End of an era in St. Petersburg

Located off Tampa Bay on Florida’s west coast, St. Petersburg Yacht Club has been a prominent home for the sport since its clubhouse was inaugurated in 1917. Offshore racing started with the Havana Race in 1930, with the world of yachting descending on the facility during the IOR era to start the two-week Southern Ocean Racing Conference.

As the annual home for the Winter Lightning Championship and the upcoming host for the 2023 J/70 World Championship, the club facility will soon be a memory as plans are underway to demolish the structure.

“It became evident that remodeling of the clubhouse to accommodate all of the changes desired by the membership would simply not be practical,” said SPYC Commodore Brian K. Smith. “But most importantly, we would end up with a remodeled building which would not comply with current FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) standards.”

Smith explained that the building’s floor elevation is six feet below current FEMA regulations, and the waterfront mainstay is no stranger to storms. Club archives state that the “Great Hurricane of October 1921” caused extensive flooding four years after the building opened. – Full report