Lake Arrowhead Yacht Club

I have been fortunate enough to have a very good pal who is a member of the Lake Arrowhead Yacht Club (LAYC), an exclusive private club at Lake Arrowhead. My good fortune has been that I have been his invited guest, too many times to count, over the past seventeen or eighteen years. The best part of this is that I’ve met and made the acquaintance of many of the members who have been absolutely as nice as can be and are gracious to a fault.
The club membership, I am told, is for the sole purpose of one thing: the pursuit of furthering the hobby and past time of sailing and encouraging all of the family to participate, including the «little ones.» I have also been told that those folks seeking new membership who do not sail … are not invited to join. Sailing IS very important here. All events at the club are planned or in concert with different sailing events, races, regattas, meets and «Invitationals.»
The members of LAYC remind me of close knit relatives. Mingling with them at the club as a guest, I get the feeling that I’m at a family reunion; there’s a lot of obvious kinsmanship, brotherly love and spirited discussions that you’d find at family events.
The club’s kitchen always has really good food. They serve sit-​down dinners as well as buffet meals. During the racing season, there are dinner parties every Saturday night that are absolutely the bomb. Several evenings during the week, the kitchen is also open to members.
The club also has a sporty, full bar with TV’s to watch sporting events and, as you can expect, beer, wine and cocktails flow freely when the club is open.
LAYC is open basically between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Having said that, the club has a modified opening in the beginning of Springtime and a scaled back version of the club is still open through the early fall. Come winter, however, the club closes down, completely.
My pal is a past Commodore of the club and has been the chairman of the race committee for many years. Races at the club are on Saturdays and Sundays. There are approximately eight fleets (different style sail boats) that race. That means that, usually, the Race Committee [which uses a pontoon boat and sets up at different points in the lake to start and finish races], has to start and finish eight fleets of boats per race. On Saturdays, there are two races (one on Sunday). Over the years, I have helped the Race Committee, usually being a backup scorer or once in a while handling flags and/​or marker and lap-​count placards with the close supervision and direction from those on the committee. It is a LOT of fun.
Anyone reading this that spends time at Lake Arrowhead and is into sail boats, you are NUTS if you do not join the LAYC!

LAYC is a private club, so only members and guests are allowed. It’s worth joining just to sit lakeside on Wednesday evenings during the summer for Fine Dining. Sitting by the lake and enjoying the sunset is just the best.
Chef Randy Arrington presides over an extensive
Menu of fresh steaks, pastas and fish. Randy and his wife, Robyn, own two other successful restaurants in the Big Bear/​Lake Arrowhead mountains, so they know what they are doing.

The best boating club in SoCal, period.
Centered in the heard of the Lake Arrowhead Village, the Lake Arrowhead Yacht Club is as sophisticated as it is social.
I remember spending many weekends here, learning all the different types of boats, learning how to tie knots, and also the theme parties I was too young to drink at. Some of my favorite parties were the ones with nautical toys and fishing nets all over the walls. I ALSO remember a group of «older kids» in their 20’s (I was 8 at the time) who told me I needed to pull down all the streamers and crêpe paper. My parents weren’t too happy about that.
The food was great here, and there are a lot of activities for kids while the parents enjoys adult time. Crafts, movies, and boat tours were commonly available.
This is a private club, so make sure you contact a member if you know one, or one of the officers. Their website is
.