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Bentley Yacht Club (U.S.)

New York

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 2 May 2016

Bentley Yacht Club

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Bentley Yacht Club

I recently mentioned the burgee of the Bently Yacht Club, as pictured in Lloyd's Register of American Yachts in the teens of the twentieth century. As it happens, this club still exists, except that its name is spelled "Bentley Yacht Club": bentleyyachtclub.4t.com. I don't whether that's a problem with Lloyd's, or whether a name change occurred at some point.

Bentley Yacht Club was created as a mooring club, like so many other clubs are as well. The essence of such a club is to provide the local community with space for their boats, and for the boats' owners to gather. Quite a few such clubs after a while stress racing more, attract wealthier members because of that, adapt to these changes, and often explode when those wealthier members don't come any more. The BYC apparently has stuck to its purpose ever since they were incorporated in 1909, providing its services to Tottenville, Staten Island, New York for more than a century!

I've tried to draw a burgee that holds a middle ground between what Lloyd's has, and what's visible in recent pictures, e.g. in the raising of a burgee: photo2_1.html. A triangular burgee, 2:3, with an old glory red hoist and an old glory blue fly, separated with a narrow flyward white chevron, the hoist bearing a white star with one point pointing upward. (I picked the Old Glory shades as the actual flags are obviously too dark to be middle blue, even if the members' clothes do show the burgee in that shade.)

Especially the size of the star is a compromise, as the current images seem to show a smaller star than Lloyd's did. It's quite likely that Lloyd's was wrong, though, as they didn't have much room for subtleties. I hope that if that's the case, the people of the BYC will be able to provide the original wording for the burgee, and/or a good image to use as an example for an improved drawing. For now, this is what I can do. I hope it's at least recognisable.

Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 2 May 2016

In 2013, the Bentley Yacht Club was a party in some legal dispute. In 2022, there is no longer any trace of the club.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 30 July 2022