Sint Maarten Yacht Club

We joined another yacht club!

One of the sad things about leaving our home in Rhode Island was leaving the East Greenwich Yacht Club where we’d been members for many years.  I’d served on the board in various capacities, our kids had spent years in the junior sailing program, and we had lots of friends and many fond memories.  But when it came time to leave it just didn’t make sense to pay dues on a club we wouldn’t set foot in for years so we had to say our good byes there, too.

We don’t quite have the same connection to the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, and it’s a bit different than the EGYC.  Physically smaller, but perhaps socially larger.  Annually the club hosts the Sint Maarten Heinekin Regatta near the beginning of March, which is known globally in the sailing community as a world class sailing event.  We’ll be gone from St. Martin by then though, so more important to us is the Junior Sailing program and Happy Hour!

ar The club bar and restaurant is open to the public and has a nice happy hour every night from 4:00-6:00.  Discounted drinks and appetizers are nice, but what makes happy hour in this yachtie bar really cool is the bridge.  The Yacht Club is situated right next to the largest opening into Simpson Bay, and any yacht of decent size or deep draft that wants in to the bay must come through here.  The bridge only opens three times per day for boats going in and out (total of six times), and one of those is at 5:30 p.m. – right in the middle of happy hour. 

When the bridge opens every night you are treated to a stately procession of boats, ranging from small sailboats to gigantic mega yachts, all gliding through the bridge opening in an orderly row.  By 5:30 of course the Happy Hour crowd is…happy!  So the cooler boats, and those that blow their really loud horns or have cheerful people on board are greeted with hails and cheers from the crowd on the club deck.

While the 10% discount on our bar tab is nice the real reason to join had more to do with the kids.  The SMYC has a Junior Sailing program, and members get to use the boats as well.  For our kids, and in particular for our son, this was an ideal situation.  They get a chance to meet some other sailors, and sail some more exciting boats like Lasers or RS Invisions.  Will in particular has spent a lot of time at the club, taking some of the (discounted for members!) Junior Sailing classes, and getting invited to sail in some local regattas.  Heaven, for a kid like him.

One of the toughest things to give up was the Junior Sailing program at our old yacht club; it is a wonderful program and both of our children have had some of their best experiences growing up there.  The people that run SMYC are smart, they’ve created a membership class that makes sense for people like us, who are only transitory here, but still want to have a small bit of belonging!

Will crewing on an RS Invision