UW’s student yacht club could end as university reimagines waterfront

The high cost of membership and boats probably makes joining a yacht club low on the priority list for many college students. But University of Washington students have been able to take part in one for just $39 per quarter and have full access to expensive boating equipment, lessons and time on the water.

That deal could come to an end as soon as this summer, as the university’s latest waterfront renovations threaten to shut down the 76-year-old Washington Yacht Club.

According to club members, students will lose out on a unique, affordable experience, but the university says it’s making the waterfront more equitable, opening it up to more students and a wider range of uses.

The Washington Yacht Club has been on the UW campus since 1948 and operates as a nonprofit as well as a registered student organization. The club’s goal, according to its website, is to “teach and promote sailing in a safe, inclusive, accessible, and affordable way.”

Currently, the club stores its fleet of 70 boats at the docks near Husky Stadium on the east side of campus, including dinghies, keelboats and high-performance catamarans.

The club will have to remove all of them by July 1 as the university tears down, rebuilds and repairs the docks.

“The main issue is that they are going to remove us either way, no matter what the footprint is or how that changes,” said Layla Airola, a UW junior and a spokesperson for the yacht club.

The docks, located in front of the Water Activities Center, need to be replaced as many of them “are nearing their end of life and have some safety hazards due to deterioration over time,” according to project documents.

Gregory Reinhardt, associate director for programming at UW’s recreation department, said the project will cost $2.54 million based on current projections.

Once the work is done by April 2025, the university won’t let the club return its fleet to the docks, save for maybe one boat, if it agrees to become a recreational club. Without a place to store its fleet, the yacht club will struggle to exist in its current form, members say.

Notably, the Washington Yacht Club says, the project will remove the dinghy docks, effectively shutting down the club’s small-boat sailing program, which often helps introduce beginners to the sport.

Nearby and also being renovated is the historic ASUW Shellhouse, the birthplace of the UW rowing program made famous by the book, and the recent George Clooney-directed movie, “The Boys in the Boat,” chronicling the team’s push to compete in the 1936 Olympics.

The 2023 film helped inspire the shell house project, funded by an $18.5 million fundraising campaign. When the remodel is finished in June 2026, the doors will roll open again, and the shell house will become a student and community gathering space.

Until recently, the student yacht club and other groups stored some equipment in the shell house. Airola argues the new vision for the shell house goes against the building’s origins.

“The ASUW Shellhouse’s history is centered around student athletics, yet students are being displaced to convert the building into an event venue,” Airola said in a text message.

The Washington Yacht Club isn’t the only student group displeased. Last month, the Associated Students of the University of Washington, the school’s student government, passed a resolution opposing the dock renovation as it would limit the yacht club’s ability to operate, according to The Daily, UW’s student newspaper.

The university contends the yacht club can continue to exist and has offered its members the option of becoming a recreational club. If they do, they’d be allowed to store one boat at the docks.

Reinhardt said none of the 38 active clubs the department oversees receives the same amenities the yacht club does. He said in an email the offer to make them a recreational club would make their experience “consistent with that of the other [registered student organizations] we support officially through Rec Club status.”

Reinhardt also suggested in an email to the yacht club the possibility that they could rent moorage nearby from Intercollegiate Athletics, though that option hadn’t been explored.

Airola said one boat is not enough to support the club’s approximately 300 student members. She acknowledged the club has more storage space than any other student recreation club on campus, but argues the scope of their organization warrants the space.

As the July deadline to remove their boats nears, Airola said the group is looking into other storage locations for its fleet. If the club can’t find a place, it may have to sell its boats.

“Our experience with the university has not been that they would like to keep us here,” said Renee Chien, a senior and the club’s rear commodore. “But we do offer a very unique experience for students.”