Listing Of Greater Huntington Yachting and Boating Council Members
/Masthead Cove Yacht Club
Masthead Cove Yacht Club Members enjoy themselves at the club’s 2014 New York City Cruise.
Compared to other yacht clubs in the area, Masthead Cove Yacht Club is relatively young, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The club began in the spring of 1975, on New York Avenue in Huntington, in the Coney family’s backyard, when a group of likeminded sailors joined together to create a club designed to meet the particular needs of a sailing family, according to the club’s rear commodore, Lee Stern.
“The club’s Credo is very simple: Enjoy your sailing experiences in the good company of other sailors and have fun doing it,” Masthead Cove’s website said.
What sets Masthead Cove apart is its dedication to sailors. The club services only sailors and sailing families.
“It’s a club by sailors and for sailors; it’s a commonality of issues that sailboats could have over powerboats,” Stern said.
Membership is limited to 100 sailing families to ensure that the club has the resources to support a variety of activities but small enough to provide personal attention, according to the club’s website.
To be eligible, you must keep a sail boat over 20 feet in waters of Huntington or Oyster Bay. Oyster Bay membership is limited to about five families, according to Stern.
Instead of maintaining a clubhouse, the club keeps three large mooring buoys located in Lloyd Harbor, Sand City, and Port Jefferson that can accommodate members’ boats for social activities. This practice also keeps costs to a minimum.
The club’s activities include races, brunches, cruises, and philanthropic events, like The Masthead Race and Party in August, which benefits Ovarian Cancer Research. To date, the club has raised over $50,000 for research at Cold Spring Harbor Labs.
Northport Yacht Club
Northport Yacht Club offers guest moorings for visitors from other yacht clubs with reciprocal arrangements.
The Northport Yacht Club’s origins will have you asking the age-old question: “What’s in a name?” While the club began in name on in 1899, it took over half a century before it became what it is today.
The original club, which was founded by wealthy men who worked in New York and had second homes in the area, closed in 1925. In 1927 the name was taken by the Independent Yacht Club. During WWII, that club closed its doors. Finally, a sailor named Ben Gambee founded the Edgewater Yacht Club in May 1945, which took the Northport Yacht Club name in 1952, according to the club’s website.
The club now boasts a clubhouse, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a snack bar, moorings and more. According to longtime club member Harry Whittlelsey, the club currently has 300 members.
Membership is closed to the public and is by invitation and sponsor only. Any application must be sponsored by two good-standing club members in order to be considered, the club’s website reads.
The site also says that there is several-years-long waiting list at present; while non-boat owners are considered for membership, preference is given to boat owners.
Whittlelsey’s number one reason for joining the club was its location, he said. He explained that he could sail out of his mooring without using an engine thanks to its location at the end of the harbor. If the club were located at the end of a narrow channel like many other clubs, this would not be possible, he said.
“It’s also a working man’s club,” he said. “Members volunteer to maintain the club.”
Unlike other clubs that are maintained by employees, much of the Northport Yacht Club’s work is done by committees of members that do everything from teaching sailing to maintaining docks, fostering a close sense of community.
Huntington Yacht Club
The Huntington Yacht Club boasts an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a thriving recreational community.
The Huntington Yacht Club has a deep history and well documented history, dating back to 1894. That deep history brings a deep set of social traditions, according to the club’s commodore, Jim Kelly.
The club began “to promote social intercourse, create an interest in yachting and other aquatic sports and provide a suitable and convenient Club House, anchorage and harbor or basin for the use of its members,” the club’s website reads.
According to Kelly, the club has held onto that social focus for over a century. Kelly said that what really distinguishes the Huntington Yacht Club from other clubs in the area is that it is primarily a social organization with boating concerns.
Another defining feature in the commodore’s eyes is the state-of-the-art facilities available to club members. Amenities include over 100 slips with the size and power needed to accommodate 50 foot vessels, quality deck hands, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a snack bar with service to boats in slips, a clubhouse, a restaurant, and the list goes on.
“You will be pampered,” Kelly said.
Membership is closed to the public, done entirely by sponsorship, but if you do not know anyone in the club, there are still ways of joining. Kelly encouraged interested boaters to speak to the club’s membership chair, who may be able to introduce you to potential sponsors. He also said that while membership was not cheap, the club offers a variety of packages for different budgets.
“If you like a social environment and you like water and you like boats, come and talk to us,” Kelly said.
Beachcroft Association
Commodore Vinny Neefus
Black Rock Yacht Club
Commodore Christine Dickson
Commodore Thomas P. Hering
631-261-5440
Founded in 1947, the Centerport Yacht Club has served for almost 70 years as a yachting and social activities focal point for the boating community. Amenities include private docks, swimming pool and dining.
Commodore Herbert Hahn
Cold Spring Harbor Seafarers Club was founded in 1966 by the Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department. In 1972, management was transferred to a group of local residents. It continues to serve the Cold Spring Harbor area, offering a broad range of boating activities: recreational fishing, pleasure cruising, competitive fishing and instructional and social events for fishermen and recreational boaters. The Club promotes and supports safe seamanship and small boat handling among its members.
The club can accommodate boats to 30 feet comfortably and has a field of 50 moorings nestled around a private dock with launch service available. A one-time membership fee is $100, annual mooring fee is $35 per foot for each boat.
President Bob Bergsten
Throughout its history, Eagle Dock has been a place for Cold Spring Harbor residents to socialize with neighbors at events like an annual clambake in August. Over the years other events have been added to the calendar: Field Day, the Sunday Brunch, Dancing Under the Stars, S’Mores to mark the end of the school year, Wine & Cheese night, and even potluck parties.
Eagle Dock Foundation is holding a benefit party at the Huntington Country Club at 6:30 pm on May 14, sponsored by Signature Premier Properties. Tickets are $75/person. Funds raised are to rebuild Eagle Dock. Learn more at the website.
Commodore Edward Carr
The Eaton's Light Yacht Club is a social and racing Club serving families in the Greater Northport area since 1976. Coming up this season include a welcome-aboard party on Saturday, April 26; a commodore’s cookout on Saturday, June 7 and more.
Commodore Jerry Nigro
323 West Shore Road, Huntington
631-351-9312
The Harbor Boating Club of Huntington, Inc. is a cooperative boating club with membership restricted to 100 Town of Huntington residents. Each member owns a proportionate share of the club property and provides all necessary labor for maintenance, guard duty, etc. The property is maintained so as to be an asset to the area.
Commodore Erik Weber
191 Bay Road, Huntington
631-427-5555
Operational since the 1950s, the Club consists of a swimming pool, 47 cabanas, 5 tennis courts, 3 winter paddle courts, a basketball/all sport court, a locker/recreation building, two children’s playgrounds, a children’s cottage, two outdoor decks for dining, dancing and very popular Friday night Happy Hour, along with a very busy summer snack bar. The dock was expanded and the mooring field grows every year, and the club has added a picnic and barbeque area adjacent to the beach. The club currently has a membership of 300 families who enjoy many activities, including a summer camp for children, a competitive swim team, tennis, and junior sailing program.
Commodore Mark Weitman
Meets monthly at Huntington Elks Club, 195 E. Main St., Huntington
631-757-2922
Huntington Anglers Club was formed in 1948 by a group of concerned anglers to foster their sport, assist others, enjoy a common friendship and disseminate pertinent fishing information among its members. It is now a fast paced active club consisting of over 100 members, family members included.
Huntington Beach Community Association
Commodore Bob Caffine
For 86 years the members of the Huntington Beach Community Association have joined together to care for the beach property on a yearly basis. This collective care is what has kept the small community unique and cohesive.The area is the largest privately owned beach on the North Shore of Long Island, club officials said.
Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
President Pamela Setchell
P.O. Box 2454, Huntington
631-421-1985
The Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society was formed in 1985 by concerned citizens to prevent the demolition of the Lloyd Harbor Light Station and its replacement with an automated light tower by the United States Coast Guard. The objectives of the organization are to restore, preserve and maintain the historic lighthouse listed on the National Historic Register as the Huntington Harbor Lighthouse. The organization is dedicated to ongoing preservation of the interior and exterior for public use as an educational and historic resource while maintaining its use as an active aid to navigation.
Commodore Bert Ruben De Cervens
75 North New York Ave., Huntington
631-351-9762
Founded in 1913, the Ketewomoke Yacht Club is the oldest surviving club of its kind on Long Island. The club was originally built on pilings in Huntington Harbor, but it is now “dry docked” on a parcel of land on Route 110 in Huntington. The club continues to be a “working club” managed and supported by its membership. Ketewomoke Yacht Club is a congenial yacht club offering a picturesque, friendly, safe environment.
Commodore David Willis
Established in 1966, the Lloyd Harbor Yacht Club continues to serve the area’s sailors with an array of sailboat racing, cruising and social events.
LHYC’s most popular event is its Wednesday night Summer Series, which attracts approximately 50 boats in spinnaker, non-spinnaker, one-design and cruising canvas divisions. These races are supplemented with weekend regattas, a long distance race, charity events and on the water social events at our club mooring in Lloyd Harbor.
For cruisers, moorings are also maintained in Port Jefferson Harbor and in the Great Salt Pond at Block Island. Racers of all levels are welcome to join in the club’s events.
Commodore Andrew Whiteley
631-824-7128
Neptune Sail & Power Squadron, a unit of the Unites States Power Squadrons, is a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to making boating safer and more enjoyable through accredited classes in seamanship, navigation and related subjects to the general public. Members are boating families who contribute to their communities by promoting safe boating through education, while participating in a full calendar of events.
Commodore Gary A. Staurowsky
516-714-3247
Sagamore Rowing Association operates from Oyster Bay in a former Jacobsen Shipyard building renovated in 2000 by the Town of Oyster Bay and the State of New York. Events include the Long Island Junior Rowing Championships Regatta, held the first weekend in May; and the Long Island Frostbite Regatta, held the first weekend of November.
Seaspray Association
Commodore Hank Slattery
Commodore Douglas Browne
150 Harbor Road, Cold Spring Harbor
631-367-9822
Whaler's Cove Yacht Club lies within the inner portion of Cold Spring Harbor. It was established in 1962 as a members-only club whose express purpose is to promote sociability, goodwill, safe boating, and a clean environment while serving the boating interests of its members.
Commodore Jay Fay
311 West Shore Road, Huntington
631-470-1201
Wyncote Club was established in 1956 to promote a greater interest in and accessibility to pleasure boating. Today, the club's 4-acre site, including marina and clubhouse, is enjoyed, managed and maintained by Wyncote members themselves. Wyncote Club offers a 77-slip marina with clubhouse, 24-hour security, bathroom and shower facilities, electric and fresh water, safe parking, fuel, oil and ice.
