overcrowded tie-up.
  • Yachtsman can tie up to our floating dock at North Wharf to drop off trash, buy ice, and use showers and restrooms.

Harbormaster: VHF Channel 74, 508-627-4746

Pumpout : VHF Channel 74

Water Barge: Located across the channel from Green Can #9

Fuel: North Wharf Fuel Dock (gas and diesel) 508-627-5050

Harbor Info & Services

Dock Space and Moorings: Edgartown Harbormaster VHF Channel 74, 508-627-4746 Harborside Inn VHF Channel 10, 508-627-4321 Mad Max Marina VHF Channel 71, 508-627-7500

Launch Service: Edgartown Yacht Club VHF Channel 72 Oldport Launch VHF Channel 78

Boat Rentals: Saltmarsh’s Boat Rentals 774-310-1118

Boat and Engine Repairs: Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard in Vineyard Haven 508‐693‐0400 Gannon & Benjamin in Vineyard Haven 508‐693‐4658 Prime Marina Vineyard Haven in Vineyard Haven 508-693-4174

Chandleries: Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard in Vineyard Haven 508‐693‐0400 Prime Marina Vineyard Haven in Vineyard Haven 508-693-4174 West Marine in Vineyard Haven 508‐693‐2906

Sail Repair: Sperry Sails  508‐693‐3312

Restaurants, Lodging, Shopping and more: Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce  508-693-0085

Liquor: Al’s Package Store 508-627-4347 Rosewater Wine & Spirits 508-939-4459 Vintage MV Wine & Spirits 774-549-9287 Wharf Wine & Spirits 508-627-5183

Laundry: Airport Laundromat  508‐693‐5005 Wash Ashore in Oak Bluffs 508-696-6999

Pharmacies: Stop & Shop Pharmacy 508-627-5107

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History of the Edgartown Yacht Club

edgartown yacht club launch

Published on March 12th, 2023 | by Editor

Celebrating 100 years of rejuvenation

Published on March 12th, 2023 by Editor -->

Edgartown Yacht Club will celebrate a full century of competitive sailing this year with its 100th Annual Regatta on July 12-16 in Edgartown, MA.

The regatta first took place in 1924 and was run from a rented cottage on the waterfront at the Harborside Inn. More than 100 vessels – mainly small gaff-rigged Catboats – took part in a festival of sail that delighted participants and spectators alike. Over the decades since, the event has met with continued success, morphing into a nine-class event that, for 2023, will host 170 or more boats.

“This is an extraordinary milestone in sailing and for the Edgartown Yacht Club, which was founded in 1905 to perpetuate the maritime traditions of Edgartown and Martha’s Vineyard,” said Event and Race Committee Chair Elizabeth Balay.

A quote from the Annual Regatta’s 1924 race circular still resonates all these many years later:

edgartown yacht club launch

“This regatta day was given for the express purpose of rejuvenating the Edgartown spirit for yacht racing, water sports, and everything that pertains to seamanship…for there are no better sailors, old and young, than those who were brought up and have had their training in this Harbor.”

The Edgartown Yacht Club 100th Annual Regatta will see its sailors racing in three sessions:

• The first, on Wednesday, July 12 and Thursday, July 13, is for junior sailors who will compete on one of three racing circles set up to accommodate three classes: C420, Optimist Dinghy Champs, and Optimist Dinghy Green.

• The second session, from Friday, July 14 through Sunday, July 16, is for keelboat sailors who will compete on either of two racing circles set up for five classes: Shields, Wianno Seniors, J/70s, Rhodes 19s, and Herreshoff 12 1/2s. (The three-day Shields event also serves as the New England Shields Championship.)

• The third session, on Saturday, July 15 overlaps the keelboat racing and is reminiscent of the regatta’s roots; it is a single race around government marks for traditional Catboats.

To mark the Edgartown Yacht Club Annual Regatta’s 100-year milestone, a full schedule of activities has been planned. As part of a separately organized Edgartown Catboat Rendezvous, a Catboat Parade of Sail will start at noon on Saturday and make its way through Edgartown Harbor.

After racing that day, a retrospective film will premiere at the EYC’s main clubhouse, followed by Saturday evening’s Regatta Ball.

Details: https://www.edgartownyc.org/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?GRP=40011&NS=PR&DN=ANNUAL

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Edgartown Yacht Club Renovations

Originally built in 1928, the Edgartown Yacht Club has become a celebrated landmark due to its sizable contributions to Edgartown’s maritime history and the community at large as well as its close proximity to the water. Unsurprisingly, its unique coastal location – on a wharf thirty-feet out on Edgartown Harbor – also has its downsides which became apparent during the notable hurricanes of 1938, 1944, 1954, and 1991. In recent years, however, the clubhouse has been experiencing periodic flooding in response to rising sea levels.

"Winter storms have definitely taken a toll. Literally dozens of times a year sometimes we’ve had flooding. The whole deck will be underwater." Club Manager, Bill Roman, shared with the Vineyard Gazette
  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by EdgartownYachtClub (@edgartownyc) on Oct 30, 2018 at 7:00am PDT

After years of enduring frequent water damage, September 2018 marked the start of an important and historic renovation to the Edgartown Yacht Club which will raise the clubhouse two feet above the water. Unfortunately, flooding is still plausible with the threat of storms and continued climate change; however, it won’t flood as nearly as much as it does now, which was confirmed with the help of Dick Barbini of Schofield, Barbini and Hoehn .

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by EdgartownYachtClub (@edgartownyc) on Jan 7, 2019 at 5:51am PST

Wednesday, September 19th, Atlantic Marine Construction began with cutting around the perimeter of the clubhouse and lifting the existing structure with hydraulic jacks. The wharf’s current piles, wooden timbers soaked in creosote, were replaced with a series of new steel piles installed around the edges of the wharf into the bottom of the harbor to support a bed of steel planks. The new piles are made from rust-resistant epoxy-coated steel (which is much better for the environment) and the existing wooden piles were cut down rather than extracted to avoid disturbing the harbor floor. With the new floor installed, the walls and roof were lowered back down and now the Edgartown Yacht Club is two feet higher!

While preservation drove the main goal of the project, the club will also undergo a moderate expansion including a public viewing deck on the second floor of the entry building. And we are pleased to share that the building will be handicapped accessible.

The project is moving along well and on schedule for the re-opening during Memorial Day Weekend. We are looking forward to celebrating the re-birth of the Edgartown Yacht Club with the club members and the Edgartown community at large.

Below are images of the Edgartown Yacht Club before the construction as well as progress images. Look out for additional construction images on our under construction page in the upcoming months and watch the construction project LIVE on Edgartown Yacht Club’s webcam: Live Webcam .

Before Construction

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During Construction

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June 1, 2019

Edgartown Yacht Club’s New Club

edgartown yacht club launch

May 1, 2011

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  • Neither the Great Depression nor World War II brought a halt to the annual regatta.

Regatta Celebrates a Century of Sailing

Louisa hufstader.

  • Thursday, July 6, 2023 - 4:27pm

Hundreds of competitive sailors from the Vineyard and Cape Cod are making their way to Edgartown harbor this week for one of the oldest sailing regattas in the United States.

The Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta celebrates its 100th birthday this summer, growing from a single day of racing in 1924 to a five-day series with more than 100 boats registered to compete this year. The regatta begins on Wednesday, July 12.

“There are not many clubs who have been running regattas as long as we have,” said EYC race committee chair Elizabeth (Tot) Balay, who also chairs the regatta centennial committee. “We started, and we just never stopped.”

Neither the Great Depression nor World War II brought a halt to the annual regatta, she said.

edgartown yacht club launch

“There were always people who cared about it. There were always sailors who wanted to be out there competing [and] testing themselves against sailors from other clubs,” Ms. Balay said.

Along with its longevity, the regatta is known for its party scene, with sailors mingling at the club after the last race of each day, gathering for casual dinners there and dancing to live music at Saturday night’s Regatta Ball.

While those activities are limited to club members and guests, anyone can watch the races, either by boat — keeping a good distance from the course — or from shore.

“There’s going to be great views from the Chappy shore, from Lighthouse Beach, from Fuller Street Beach and from State Beach, because the [larger boats] are sailing in Cow Bay,” Ms. Balay said, referring to the 25-foot-long Wianno Seniors and 30-foot Shields sloops racing over the weekend.

“You’ll have some beautiful views of those classics, sailing long courses,” she said.

In partnership with Vineyard Preservation Trust, the yacht club also is inviting the public to a centennial exhibition of regatta history, opening July 12 at the Carnegie Heritage Center on North Water street.

Titled A Century of Sail, the show brings together vintage regatta photographs and EYC heirlooms such as race chronometers — a highly precise type of clock to determine start and finish times — and wooden half-models of the various boat designs used in club racing over the years.

The exhibition was initially scheduled for one week, but Carnegie program director Sissy Biggers asked to keep it on display for a month so that more Island visitors can learn about the regatta’s long history in Edgartown.

“A hundred years of sailing is certainly a story to be told, and the Edgartown Yacht Club has been our neighbor for more than 100 years,” Ms. Biggers said.

edgartown yacht club launch

To give non-sailors a sense of what happens on the water, the Carnegie show includes a chart of Edgartown harbor traced with all of the different race courses, as well as some of the signals used by the race committee to communicate with skippers on the water.

The exhibition’s carved, painted half-models of Beach Boats, International 110s, Rovers and other bygone classes help tell the story of how yacht club like Edgartown’s contributed to the rise in this country of one-design sailboat racing, in which identical boats compete against each other, Ms. Balay said.

In 1905, when the club was founded, American skippers sailed a variety of crafts, often designed and built to their owners’ specifications.  When competing against one another, as in the EYC’s annual Round the Island race and other ocean races, such disparate boats require handicap-style calculations, based on design and length as well as elapsed time, to determine the winners.

In one-design racing, which originated in late 19th-century Ireland, boats of the same model compete against one another in real time, with the winner crossing the finish line first.

As North American club sailors adopted the practice, regattas offered the waterborne equivalent of a level playing field, with the same number of crew and the same equipment aboard every boat.

Famous one designs from the 20th century include the Herreshoff 12 1/2, Optimist and Club 420 dinghies, all of which will be represented in this year’s regatta. The gaff-rigged Wianno Seniors, designed on the Cape, have been taking part in the regatta since 1928, Ms. Balay said.

“They are a big part of our history,” she said, adding that Wianno skipper Bill Lawrence of West Dennis will be racing his 40th Edgartown regatta this year, accompanied by his son Sam.

edgartown yacht club launch

Ms. Balay, an accomplished skipper whose own sons became the family’s fourth generation of EYC sailors when they raced as juniors in the 1990s, also noted that women have been regatta competitors throughout its history.

“Women were racing all the way back to the beginning,” she said. “They were always in the fleets...Our dad got trounced regularly by girls who were racing against him in Rovers.”

Diana (Dinny) Dozier, now 84 and a perennial competitor, is registered to race her Herreshoff 12 1/2, ’Twas Brillig, this weekend.

And while the club’s race committee and flag officers were exclusively male for more than half a century, women now play a leading role in race management, Ms. Balay said.

“Nowadays, you go out and sometimes it’s all women [managing] the course,” she said.

The 100th Edgartown regatta begins Wednesday with a two-day junior competition, complete with its own dinners, teen dance and awards ceremony for Optimist and Club 420 sailors.

Three days of Shields racing, doubling as the class’s New England championship, begin Friday and the two-day regatta for Wiannos, Herreshoffs, J/70s and Rhodes 19s begins Saturday.

Saturday also brings the annual Catboat Parade of Sail, a separately-organized event the EYC will recognize with a party and a gun salute as the classic boats pass by the clubhouse at the foot of Main street, followed by a 1 p.m. catboat race in the harbor and the regatta awards dinner on Saturday night.

The Century of Sail exhibition will be on display in the Carnegie’s front rooms July 12 through August 5, Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. More information about the regatta is posted on the EYC website, edgartownyc.org.

Gazette senior writer Louisa Hufstader and Edgartown Yacht Club race committee chair Elizabeth (Tot) Balay are sisters whose family has been associated with club racing since the 1940s. Their late father, former EYC commodore Peter Hufstader, established the club’s junior sailing program in the early 1970s.

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  1. Edgartown Yacht Club Home Page

    Edgartown Yacht Club 1 Dock St | PO Box 1309 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-4361 | [email protected] EYC Sailing Center 25 Chappaquiddick Road Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-9399. EYC Tennis & Fitness Center 94 Peases Point Way Edgartown, MA 02539 Tennis: (508) 627-9044 ...

  2. Edgartown Yacht Club Visiting Yachtsman Services

    Please contact the launch on VHF channel 72, or by calling the Edgartown Yacht Club front desk at (508)-627-4361. Please note your mooring number and general location to ensure prompt service. The Town of Edgartown also offers launch service through OldPort Launch, which can be reached on VHF Ch. 68.

  3. Launch Service

    Hours of operation adjust throughout the season. We strongly encourage yachtsmen contact the launch operator directly for current hours and rates. Visiting yacht clubs can contact the Edgartown Yacht Club directly for information regarding reciprocal service on their launch vessel, Helot, which monitors VHF Ch. 72.

  4. Edgartown Harbormaster slip, dock, mooring reservations

    Located at the foot of Main Street on the west side of the Edgartown Yacht Club (A-Frame building extending over the water) is a floating dock rafted alongside a row of red-painted pilings. ... The Town of Edgartown contracts launch service with a private company. For the last decade, that launch has been OldPort Launch, which can be reached on ...

  5. General Information

    Floating docks west side of Edgartown Yacht Club and in front of the Atlantic restaurant. Denoted by red painted pilings. ... OldPort Launch VHF Ch. 68. EYC Helot Launch VHF Ch. 72. Harborside Inn VHF Ch. 10. Mad Max Marina VHF Ch. 71. CHANDLERY AND REPAIR. Safe Harbor Edgartown (508) 627-6500.

  6. Edgartown Yacht Club

    EYC Launch Service begins Friday, running daily from 9 - 6, (with extended service on Sunday to accommodate dinner runs from the Reading Room). ... Edgartown Yacht Club 1 Dock St | PO Box 1309 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-4361 | [email protected] EYC Sailing Center 25 Chappaquiddick Road Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-9399. EYC Tennis & Fitness ...

  7. Edgartown

    Harbor Info & Services. Dock Space and Moorings: Edgartown Harbormaster VHF Channel 74, 508-627-4746 Harborside Inn VHF Channel 10, 508-627-4321 Mad Max Marina VHF Channel 71, 508-627-7500. Launch Service: Edgartown Yacht Club VHF Channel 72 Oldport Launch VHF Channel 78. Boat Rentals: Saltmarsh's Boat Rentals 774-310-1118.

  8. Edgartown, MA

    In the 1920s, families began to rent homes and spend the whole summer in Edgartown, and in 1923 the Club organized the Edgartown Junior Yacht Club, among the first of its kind, to enable young summer residents to learn sailing, seamanship, racing rules and tactics. Commodore Alexander M. Orr, chairman of the race committee from 1925 until 1969 ...

  9. Edgartown Yacht Club About Us Home

    Edgartown Yacht Club 1 Dock St | PO Box 1309 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-4361 | [email protected] EYC Sailing Center 25 Chappaquiddick Road Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-9399. EYC Tennis & Fitness Center 94 Peases Point Way Edgartown, MA 02539 ...

  10. Edgartown Yacht Club

    Edgartown Yacht Club, Edgartown, Massachusetts. 1,563 likes · 6 talking about this · 3,095 were here. The Edgartown Yacht Club

  11. Edgartown Yacht Club History

    EYC Tennis & Fitness Center 94 Peases Point Way Edgartown, MA 02539 Tennis: (508) 627-9044 | Fitness: (508) 627-5030

  12. Edgartown Yacht Club Visiting Yachtsman

    Edgartown Yacht Club 1 Dock St | PO Box 1309 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-4361 | [email protected] EYC Sailing Center 25 Chappaquiddick Road Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-9399. EYC Tennis & Fitness Center 94 Peases Point Way Edgartown, MA 02539 ...

  13. Celebrating 100 years of rejuvenation

    The Edgartown Yacht Club 100th Annual Regatta will see its sailors racing in three sessions: • The first, on Wednesday, July 12 and Thursday, July 13, is for junior sailors who will compete on ...

  14. Edgartown Yacht Club Racing

    Edgartown Yacht Club Racing. 1,866 likes · 13 talking about this. Established in 1905, the Edgartown Yacht Club has a long history of providing exceptional yacht racing in the waters around Martha's...

  15. Edgartown Yacht Club

    The Edgartown Yacht Club is a private yacht club in Edgartown, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The club was founded on January 5, 1905, and Edward H. Raymond was named its first commodore. The Edgartown Yacht Club's current clubhouse was completed in 1927, and is on Dock Street in downtown Edgartown.

  16. Edgartown Yacht Club Edgartown Race Weekend

    Edgartown Yacht Club. Search. Employment. Edgartown Yacht Club 1 Dock St | PO Box 1309 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-4361 | [email protected] EYC Sailing Center 25 Chappaquiddick Road Edgartown, MA 02539 (508) 627-9399. EYC Tennis & Fitness Center 94 Peases Point Way Edgartown, MA 02539 ...

  17. An interview with Elizabeth "Tot" Balay on Edgartown Yacht Club's 100th

    An interview with Elizabeth "Tot" Balay on Edgartown Yacht Club's 100th Annual Regatta. If you love history, time-honored sailing traditions, and competitive sailboat racing, put the centennial edition of the Edgartown Yacht Club's Annual Regatta (July 11-16) on your radar. Impressively, this regatta was founded before the majority of ...

  18. Edgartown Yacht Club 100th Anniversary Regatta

    Edgartown Yacht Club was founded in 1905, and the 100th Annual Regatta first took place in 1924, run from a rented cottage on the waterfront at the Harborside Inn. More than 100 vessels - mainly small gaff-rigged Catboats - took part in a festival of sail that delighted participants and spectators alike. Over the decades since, the event has ...

  19. Edgartown Yacht Club Renovations

    Originally built in 1928, the Edgartown Yacht Club has become a celebrated landmark due to its sizable contributions to Edgartown's maritime history and the community at large as well as its close proximity to the water. Unsurprisingly, its unique coastal location - on a wharf thirty-feet out on Edgartown Harbor - also has its downsides which became apparent during the notable hurricanes ...

  20. Edgartown Yacht Club hosts 100th Annual Regatta in July

    Edgartown Yacht Club (EYC) will celebrate a full century of competitive sailing this year with its 100th Annual Regatta on July 12-16. The regatta first took place in 1924 and was run from a rented cottage on the waterfront at the Harborside Inn. More than 100 vessels - mainly small gaff-rigged Catboats - took part in a festival of sail ...

  21. Gusty Winds Shorten Edgartown Regatta

    The 100th annual Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta wrapped up earlier than planned the weekend of July 15, when heavy winds Sunday morning led the race committee to abandon the final day of competition. In regatta results, Edgartown skipper George Eberstadt and his daughter Maya Eberstadt, sailing Persephone, won first place in the Herreshoff 12 1/2 ...

  22. Regatta Celebrates a Century of Sailing

    The Century of Sail exhibition will be on display in the Carnegie's front rooms July 12 through August 5, Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. More information about the regatta is posted on the EYC website, edgartownyc.org. Gazette senior writer Louisa Hufstader and Edgartown Yacht Club race ...

  23. Edgartown Yacht Club Hosting 100th Annual Regatta July 12-16

    Edgartown Yacht Club (EYC) in Edgartown, MA will celebrate a full century of competitive sailing this year with its 100thAnnual Regatta on July 12-16. The regatta first took place in 1924 and was run from a rented cottage on the waterfront at the Harborside Inn. More than 100 vessels - mainly small gaff-rigged Catboats - took part in a festival of sail that delighted participants and ...