100 YEARS : Good Times and Bad Are Remembered at San Diego Yacht Club

The San Diego Yacht Club, observing its centennial this summer, is a survivor.

After drifting with the wind for decades, it is comfortably established in a permanent headquarters in Point Loma. For a while back in 1934, in fact, the clubhouse floated on a barge.

The bad old days are remembered, if not celebrated, in a centennial year.

Joseph Jessop, 86 and the club’s patriarch, was the commodore in 1929, when only 11 of 200 members could pay dues during The Depression.

“That was the real low point of yachting in San Diego,” he said.

Having seen the clubhouse shifted from Hawthorne Street to 28th Street to Coronado to Shelter Island to the barge towed behind members’ boats, he can appreciate the club’s feeling of permanence.

With a roster of 1,800 members, the club sails into its second century with an international reputation anchored by Dennis Conner’s role in America’s Cup competition. The club is spearheading a bid to regain the cup from Australia in 1987.

In addition to a role in international circles, there have been other changes. Long after a youth program was established, women have finally assumed a more prominent role in the SDYC. But the basic appeal of sailing hasn’t changed a lick.

“It’s one of the cleanest sports there is,” said Jessop, whose brother Alonzo de Jessop was a founding father of the club. “There is sunshine and fresh air, and I happen to love the water. I think trees and rocks are beautiful, but they’re the same. With water, there is always some activity.”

Jessop, who raced competitively until 1967, still cruises his yacht Cathleen on the ocean and San Diego Bay three times a week.

The future of the club encompasses a broader emphasis on competition, according to Malin Burnham, a longtime member and president of the board of trustees of the Sail America foundation.

“From my perspective, the club has gotten involved in competitive racing further and further from home base,” he said. “We have people sailing all over the world.”

The club’s involvement in the America’s Cup challenge is only an example of its international and national involvement.

However, the basic ingredient which has enabled the SDYC to navigate its first 100 years has been generation-to-generation family involvement.

“Clubs die off because the next generation doesn’t have an interest in what you’re doing,” Burnham said.

The Jessop generations have been the cornerstone for those 100 years. Five members of Joseph Jessop’s generation were members and 10 members of the ensuing generation are members.

On a sunny summer afternoon in this 100th year, Jessop was surrounded by youngsters on one of the club’s docks. They would soon put on their orange and yellow life jackets and clamber into multi-colored sabots.

“This is where my heart is,” Jessop said. “It’s great to see all these youngsters around.”

They are the future of a club with a struggling past and finally a storied present.