Yacht Club de France
Paris, FR · founded 1867
Photo: CVB (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia CommonsSenior nautical club of France, founded in 1867 under the patronage of Napoleon III. Headquartered at 41 avenue Foch, Paris. Manages the IRC rating system and federates around seventy allied clubs internationally. Organizes the Coupe de France (France's oldest nautical trophy) and the Spring/Autumn Cups in the Mediterranean.
History
Founded in 1867 under the Second Empire, with the patronage of Emperor Napoleon III, the Yacht Club de France is the senior nautical club in France and one of the oldest in the world. Its Paris clubhouse at 41 avenue Foch remains the hub of a federation of some seventy allied clubs in France and abroad. The YCF manages the IRC handicap rating, the reference system for offshore racing, and organises the Coupe de France, the oldest French nautical trophy still contested. In the Mediterranean, it holds the Coupe de Printemps and Coupe d'Automne every year, and co-organises with the Yacht Club Italiano the Giraglia Rolex Cup, one of Europe's most competitive offshore races, linking Saint-Tropez to Genoa via Corsica. It also partners with the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) for the Transatlantic Race.
Flagship events
French Cup, Spring Cup and Autumn Cup in the Mediterranean, RORC partnership for the Transatlantic Race