Shelter Island Yacht Club - A Centennial History

The Shelter Island Yacht Club

A Centennial History

1886-1986
A book written in 1986 to commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the founding of the club.

Chapter 8 - Steady As You Go, 1962 - 1971

Between its 75th and 85th birthdays the S.I.Y.c. forged steadily ahead. Membership increased gradually from about one hundred eighty to the self-imposed ceiling of two hundred fifty. The maximum for regular members was set at two hundred thirty-five, leaving a margin of fifteen places for honorary, continuation (e.g. widows of members), associate and intermediate (ages nineteen to thirty-three) members. There was usually a waiting list of applicants.

The decade began with a spurt of enthusiastic and fairly intensive racing by the large handicap and the one-design classes. In addition to Stars, Lightnings and the growing Wood Pussy fleet, Comets, Blue Jays and eventually the lowly Sunfish and Sailfish enlarged the weekly program.

Now and then interest in racing seemed to flag. Or was it that racing committees, as reflected in their reports, rarely found themselves entirely pleased with participation? Week-end weather could often be persistently uncooperative. Storms would alternate with dead calm. And then there was an unexpected fire. On the whole, however, Shelter Island flourished quietly and the Club flourished with it.

Changing Course

Shortly before, the 1962 season opened there was a sudden shift of flag officers. When Norman Free resigned abruptly on May 21, Michael Hassel, to his great chagrin, was elevated directly from rear commodore to commodore. The new commodore, an American member of a family very prominent in German civic and diplomatic service, quickly set a new course for the Club.

At the time he himself was sailing Lightnings and Stars but in a couple years he would be skipper of the graceful 36.10 foot sloop Menina built for him in Hamburg and aboard which he would die during a cruise in the summer of 1969.

A record number of boats - twenty-eight - came out for the June 1962 "tune up" race. It was followed a week later by the Commodore's Dinner in the refurbished dining room. Hassel set to work to restore the visits which Off Soundings had discontinued in 1960 owing to some discourtesies. Also, he strongly encouraged the revival of a power boat program under the eager leadership of Raymond Belknap.

A coordinator of on-shore youth activities, John Hallman, was hired. His job was to develop a schedule for nonsailors, including such things as swimming instruction, excursions and other distractions. Some mothers apparently regarded a weekly rate of fifteen dollars as a small price to pay for a day-long supervised program. As the average age of the children tended to drop - some said into the baby-sitting category - the program suffered.

On the whole a very favorable series of reports filled the agenda of the end-of-season meeting. Jasper Kane commented on a good sail to Block Island in which the large handicappers competed successfully for a leg on the Brooklyn Challenge Cup. Raymond Belknap - president of the United States Life Insurance Company - described the power boat cruise to Mystic, Connecticut and Fisher's Island. Jay Helme reported that all one-design classes Stars, Lightnings, Blue Jays, and especially Wood Pussys enjoyed a fine season.

Among the events, the Peconic-Gardiners Bay regatta drew thirty Stars and the Long Island Lightning regatta brought out twenty-nine boats, including the S.I.Y.C.'s eleven. The E.L.I.Y.A. three-day regatta assembled over three hundred participants belonging to nine associated clubs and the S.I.Y.C. sailors romped off with all honors in the Star and Wood Pussy classes. In the large handicap class Samuel Hird's Blueflower captured first place and Wallace Tiernan's Kana took third.

When two U. S. Navy destroyers of the Third Naval District put in at Greenport for a visit, the S.I.Y.c. invited twenty officers to a clubhouse dinner.

The next year the sailing program was repeated, more or less. The weather, generally speaking, was excellent, especially for the E.L.I.Y.A. regatta which drew nine classes of boats from eight member clubs. The winds averaged fifteen knots over three racing days. The S.I.Y.c. won another leg on the .!3rooklyn Challenge Cup.

A major item demanding attention was the reconstruction of the north pier. Some extra advantages were envisaged, namely, slips for small boats, more parking space for automobiles and additional protection from northeast storms. First of all, however, the project called for revision of the agreement with the Heights Association which owned the dock but wasn't interested in maintaining it. Instead of renewing the Club's lease, the Association deeded the dock to the Club, specifying that it - the Association - retain right of access. The dock and bulkheading cost over $29,000, most of which had already been donated. The balance was raised by assessing each member eighteen dollars.

Now it was decided to establish both an Improvement Fund and a Long Range Planning Committee. It was also agreed to rent the nine slips on the south side of the new dock for one hundred twenty-five dollars plus one dollar for each boat foot length. One large docking space on the north side was reserved by John Snyder for his 80 foot yacht for one thousand dollars, but in a little more than a year Snyder died, quite suddenly.

Such major expenditures, while challenging some members, discouraged others, even to the point of resignation. Despite the return of Off Soundings, despite the highly successful power boat cruise up the Connecticut River to East Haddam for dinner, theatre and dance, despite the Long Island Wood Pussy Championship regatta and a visit from the Essex Yacht Club, Commodore Tiernan reported his impression at summer's end that "interest in racing had waned considerably". Seldom, if ever, he added, were more than three Stars in the water, or more than two to three Blue Jays, rarely more than eight Wood Pussys, Lightnings even less.

He concluded that there were too many different classes and recommended concentration on only two, apart from the Penguins. The acquisition of the Penguins at about this time had been strongly advocated by Trafton Badger who saw the desirability of making pre-season and post-season sailing available to those who liked the idea. Hence, the term "frostbite fleet". The little boats which cost only $440 to $600, were also light in weight, one hundred thirty to one hundred fifty pounds.

Tiernan encouraged the purchase of a half-dozen Wood Pussys for the younger members, adding "unless we take some positive steps, our sailing fleet will disintegrate and this Club will be reduced to racing Sailfishes and Sunfishes". Walter Brigham, boat master par excellence, was producing a number of beautifully crafted Wood Pussys in his Shelter Island workshop but by this time Wood Pussys were also being made of fiberglass which proved to be less than satisfactory, in fact, in the words of one member "a disaster". Eventually they were donated to an upstate school.

Much more successful was an intensive drive by the newly-appointed Membership Development Committee consisting of Gregory Price, Wallace Tiernan and Adrian van Riper. To everybody's satisfaction twenty-seven new applicants were recruited in the first year, bringing with them a total of forty-nine children under eighteen years of age.

Long Range Planning

The finance-conscious trustees kept a keen eye out for any additional source of income. The initiation fee went up to two hundred dollars. Guests were charged $2.50 for a night's mooring. The Sandwich Committee consistently showed a profit of several hundred dollars. The new Penguin owners, now up to seven boats and growing, were told they could build racks but at their own expense. The local high school seniors rented the clubhouse for their big dance at two hundred dollars, which happened to coincide with the cost of an office for the Club's bookkeeper.

Jasper Kane was named chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee and served in that capacity for several years. Early consideration was given to equipping the dock with a bubbling system as protection against ice damage and replacing the catwalk on the east side of the clubhouse with a porch. The 1965 season found the new porch in place, the whole clubhouse freshly painted inside and out, the new north dock graded and seeded (no parking permitted!) and a new float at the south dock.

Furthermore a handsome new trophy in the form of a great silver bowl had been presented to the Club by the family of Edmund Poor. The winner of the Labor Day race in the large handicap class was to receive a miniature replica but the Club itself was to retain possession of the big cup.

Membership now stood at two hundred twenty-eight, despite the increase of the initiation fee. Twenty-nine new boats had been added to the fleet, including twenty sails. The season was enlivened by visits from the Essex Yacht Club and Off Soundings as well as the Wood Pussy championships.

None of this seemed to change the Commodore's view regarding a lack of interest in racing. The number of Lightnings and Stars was declining. The Wood Pussy regatta was cancelled for some reason. Sailfish and Sunfish races, albeit un sponsored by the committee were, as Tiernan had foreseen, a fact. Power boat cruising for lack of sustained interest was called into question as part of the Club program. Nevertheless, the first steps were taken to obtain Coast Guard approval to plot a mooring area in the harbor. Could it be true that the hoist and dry sailing had, in effect, "killed" the old interest in casual racing and cruising?

Sailing or Social?

There are indications that the Club was somewhat divided about confining itself strictly to sailing or developing first class dining facilities on its new east porch. With the installation of a fully-equipped kitchen, the S.I.Y.c. was finally in a position to operate a regular restaurant. Net profit from food services had already shot up from $300 to $2,300 in one year.

A couple of years later an excellent, if somewhat demanding, German couple by the name of John (for Geront) and Rose (for Roswitha) Noel were engaged as steward and chef respectively. For about two years they performed very well, but by the third year they became overly possessive, resenting any intrusion -whether by the Sandwich Committee or the Ladies Supper hostesses - in their domain. They inaugurated a snack bar for Juniors with whom ice cream cones, following the purchase of an ice machine for $1,000, became extremely popular. The Sandwich Committee was discontinued.

Meanwhile, not only was the high school's request to hold its big dance at the Club declined but word went out that the Garden Club "would not be using the Club this year". Not all of this can be attributed solely to the Noels. Three years earlier the arrangement with the Garden Club had been described as "not satisfactory" and new arrangements were arrived at, namely, that meetings would be limited to ten per season plus a two day flower show. Furthermore, all catering would be done by Club personnel and no other food brought in. Also, the fee would be three hundred dollars. The Garden Club itself was becoming restless.

1966 was another anniversary year, the 80th, and special efforts were made to celebrate the occasion, not only with an Anniversary Ball but by sponsoring the Brooklyn Challenge Cup race as well as the Long Island Open Wood Pussy Championship, and, not least, by entertaining approximately 1,100 people in connection with Off Soundings weekend in September. A census of boats revealed that the number of Lightnings and Blue Jays was now "improving" and the Wood Pussys were "strong", but the overall situation in midsummer was summed up in the noncommittal words "enthusiasm for racing. . . about the same as last year". Holding steady, shall we say?

Meanwhile that ardent advocate of the racing program, Frederick W. Koelsch, Jr., had died and a memorial trophy was established in his name in September 1966. It was to be awarded annually to the one-design skipper "who demonstrated by competitive performances outstanding ability". For one whose daily idiom was liberally spiced with - shall we say? - biblical terms, it is interesting to note that his is the only trophy bearing a scriptural quotation, namely, the words of St. Paul to the effect that "all compete in a race but only one receives the prize". An apt Corinthian reference! The first winner was Jeff Bull, a fine young sailor.

During this period three key indices of the Club's well being held up splendidly, namely, a well-filled membership roster, a well-organized sailing schedule, and a wellrounded social calendar. All social events, except for the Senior dances, were well attended. The Ladies Buffet Supper drew one hundred seventy hungry people, there were one hundred sixty guests at the Tri-Club Regatta and the use of the Club restaurant was increasing. As for the Juniors, their dances were more popular than the Senior dances; one hundred twenty attended a discotheque party.

An appeal was launched for still more boats and racing. Stars and Lightnings, it was noted, had gradually been "disappearing from the active racing scene". The large handicap boats and Wood Pussys, however, had increased "substantially", not to mention the participation of fourteen Sunfish in a semi-official race arranged by Bud Jaeger. But the Saturday races were in great need of another one-design class larger than the Wood Pussy and carrying both jib and mainsail. More Blue Jays? More Lightnings?

The purchase of seven Comets was the answer to the Club's question, along with five more Wood Pussys and a Blue Jay in 1968. That summer the fleet increased from twentythree to thirty-one boats in the small category. Juniors in the sailing class jumped from twenty-one to thirty-two and were presumably enjoying the redecoration of their clubhouse which after suffering considerable hard usage had been put back in shape by Mrs. Janet Badger.

Best Laid Plans. . . and Fire

That fall Jasper Kane's Long Range Planning Committee prepared a comprehensive report listing such major items as repair of the north bulkhead at an estimated cost of $10,000, replacing or filling in the slip at another $10,000, opening up the wall between the dining room and the Rainbow Room with folding doors at $2,000 and soundproofing the Rainbow Room for $6,000. No sooner had this thoughtful list of priorities been submitted than another ugly storm hit the Island. It moved the floatsone of them quite new - across the harbor and inundated the clubhouse itself with twenty-eight inches of briny water, breaking the fresh water main in two places and ruining motors, lockers, etc. Disheartened eyes measured the damage at $35,000 to $40,000.

That winter the trustees and flag officers tackled the dual task of dealing with the old year's storm damage and the new year's program. Contributions to the Capital Improvement Program were coming in - $10,400 by May - and work was already going forward on the bulkhead and fourteen feet of landfill. The clubhouse itself had been nicely refurbished and a cheerful letter went out to all members announcing a full schedule of sailing and social events, including inter-club visits, regattas, and trophies to be offered. There would be about twenty-five Wood Pussys in the 1969 fleet.

In the early evening of May 5, however, flames were observed licking their way up the east wall of the clubhouse. Only prompt action by a couple of young men and the quick response of both fire companies prevented total destruction. Even then there was considerable damage to the east porch, the bar ceiling, the steward's quarters upstairs and the roof, not to mention the loss of relatively new lounge furniture. Insurance covered $14,090 in damage claims, leaving the Club with a net loss of only $500. Responsibility for the blaze, after careful examination, was blamed on a smoldering cigarette carried by a bird to its nest in the eaves of the porch.

Out of the Ashes

The fire was not permitted to interfere with the first pre-season event, namely, a wedding reception. Opening of the dining room, however, was delayed until late June. Remembering the employment of nine persons in the restaurant and three in the bar, the loss of revenue was substantial but the sailing schedule went forward as planned.

Two noteworthy events brought special gratification to the whole membership that summer. The S.I.Y.C. team, consisting of three large handicap boats - Lockwood's Dolphin, the Reybine brothers' sloop Paprika and Tiernan's Kana - placed second among sixteen other yacht clubs in Block Island Race Week.

Jeff Bull, son of Commodore Henry Bull, took first place in the National Wood Pussy Championship. For the second time in three years the Club awarded him its Koelsch Trophy for "outstanding ability in competitive performance" in a one-design class.

That fall the agreement with the Off Soundings Club was rewritten to accommodate accumulated revisions. What had begun back in the 1930's as a pleasantly informal visit by a manageable number of yachts had more than doubled in size to over two hundred boats. Off Soundings was, of course, more of an event, or series of regattas, than a conventional club. It drew scores of yachtsmen from many different clubs or from none at all. The demands upon the S.I.Y.C.. especially for food, wash-up facilities and launch service were becoming excessive. Damage and litter sometimes resulted from overindulgence in alcoholic beverages and this year, to top it off, the Club's burgee was stolen.

In retrospect, however, the whole year looked good to the new Commodore, Jay Helme, as he reviewed it in his first newsletter. Despite fire and storm, he described it as "financially successful". "We hosted and sponsored more major racing events than in any other year in postwar history." He urged further development of both the Wood Pussy ($1,500 each) and the Comet ($2,000) class. In March the initiation fee was boosted from $250 to $350.

1970, too, turned out to be a very good year despite the cancellation of visits by other clubs because many yachts were not yet able to meet the requirements of New York State's new Boat Sewage Control law. But race participation locally was "at the highest level". At the E.L.I.YA. regatta the S.I. yc. distinguished itself by taking the first three places in the Wood Pussy race, first in the Blue Jay race and second and third places in the Comet competition. Six new fiberglass Wood Pussys had joined the fleet and on two September Saturdays fourteen Wood Pussys entered the races.

Once more the trustees took up recommendations of the Long Range Planning Committee. Phase 1, the replacement of the south dock for an estimated $9,500 was authorized. When it was learned that the Club had applied for a clearance from the Army Corps of Engineers, the question of a Town permit was raised, leading to a prolonged debate - with articles in the Shelter Island Reporter - regarding ownership of the harbor bottom. The Club contended that it had received clearance from the Heights Association but finally requested a Town permit also.

The committee submitted, as Phase 2, the remodelling of the dining rom and the Rainbow Room, pronounced the kitchen "inadequate" and the lavatory "outdated". Moreover, it recommended maintaining a two hundred and fifty limit on membership, not counting associates. It expressed concern that the Junior Yacht Club was failing in its purpose, even though more money had been allocated at the beginning of the year to promote interest in youth activities at the Club by providing two sailing instructors as well as one on-shore person to look after the Junior clubhouse itself.

Much preparatory planning, under the leadership of Commodore Helme, went into the celebration of the Club's 85th anniversary. Four thousand dollars was budgeted for the purpose and word went out to twenty-five yacht clubs. An impressive total of one hundred large handicap yachts - the largest number ever entertained by the Club - filled the harbor. A main feature of the program was a midsummer regatta to which the Schaefer Brewing Company sent its splendid yacht America, a 150 foot schooner. Each day twenty-five people were invited aboard for a short cruise.

Also, for the occasion, John Umpleby brought the Club's history up to date in a fifty-four page booklet containing introductory background material by F. S. Blanchard, a reprint of Fountain's 50th Anniversary account, as well as a factual summary of the 1937-1971 period, all of which were of invaluable help in preparing the present booklet.

Pictures following Chapter 8

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