The Southern Yacht Club is located in New Orleans's West End neighborhood, on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Established in 1849, it is the second oldest yacht club in the United States. Southern Yacht Club is host to active Rhodes 19, Vanguard 15, Sunfish, 420, Laser, Optimist and J-22 fleets as well as mutiple Handicap and Offshore Racing Fleets and several high school sailing programs. Additionally, the Southern Yacht Club has, for over fifty years, hosted Intercollegiate Sailing Association regattas including The New Orleans Sugar Bowl Regatta, often partnering with Tulane University. Southern Yacht Club is a founding member of the Gulf Yachting Association.
The Southern Yacht Club is home to three U.S. Sailing Olympic medalists including Gilbert Gray, who in 1932 won a Gold Medal in Los Angeles in the Star Class; G. Shelby Friedrichs, Jr., who won Gold in the Dragon Class in Mexico City, 1968; and most recently Johnny Lovell, who received a Silver Medal in Athens in 2004 as well as numerous other national and international champions.