History
Club History
By 1830, New Orleans had discovered the Gulf Coast. With the construction of the Pass Christian and Cat Island lighthouses, the Pass Christian Hotel was built followed by small family-owned hotels and boarding houses that sprang up. Dual resident summer homes were built in Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs. Steamboats plied the coast from Mobile to New Orleans, making scheduled stop at the small towns and tourism was born.
When Pass Christian was incorporated in 1848, it was already famous for its gallant and gracious charm and the courteous service given to its summer guests and residents. That was the era when the Pass had nearly a hundred private piers jutting out into the Mississippi Sound. The Pass Christian Hotel started in 1831 and when taken over by the affable hotelier R. H. Montgomery in 1847, it was further expanded and renovated.
Yachting in the south was born in Pass Christian. The first regatta was promoted at the Pass Christian Hotel and held on July 21, 1849. Citing a New Orleans newspaper The Crescent, “It was a gala day at the Pass. The quiet harbor was thronged with boats, gay with streamers and manned by athletic crews…” Twelve sailboats lined up at the start of the triangular course, and the Flirt of Biloxi won the Silver pitcher with the Anna of the Pass in second. By the end of the evening the Southern Regatta Club was organized with Pass Christian as its headquarters.
Past Commodore of the Southern Yacht Club Sam Heaslip helped organize the current Pass Christian Yacht Club in 1893. Joining with four other regional clubs, the Southern Gulf Coast Yachting Association was formed in 1901 and reorganized in 1920 as the Gulf Yachting Association (GYA), which today has more than 30 clubs.
Among other things, Pass Christian Yacht Club is noted for having the longest running regatta for female skippers. Under the sponsorship of then commodore Bernard Knost, the Knost Regatta was established in 1938 and continues as an annual event at PCYC
Over the next century and one-half after its establishment, PCYC weathered two world wars, a recession, a succession of changes in location, and numerous hurricanes including direct hits by the infamous Hurricanes Camille and Katrina. The Pass Christian Yacht Club survived to rank among the premier yacht clubs of the Gulf Yachting Association, the only GYA club to have held and won in a single year; the women’s championship (the Knost Trophy), the senior championship (the Lipton Trophy) and the junior championship ( the Junior Liptons).
The clubhouse is today located in the picturesque harbor at the foot of Pass Christian’s Market Street, providing services and other amenities for more than 700 members.
Written by Dan Ellis
