he British Virgin Islands Yacht Club was officially formed on 25 July 1973 with 76 members. The first Commodore was Peter Wright with the following committee members: Tudor Williams (Vice Commodore), Norma Riegels (Secretary), John Green (Treasurer), Gary Turpin (Sailing Secretary) and Val Steinberg (House Member). Michael Helm later joined the group representing power boating.
The new yacht club had four Sunfish dinghies for the use of it’s members and in April 1974 moved into it’s first club house when Charlie and Ginny Cary, the founders of The Moorings which was in its’ infancy then, offered the use of their recreation room at Fort Burt. The Club’s membership had climbed to 100 and recognition from around the world was demonstrated when the club became a member of the Royal Yachting Association and the West Indies Yachting Association.
It wasn’t long before a bigger facility was needed and, together with the Angler’s Club, the BVI Yacht Club purchased a houseboat from Little Dix Bay Resort. The new ‘clubhouse’ was brought to the ‘Cleaning Hole” between the present site and the main road and named The Anchor Club. The official opening of The Anchor Club took place on 22 May 1975. It was immediately a huge success and remained so until Hurricane David decided it’s fate later that year.
The next stop for the clubhouse was thanks to Mr HR Penn who stepped forward with a five year lease on a property between the Waterfront Apartments and The Pub. There was dock space and apartments upstairs which helped bring in some much needed revenue for the club. The official opening took place on 12 October 1979 and after some major renovation it became a very comfortable clubhouse for the next five years.
In 1984 the BVI was represented for the first time at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The smallest nation to ever compete at the Games, there were five entrants in the sailing competition. Keith and Peter Barker competed in the 470 class with Robin Tattersall, Keith Thomas and Elvet Meyers competing in the Soling.
In 1988 the club moved back to the recreation room at Fort Burt, still on the look out for permanent premises. It wasn’t until 1993 that the current clubhouse at Road Reef was completed after twenty years of searching.
