Biscayne Bay Yacht Club

Biscayne Bay Yacht Club grew out of an informal boat race held to mark Washington’s Birthday in 1887, which the Coconut Grove sailors around Ralph Middleton Munroe formalized that year into a club with elected officers, bylaws, and a burgee. Munroe served as the first commodore for 22 years and the author Kirk Munroe as secretary for 34, and from 1888 into the early 1890s the club leased the Cape Florida lighthouse on Key Biscayne as its headquarters, for a token dollar. It is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the Southeastern United States.

The club settled into its present home in 1932, buying the clubhouse at 2540 South Bayshore Drive in Coconut Grove, on a stretch of shoreline it now shares with Coral Reef Yacht Club, Coconut Grove Sailing Club, and Shake-A-Leg, the densest concentration of sailing organizations in Florida. BBYC is a founding member of the Biscayne Bay Yacht Racing Association, and its members race the BBYRA season series, the club’s own regattas, and the Star-class Bacardi Cup that BBYC co-hosts with Coral Reef.

Youth sailing runs deep here. Alongside a dinghy junior program, the club fields one of the most successful youth windsurfing programs in the United States, sending young boardsailors to national and international competition off Biscayne Bay’s steady sea breeze.

Biscayne Bay Yacht Club is a private, member-owned club that honors reciprocal privileges for visiting members of other yacht clubs. Membership is by sponsorship; the club’s membership office handles applications and visiting-member arrangements.