Founded in 1928 and fully organized in 1947, the Lido Isle Yacht Club features a burgee that is a combination of the white burgee with red St. George’s Cross of the Royal Yacht Squadron and the blue fouled anchor of the South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club. With a mission to educate young sailors and provide activities for the people of Lido Isla, the club offers a number of programs and activities to enjoy throughout the year.
Lido Isle Yacht Club History
While the Lido Isle Yacht Club was incorporated on September 29, 1928, it was not activated until after World War II. Tom Rutter was elected the first Commodore in January 1947 and the club’s Burgee was adopted. The following year, the club was granted membership to the Southern California Yachting Association. It wasn’t until 1965 that it would be admitted to the Yacht Racing Union of Southern California.
The junior sailing program was a part of the Lido Isle Yacht Club from its early years. Dora Hill and SC Tom Rutter taught young sailors from 1946 to 1948, with Dick Fleet becoming the first Junior Sailing Director in 1953. Many of those who have participated in the junior program have gone on to win major national and international titles. In the 1950s, three of Lido Isla Yacht Club’s junior sailors were honored by the Helms Foundation for outstanding contributions to junior sailing. A number of junior programs continue to be offered at the Lido Isla Yacht Club throughout the year.
Lido Isle Yacht Club Facilities
The Lido Isle Yacht Club boasts beautiful facilities, including a club house featuring a board room for smaller meetings and two other rooms. The Bay Room, which looks over Newport Harbor, can accommodate 225 members and guests. It also features a dance floor, sound and music system, fireplace and direct access to a large commercial kitchen. The Garden Room offers enough space for 120 people and features a large wet bar, a fireplace, a big screen TV and an awards cabinet. It can be combined with the Bay Room for larger functions.
Dockside, the yacht club features to large floating decks that offer a temporary tie-up for boats between races or for overnight guests. A race tower can be found at the end of the pier, while the beach next to the clubhouse features a swim float with sliding board as well as a concrete and plastic mat for manually launching small boats. Bathroom facilities are also available along with an outdoor fresh water shower and a patio deck.
Meanwhile, two Genoa Boat Gardens provide storage space for small boats and inflatables. Located at the corner of Via Genoa and Via Lido Sound, the facilities feature two small boat launch ramps on state-of-the-art pneumatically-controlled floating ramps and a concrete vehicle boat launch ramp. Genoa West also features an electric hoist with a 1,000 pound capacity, a floating dock and a crew ramp.
The club fleet includes an R/C Boat (Commodore Lockney), two Lasers, six CFJ’s and 15 Coach Boats.
By submitting information, I am providing my express written consent to be contacted by representatives of this website through a live agent, artificial or prerecorded voice, and automated SMS text at my residential or cellular number, dialed manually or by autodialer, by email, and mail.
