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THE HISTORY OF THE FISF 'LASS Since the founding of the Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans in 1849,
nothing was aore of a stimulus to yachting in the South than the building
of the Fish Class Fleet.
After Vorld War I, sailing activities at the Southern Yacht Club and all along the Gulf Coast vere at a very low ebb. There was no money around for the purchase of a boat.and the spirit was lacking.
Cognizant of the situation, Commodore James Benedict and Ex-Commodore Ernest Lee Jahncke were successful in persuading the Southern Yacht Club's Governing Board to approve a plan designed for a one-design sloop by Rathbome deBuys, a naval architect by profession, and commission him to build six of these club-owned vessels, which for a nominal fee the club rseabers could return to sailing.
In 1919, Rathbome deBuys, later known as "The Daddy of the Fish Class," designed this even-keel,ngai«r aylwMe and easily maintained boat that *as to become the moS- historical boat in the history of yachting in the South, from Houston,Texas to St .Petersburg, Fla. Each club had its own fleet of boats so that it was not necessary to tow your club's boat for an event as is done today.
This fleet of vessels was knovn as the Fish Class, do-called for native fish, Marlin,Tarpon,Sunfish,etc., which names appeared on the transom of the boats. Later, numerals and the emblem of a Fish were placed on the sails for better identification. The measurements are shown on the mat.
Many of our Nationa.1, International and Olympic winners were products of this classic sailboat, which sailed in interclub competition for fifty years, when, in 1969, .it was replaced with the Flying Scot, a store advanced spinnaker type boat.
The Fish Class ia synonlmous with the first Sir Thomas J.Lipton Trophy and the founding of the Gulf Yachting A*sociation in 1920.