Bay Head Yacht Club

The Bay Head Yacht Club was established on September 8, 1888 “to promote yachting and rowing and to foster athletic sports upon the water.”  Bay Head was then emerging as a popular seaside resort that attracted prominent families from Philadelphia and New York. BHYC members were active participants in early sneakbox and catboat racing on the shallow waters of Barnegat Bay. The first clubhouse was built in 1889 on pilings at the head of Barnegat Bay. The modest building was surrounded by marshes and reached from land by boardwalks. In 1914 the club was a founding member of the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association; that summer, a BHYC sailor won the first BBYRA championship. In 1928, the current clubhouse was built to accommodate a growing membership. Since then, Bay Head sailors have won more than 175 championship flags in classes ranging from E Scows to Barnegat Bay’s splendid wooden A Cats. BHYC’s campus is a key site in Bay Head’s historic district, including two buildings separately listed on the National Register as contributing structures within the historic district.