This $200M Yacht Club Is Being Eaten by the Ocean — And Its Members Can't Stop It

At the very end of a sandy road in Amagansett, on the far east end of the Hamptons, sits one of the oldest and most private clubs in America: the Devon Yacht Club, founded by a grandson of the man who started Procter & Gamble. For more than a century, the richest families on the East Coast assumed the bay would stay where it was. It won't. The clubhouse is, in one member's words, "a building, on top of a deck, on top of a pile of sand" — and that sand sits inside both a coastal-erosion zone and a flood zone, in a town whose own climate plan warns it could break into islands by 2070. This is the full story: how the founders built their mansions 90 feet up on the ridge but put the club on the beach, the "50 percent rule" that turns a repair into a brand-new building, the $35 million plan to tear the club down and move it just 10 to 40 feet back — so nobody loses the view, the lawsuit the club once filed to keep oyster farmers out of public water, and the civil war of 2025 that ended with a 59% vote, nine expelled members, an 82-year-old suing the club, and an allegation that a board member threatened to gouge out an opponent's eyes. The bay hasn't destroyed a single building. The members are doing it to each other. ⛵ Should Devon spend $35 million to hold its ground for a few more decades? Or should a club built on a pile of sand finally move to higher ground for good — like the founders did with their own houses? Let me know in the comments. ⚠️ Note: a documentary about coastal geology, local law and public records / reporting; contested legal matters are presented as disputes. Subscribe for more on what happens when the oldest money in America meets a rising sea. ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 The road that ends at the sea 00:50 $35 million, $100k per member 01:41 The strangest part: the ground 01:59 Two danger zones, islands by 2070 04:42 1906: Soap Hill 06:05 Mansions on the ridge, club on the sand 06:42 The 50% rule 07:15 How a shoreline really works 08:43 The rising sea 09:12 Napeague: one road under threat 10:00 The warning next door: Montauk 12:07 The $35M plan: tear it down 13:28 Moving back 10 to 40 feet 14:45 The 50% trap and 20 variances 17:10 Whose water? The oyster lawsuit 18:42 Civil war: the vote and the expulsions 21:40 What happens now: debt 22:46 Everyone is a little bit right 24:40 The bay has barely started