White Bear Yacht Club

The White Bear Yacht Club is a private athletic and social organization dedicated to the promotion of yachting, golf, tennis, swimming and other sports. Situated on the shores of White Bear Lake in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, the White Bear Yacht Club has a history dating back to the late 1800's. At a meeting held in August 1897 at Ramaley Pavilion, then the home of the White Bear Yacht Club, the Inland Lake Yachting Association was formed to promote the sport. The 10 initial member clubs selected White Bear Lake as the site of the 1st Annual ILYA Regatta, and scheduled it for August of 1898. Yacht racing legend Sam Merrick who passed away in 2000 wrote a great article about the history of Scow Sailing, originally published in the National E Scow Association newsletter. The article makes mention of the many contributions that White Bear sailors and boat builders made to the sport. Another great source of background information is the ILYA Centennial book written by White Bear's Dr. Thomas A. Hodgson. With input from Sam Merrick, Tom chronicled the first 100 years of the ILYA in the book "The History of the Inland Lake Yachting Association". Participation in the White Bear Yacht Club sailing program is open to all members of the public. You do not need to be a full Proprietary Member to register a yacht, or crew on one, however as a social club organized under section 501(c)(7) we must require that you apply for membership.