The historical exclusion of African Americans is definitely a major part of the club's history, to the point I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in this article.
Even by the early 90s, the Florida Yacht Club had never had any black members. Considering that sailing was traditionally a sport engaged in primarily by wealthy white citizens, this was not in and of itself surprising. At the time at least one other major yacht club, the San Diego Yacht Club, also had no black members, though it had in the past. The word on the Florida Yacht Club was that it had an unofficial policy excluding blacks. As gaining membership was very complicated (there had to be an opening, a current member had to nominate you, and then the other members had to approve) this policy had never been challenged.
In 1992, several members felt it was time to change the status quo. They found the exclusion ridiculous and felt the lack of any black members reflected poorly on the club. Several members, including long-time Chamber of Commerce President Wally Lee and attorney Bill Scheu, nominated Dr. Chester Aikens, a local dentist. Aikens was himself a highly regarded local figure; he was a member of the Non-Group/Jacksonville Civic Council, chaired the Aviation Authority board, and advised all sorts of other boards and projects. He was a major boater whose membership would never be denied under most circumstances.
You can see where this is going. In June 1993, the Yacht Club rejected Aikens' membership. The club's bylaws stated that if five members voted to reject an applicant - they did not even need to say why - the application would be denied. Unsurprisingly, five members of the all-white club played that card. Rather than determining that these folks may be rejecting Aikens for reasons beyond the best interests of the club, the club stood firm.
As it turned out, the Yacht Club greatly overestimated its importance in the city and the sailing community. People were outraged; Bill Scheu tore up his own membership and has never returned. Naval Station Mayport said, in effect, "screw that". They firmly told the Yacht Club that it could no longer use base property for regattas, as they had been doing for years, even for parking. U.S. Sailing pulled a major national youth competition from the Florida Yacht Club that was scheduled for less than two weeks later. With this one decision, the club did enormous damage to its reputation.
The controversy made national news, including
The New York Times. It the wake, the club
changed its bylaws so that anyone rejecting a membership bid must submit their reasons in writing, and potentially defend them to the board; if those reasons violate the law (such as discriminating according to race) they are to be discounted. Later in the Yacht Club offered memberships to two other African-Americans, though both understandably turned them down. In the succeeding years, black members have joined the club and the current leadership makes an effort not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
