Corona yacht club earns a crown

Bahia Corinthian earns yacht club of year award for its charitable activities and regattas.The Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club can add another trophy to its collection.

The Corona del Mar club won the 2005 yacht club of the year award given annually by the Southern California Yachting Assn.

The Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club won in the senior category, which includes clubs with a large membership base. The club has about 500 members.

Clubs from Santa Barbara to San Diego are eligible for the award, which goes to the association member that earns the most points. Points are rewarded for activities including holding regattas and organizing charitable events.

The Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1958, amassed a near-perfect score, beating out dozens of other clubs.

“We are thrilled, needless to say,” said Roderick Woods, commodore of the club.

“The lifeblood of a private organization is new members, and hopefully people will say, ‘Gee, they must be doing something right.’”

Thom Page, director of the Southern California Yachting Assn., said the association gives out the award to promote involvement among member clubs.

“I was impressed with the overall boating programs [at Bahia],” Page said. “The youth sailing program and their community service totals stood out.”

The club conducted 12 yachting-related seminars in 2005 and supplied a handful of young sailors with scholarships to its six-week summer sailing program, Woods said.

The official send-off party for the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race is held at the club, as are a number of regattas.

The Angleman series for large boats takes place over six weekends.