Balboa Island Yacht Club celebrates 100th anniversary
The Balboa Island Yacht Club, the club run by kids for kids, celebrated its 100th anniversary on Saturday in Newport Beach.
About 300 alumni of the club showed up, said Piper Blackband, the club’s 2022 commodore, including 40 commodores.
During the ceremony, the officers for this summer introduced the staff commodores and staff secretaries. One of the speakers was Allan Beek, 95, the senior staff commodore from 1942, who spoke about the legacy of the club.
It is the second oldest yacht club in Newport Beach; only the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, established in 1916, is older.
Blackband, who will be a junior at Corona del Mar High, said competitions are run daily throughout the program. Mondays are for paddleboarding and sailing, Tuesdays are for swimming and stand-up paddleboarding, Wednesdays are for rowing, and Thursdays and Fridays are for sailing lessons.
The 100th anniversary celebration kicked off the summer season. On Saturday, the sailing and rowboat racks will be put on the beach, she said.
“We don’t really see each other during the [school] year, but then we come back during the summer and it’s like how it was before,” Blackband said. “We’re a close-knit family because we’ve known each other since we were so young.”
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