The New York Yacht Club. John Cox Stevens and eight other progressive New York yachtsmen met aboard Stevens new yacht Gimcrack, seen in the thumbnail, during the afternoon of Tuesday, July 30, 1844. Gimcrack was anchored off the Battery at the foot of Manhattan Island. Stevens proposed forming a club among New York businessmen and residents, which could serve as an organization for weekend New York Harbor racing, and summer cruises in the cooler New England waters.
It arrived, sticky and stinking of champagne, in an armored truck in the middle of the night.Hours later, polished and sparkling in the sunshine, it was presented to the commodore of the Royal Perth Yacht Club during a bittersweet ceremony at the Marble House. Twenty years ago today, the New York Yacht Club relinquished the America’s Cup, the historic and prestigious yacht racing trophy it had proudly held since 1857. Men in blue blazers and women in sundresses attended the ceremony, which marked the Cup’s first appearance in Newport.
