The Cruising Club of America is a group of accomplished recreational offshore sailors bound together by friendship and the desire to foster the responsibilities, expertise, and skills needed for the adventurous use of the sea.
Members volunteer to achieve the CCA’s goals by sharing experiences, organizing events on and off the water, promoting seamanship and best practices, and recognizing outstanding accomplishments by fellow members and the amateur sailing community. The Club’s initiatives put particular emphasis on safety at sea education and training, exemplary offshore yacht design and construction, and environmental stewardship.
The CCA does not have a physical headquarters. The Club exists anywhere its members come together on land and sea. In popular sailing regions, members organize into stations which host local gatherings for members and guests.
The Club is known - since shortly after its founding in 1922 - for running the biennial Newport Bermuda Race and awarding the Blue Water Medal. More recently, the CCA has added the Young Voyager Award, Roderick Stephens Seamanship Trophy, and Diana Russell Award for Innovation to honor those who represent the best of the Club’s priorities. The Club has published enduring books like Nowhere Is Too Far, Far Horizons, Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts, Safety for Cruising Couples, and Adventurous Use of the Sea, cruising guides to the coasts of Maine, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and Labrador, and the annual publication of members’ articles, Voyages.