WYC on the water in front of Husky Stadium. Photo courtesy of Raymond Smith and WYC.
In July 2024, UW administration notified the Washington Yacht Club (WYC) that they will no longer be able to dock their boats along the UW waterfront or store club equipment in the UW garage facilities.
This will leave the 75-year-old sailing club without access to water or storage for their fleet of over 70 boats, leaving the club’s fate in jeopardy.
The removal of the docks to allow for the installation of a beach is a part of the waterfront restoration project being carried out by UW Recreation, Intercollegiate Athletics, and Campus Architecture and Planning.
While this new imagined space for UW’s waterfront will be advantageous for many, WYC members are left with feelings of uncertainty.
Theano Stavrinos joined the WYC one month after moving to Seattle for her postdoc at UW. Learning how to sail was on her wish list upon accepting this role and WYC soon became her favorite thing UW had to offer.
“Being part of the Washington Yacht Club has been life-altering — I say that with no hyperbole,” Stavrinos said. “Aside from the specific sailing [and] repair skills I have learned in the club, there are more general skills I develop every time I go out: risk assessment and mitigation, teamwork, stewardship of shared resources, and learning from mistakes.”
Post-construction, the docks will be managed by UW Recreation, whose plan is to focus their resources toward the WAC Boating & Rentals program that retails upwards of 2,000 rentals every quarter. Gregory Reinhardt, associate director for programs and assessment at UW Recreation, believes this waterfront operation will increase UW Recreations’ impact on serving the UW community, due to a limited dock footprint and the fact that the beachfront is less expensive to maintain.
The ASUW Shellhouse will also be a construction site later this year. While this is a separate project to the waterfront restoration, all clubs have been notified to vacate that storage space as well.
WYC is not a Rec Club RSO, which means they will not be able to return to this space after construction. Priority will be given to Rec Clubs for the projected limited capacity of the new docks.
“It’s understandable that upcoming changes are disappointing to the WYC, but that group needs to appreciate that virtually all of the WAC’s facilities and operations are impacted — ultimately that impact is a positive one because many more students will be able to participate in waterfront offerings,” Reinhardt said. “The path forward for WYC to remain on-site is to become a Rec Club.”
The WYC gives an unlimited amount of sailing lessons to its members for $39 a quarter. What would otherwise be a very expensive sport has been made accessible to college students from all backgrounds.
Stavrinos could not think of any other university club or activity that provides a similar opportunity to learn valuable, real-world skills while simultaneously learning how to sail three different types of boats. Without the skills, comfortability, and confidence that WYC has given, Stavrinos felt that it would be difficult being in the larger sailing community as a Latina.
“If the UW takes the actions that it is proposing — stripping us of our waterfront boat storage and facilities — I don’t see the club remaining affordable or accessible and it may be forced to dissolve altogether,” Stavrinos said. “UW would lose something really special to the detriment of its mission and its students.”
Bhanu Sharma, WYC’s vice commodore, shared a similar sentiment.
“The club not only introduces such a diverse community to a very homogenous sport but also provides a sense of community which can sometimes be lacking in a place like UW,” Sharma said. “I wouldn’t have fallen in love with [the] PNW if it wasn’t for the club. I found friends, passion and purpose here.”
Sharma and other WYC members were disappointed with the administration’s handling of the situation as no RSOs were consulted during the planning phase of the waterfront restoration project. Members of the WYC felt blindsided when a club member stumbled upon the plans accidentally.
“We had to reach out to [UW] Recreation on our own accord,” Sharma said. “While I can understand certain constraints, it’s disheartening to see the administration making decisions that jeopardize the safety and accessibility of student activities.”
Over the course of the last 10 years, the WYC has been subjected to restriction or lost complete access to essential facilities at the WAC including locker rooms, repair bays, and dock ramps. Despite this, the WYC has continuously let other clubs use their spaces and even actively rescued people out of the water.
UW Recreation has expressed their desire to be more equitable to other RSOs, especially Rec club RSOs. However, no other student club necessitates these resources.
“If we became a Rec club, if we agreed with everything and didn’t protest the renovation, we could have our stuff in the sail locker, garage bay, and we could have one boat. They said a dinghy or a whaler, which is a boat for a single person,” Layla Airola, media director for WYC, said. “That is the elimination of the club.”
Reach reporter Saida Nor at news@dailyuw.com. X: @saidaxno
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