Who We Are

1 SCYA Overview

The Southern California Yachting Association (SCYA) is a regional recreational yachting and boating organization that services amateur yacht clubs, sailing clubs and power boat groups. SCYA is a non-profit California corporation supporting boating groups and clubs from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and inland to Nevada on the Colorado River, and north to Laughlin, Arizona. The focus of SCYA is to provide a single platform whereby harbor associations, yachting and boating clubs, rendezvous and regatta organizers can communicate and coordinate their respective activities in one forum. SCYA is recognized nationally by US Boating and US Sailing as a regional association.

Services the SCYA provides to its members are the coordination of boating activities throughout the region, providing education for boat safety and other topics, celebrating and recognizing yacht club and association quality programs, commending sailors and power boaters for their skills and Corinthian spirit, and providing communication through the SCYA website, yearly publications, and meetings allowing members to connect. In addition, the association informs the general boating community of special legislation that can impact the boating community. SCYA has been providing these services for over 95 years.

2 Mission Statement

The Southern California Yachting Association provides support and promotion of recreational amateur boating in its area. Support to the boating community is accomplished through a forum that fosters local, regional, national, and international Corinthian yachting competition, coordination of race schedules, activities, special events, and regattas; and by conducting seminars on safety at sea, race management, and other boating activities.

3 Affiliations

SCYA is affiliated with these fine organizations: Pacific Coast Yachting Association (PCYA), Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association (PICYA), Yacht Racing Union of Southern California (YRUSC).

4 Membership

SCYA enjoys over 90 club and association members throughout its operating region. Visit the membership page to find your club or association. View our members page.

Member Benefits

There are several classes of SCYA memberships typically based upon the size of the organization. Regardless of the type of membership, all members use SCYA as a focal point for a variety of activities and special interests. The following provides a partial list of the benefits SCYA members enjoy:

  • Provides a service center which members may call to address questions, yachting community activities, training or special events.
  • Hosts special events to recognize Commodores of member clubs for their hard work and dedication; examples are the Commodore’s Cruise, SCYA Installation and Awards Dinner and a Rear Commodore Seminar;
  • Presents over 20 special trophies and awards recognizing clubs and associations for their s programs, and individual sailors and power boaters for their contributions to the support and growth of recreational boating;
  • Holds a Women’s Boating Clinic, with both land based and on-the-water instruction; SCYA is dedicated to growing the popularity of sailing and boating for women;
  • Holds regular membership meetings featuring guest speakers on a variety of boating topics; the meetings are a networking opportunity for members and leadership teams to connect with other yacht club officers and board members;
  • Invites member affiliates to special training sessions on Boating Safety, Model Boating, Medical Emergencies at Sea, Club Membership;
  • Publishes the Race Calendar for the region; maintains the race calendar on line;
  • Prints the most authoritative directory on all member yacht clubs, boating groups, harbor associations in its annual Yearbook;
  • Acts as an outreach agent to bring water sports to the general community by promoting youth boating programs open to the public;
  • Promotes Challenged Boating Programs that help people with special needs to experience the joys of boating and yachting; examples include Challenged Sailing, hosted by Coronado yacht Club, Wheelchair Regatta hosted by Silver Gate Yacht Club, and Warrior Sailing;
  • Supports Recreational Boaters of California which Monitors legislation impacting the boating community at large and works with state and federal advocacy organizations.