In 1862, eager to make his country a showcase for yachting and technological innovation, Prince Charles III encouraged the organization of the first regattas. The Société des Régates de Monaco was created in 1888 by a group of sailing and rowing enthusiasts, who began attracting international regattas in 1889. This passion for the sea was passed on to Prince Albert I, an outstanding navigator and pioneer of modern oceanography, who inaugurated the Oceanographic Museum in March 1912.
In 1904, the S.B.M. (Société des Bains de Mer) initiated the Exhibition and International Meeting of Motor Boats, attracting leading manufacturers to test their new engines. This event came into existence as road car races, deemed too lethal, were prohibited. It turned out to be a global success. Elite yachts from around the world flocked to Monaco, making it the exclusive spectator hub for these extraordinary gatherings. Within a few years, Monaco emerged as the epicenter of innovation and the hub for fashionable water sports.
In 1953, Prince Rainier III, a true visionary, realized that mere sporting events were no longer sufficient. Eager to endow the Principality with a yacht club akin to those he experienced during his cruises, the sovereign prince, convinced that “Monaco’s future lies seaward,” aimed to develop a facility that would attract and retain yachtsmen from around the world. Thus, he founded the Yacht Club de Monaco with the intent that this Club “fully accomplish its mission as a link between those who love the sea, serve the tourist interests and promotion of Monte-Carlo, and have, both internally and externally, only sympathies and friends.
As early as 1954, the Yacht Club de Monaco reinvigorated motorboat meetings, international regattas, and numerous other nautical activities (like big game fishing, scuba diving, etc.), while also training generations of racers at its Sailing School, established in 1957. One of the first outcomes of these events was the doubling of the port’s attendance. This ‘builder’ prince also encouraged Carlo Riva in 1959 to create the first dry marina and floating mooring pontoons, and a few decades later, the installation of a semi-floating breakwater. These three major global innovations were in service of an economic development oriented towards the sea.
In April 1984, H.S.H. Prince Albert II was appointed by Prince Rainier III as the President of the Club. Deeply involved in the Club’s activities, he immediately sought to develop the sporting aspect of the Y.C.M., enhancing the training structures for young racers and creating new events of international scale.
In the first year of his presidency, several notable events were organized: the Primo Cup, which became the largest winter monotype gathering in the Mediterranean; the Monaco-New York transatlantic race, still vivid in memory with the participation of the Monegasque crew Biotonus-YCM; and the Formula 40′ Grand Prix. Convinced that understanding the past is key to building the future, H.S.H. Prince Albert II also focused on traditional yachting. This included organizing the Monaco Classic Week from 1994, creating and coordinating for five years a unique circuit of vintage and classic yachts, the Prada Challenge for Classic Yachts, and acquiring Tuiga in 1995, which became the flagship of the Y.C.M.
The bows have returned to terra firma at the end of the Monaco Optimist Team Race, an international meet dedicated to the elite of team racing, organized by the Yacht Club de Monaco with the support of FxPro, equipment supplier Slam, boatyard Erplast, and Peace and Sport. Featuring 16 nations and 64 sailors under 14 years of age, the event reflects the sports policy led by the Y.C.M., “Transmission is part of our values, but also of the approach ‘Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting’,” explains Bernard d’Alessandri, Secretary-General of the Y.C.M.
On June 20, 2014, the Yacht Club de Monaco turned a new page in its history with the opening of its new Club House, a building designed by Lord Norman Foster. This impressive showcase of Monegasque yachting facilitated, in line with the Sovereign’s wishes, the creation of the “Yachting Monaco” Cluster and the “La Belle Classe Academy,” a specialized training center in luxury yachting. This move aimed to affirm Monaco’s position as the global capital of luxury yachting.
Joining the Yacht Club de Monaco is primarily a commitment. It’s about maintaining a certain ethic both on land and at sea, ensuring respect for naval etiquette and environmental preservation. The philosophy of the Yacht Club de Monaco is founded on the necessity to sustain and transmit a heritage inherited from our ancestors, so that the Yacht Club remains a vibrant hub of life and exchange.
Becoming a member means agreeing to apply and widely disseminate a “club spirit,” based on loyalty to certain rules and principles. Encouraging individual initiatives, fostering dialogue among members, defending values of solidarity and mutual aid among seafarers, while promoting the Yachting of a Principality that is always in motion, these are the missions of the members of the Yacht Club de Monaco. They perpetuate, on a daily basis, this unique art of experiencing the sea.
