In this episode of CuriosiD, listener Max Spayde asks the question:
Why is there a boat club and a yacht club on Belle Isle?
The short answer
The two clubs were each founded for different boat-centered sports. The Detroit Boat Club was founded as a rowing club—although many decades ago it developed a “pure” sailing program that’s motorless. And the Detroit Yacht Club was developed as a sailing organization that continued to build on its motor-powered sailing programs.
Belle Isle was an ideal setting for both because of its location on the Detroit River and its connection to the Great Lakes system.
Detroit Boat Club
The Detroit Boat Club was founded in 1839 after Detroit developer Edward Brush fell in love with rowing on a visit to the East Coast. It is the fifth oldest non-academic rowing clubs in the world and the second oldest in the country…