OUR MISSION
THE BUFFALO YACHT CLUB FOUNDATION WAS CREATED IN 2010 TO FURTHER BOATING EDUCATION IN BUFFALO, NEW YORK. THE BYC FOUNDATION BELIEVES IN MAKING THE JOY OF SAILING, BOATING, AND ACCESS TO THE WATER AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE IN THE WESTERN NEW YORK AREA.
JOIN us June 1st, 2024 at 6pm
Escape to an island paradise without leaving the shore! Join us for a night of laid-back vibes, toe-tapping tunes, and a sea of good times all to raise money for BYCF Boating Education.
BYCF Boating Education Programs
The BYCF runs sailing programs for individuals of all ages and skill levels. Our sailing program grew out of the initiative to share the sport of sailing with the WNY community. We offer lessons to our community because we believe that sailing builds character and resolve. The Buffalo waterfront provides the perfect playground for kids and adults to enjoy sailing. No experience is required to take advantage of the sailing opportunities that the Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation has to offer.
Our Junior Sailing in Buffalo moved from our Point Abino Station to Porter Avenue in 2015. In the years since, the program has had up to 50 kids a week throughout its eight weeks each year in July and August. The program offers six different classes for kids ages 6 to 17 years old. Most classes require absolutely no experience which makes it easy for sailors of all ages join. If you are interested in learning more about our Junior Sailing Program, please click HERE. If you would like to sign up for our Junior Sailing Program please click HERE.
The Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation is proud to host more than 50 sailors from fifteen area high schools during the fall and spring for their High School Sailing Program. The program is open to all 7th through 12th graders. Students practice three days a week after school from 3:30pm to 7:00pm and compete in local regattas on the weekends across Western New York. The fall season runs from September to November and the spring from late March until June. If you are interested in learning more about our High School Sailing Program please click HERE. If you are interested in signing up for our High School Sailing Program please click HERE.
Sailing is a lifelong sport that can be learned at any age. The Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation is offering you an opportunity to learn the basics or to fine tune sailing skills with our Adult Sailing Lessons. Learning the "ropes" of sailing this summer with an accomplished sailor and an experienced teacher, may well provide you a life long passion for the art of sailing. If you are interested in learning more about our Adult Sailing Lessons please click HERE. If you would like to sign up for our Adult Sailing Lessons please click HERE.
Enjoy a two-hour private sailing lesson taught by our US Sailing Certified Instructors. See Buffalo from a different perspective during a session tailored to you! Click HERE to sign up now!
Scholarship Application
BUFFALO YACHT CLUB FOUNDATION
The Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation has scholarships available for children 6 to 18 years old to participate in the BYCF's high school and junior sailing programs. To apply, please click the link below to complete the scholarship application. If you have any questions, email [email protected].
Scholarship Application - Apply Now!
On September 19, 2023, the Buffalo Yacht Club Community lost a valued member, a dear friend, and an avid sailor, Brian T. Markarian.
To know Brian was to love him. He was always the first to offer a handshake to a stranger, although with Brian, no one was ever a stranger for very long. He had a smile that lit up the world around him. When determined, Brian was unyielding; he pursued his passions unapologetically. His zest for life was insatiable, his laughter infectious, and his spirit wholly indomitable.
As one of five children in a sailing family, Brian was learning to tie up a boat before he learned to tie his own shoes. Summers were spent in tight quarters on the boat with his family, replete with lake baths, card games, and picnic lunches. On school vacations, weekends, and even when he probably should have been somewhere else, Brian was sailing. While for some this would have been enough, Brian was just getting started. He co-founded a sailing program in his high school, competed locally in several categories, and even qualified for the World Sailing Championships in Colombia. Sailing was woven into the very fabric of Brian’s identity.
The joy he felt when he was sailing, and the growth that it fostered within him, changed Brian’s life. He learned that it was not just his talent, but also his safety, his comfort, and where he always found acceptance. Through sailing, Brian cultivated a version of himself that he loved: a man who could be confident, authentic, trustworthy, and proud. The very best of Brian was built out on the water.
Life for Brian was not always calm waters and smooth sailing. He was a risk-taker, and with those risks often came defeat and failure. Brian never surrendered; he always picked himself up and dusted himself off before trying again. When he faltered, Brian had a community of people from sailing and the BYC that encouraged him to carry on. They were his North Star when he lost his way.
The Brian T. Markarian Scholarship Fund has been established to foster a passion for sailing in those who otherwise may not have had the opportunity. Brian’s mission was to share the sport of sailing as far and wide as possible, and his work will continue through this fund. It is the sincere hope that with time, patience, and more than one accidental gulp of lake water, recipients will grow to love the sport and find themselves the way that Brian did. The Markarians, along with their family and friends, invite you to join them in building Brian’s legacy through the Brian T. Markarian Scholarship Fund.
HOW TO HELP
INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING THE BUFFALO YACHT CLUB FOUNDATION? CLICK HERE FOR MONTHLY OR ONETIME DONATIONS TO BE BILLED RIGHT TO YOUR BYC ACCOUNT.
2024 FUNDRAISING CAMPAIgN
The Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation has embarked upon an ambitious campaign to raise funding for the Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation Boating Education Program. The BYCF offers a robust learn to sail program that includes Junior Sailing, High School Sailing, Maritime Sailing and Adult Learn to Sail classes. All these programs utilize our aging fleet of sailboats. Sailboats, especially ones in constant use, have a limited lifespan. To continue to run our successful boating education programs, it is necessary to maintain and replace our fleet of 18 sailboats. For more information about how you can help, please click the link below.
Securing the Future of Sailing in Western New York
Recent Beneficiaries
Maritime Program
Starting in the spring of 2018, the Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation
initiated its Maritime Sailing Program, a partnership with the Western New York Maritime
Charter School and Buffalo Maritime Center, to run a program which not only
allows students to learn about the Buffalo Waterfront in a classroom setting
but also offers an opportunity to experience it firsthand. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the fall and spring fourteen
students along with their teacher travel to the Buffalo Yacht Club for hands-on
sailing lessons. Each day the students complete an in-class whiteboard lesson and then
transition to a hands-on lesson on a J/22 sailboat with a coach. When not in class at the BYC, the Maritime cadets go to the Buffalo Maritime Center where they learn about woodworking and build their own boat.
Sailing
In 2017, the Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation purchased a fleet of eighteen brand new Zim Club Flying Juniors (FJs). An FJ is a dingy commonly sailed with just two sailors and popularly used in youth and collegiate sailing. Presently the boats are being used by the Buffalo Yacht Club Boating Education Programs for their Junior Sailing and High School Sailing Programs. In these programs kids ages 6 to 18 years old learn the basics of how to sail as well as advanced racing techniques.
Rowing
The Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation supports the West Side Rowing Clubs efforts of advancing the youth of Buffalo's physical, mental, and moral well being through the art of rowing and athletics. The BYC Foundation has assisted them by donating a crew skull to the City Honors High School Rowing Team. Additionally, in 2020, the BYCF donated a Boston Whaler to the West Side Rowing Club to be used as a safety boat while instructing on the water practices.
Tall Ships
Summer of 2019 the Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation supported the Buffalo Lighthouse Association in their efforts to bring twelve historic tall ship from throughout the US, Canada, Spain, and the South Pacific to Buffalo, NY for the very first time. For seven days, the event gave Buffalonians the unique opportunity to view, board, and explore the boats. In total about 85,000 individuals participated in the event celebrating Buffalo's unique maritime history.
RacinG 
The BYC Foundation has supported the art of sailboat racing through the Buffalo Harbor Sailing Club. The Buffalo Harbor Sailing Club sponsors races on every Tuesday and Wednesday nights from May until September in addition to hosting regattas on the weekends. When in need of a new race committee boat to run the Tuesday, Wednesday, and weekend races the BYCF contributed to the purchasing of their new boat.
HISTORY
The BYC Foundation supported the Frank Lloyd Wright Rowing Boathouse when in need of funding to build the structure, which was initially designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905. The Boathouse was opened in 2007 and dedicated to the Charlie and Marie Fontana Boathouse in honor of the long-time rower and coach at the neighboring West Side Rowing Club and his wife.
Thank you to all that support the Buffalo Yacht Club Foundation!
