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.
A Centennial History
1886-1986
A book written in 1986 to commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the founding of the club.
Two to three fresh breezes kept the S.I.Y.C. moving smartly along toward its centennial year. One was the substantial extension of its shoreside property. Another was the proliferation, a veritable explosion, of new classes of one-design boats, first the Lasers and the Etchells, later the Herreshoff 12's and finally the 420's. The first six Lasers had actually been bought in 1969 or 1970 after Peter Dinkel and others, upon seeing the new design impressively demonstrated off Block Island, decided to build a fleet. The first Etchell arrived in 1976.
Still another puff of wind was furnished by the acquisition, by lease, of two nearby tennis courts which belonged to the Heights Association and had once been a valuable adjunct to the defunct hotel.
Bigger is Better
For a number of years the Club's next door neighbors, former Commodore Henry Bull and his wife, had been mulling over a plan to sell their overly large cottage in order to build a smaller house on the western end of the same lot. Profiled against the sky on Chequit Point, the picturesque Victorian structure had become something of a white elephant. Among other ailments its locust post underpinning was giving way.
Nearly ten years earlier Jay Helme had obtained right of first refusal from the owners, thinking to acquire the cottage for his own family. Suddenly in 1971 the Bulls decided to sell and Helme immediately approached a few members regarding the possibility of extending the Club property.
The Long Range Planning Committee went into action. It estimated that the total costs would hit $56,000 and recommended that the membership be assessed three hundred dollars each to be paid over a period of three years. The house itself was of no practical value, but the land on which it stood, approximately 30,000 square feet abutting the Club footage, could be put to very good use. Financial arrangements were duly concluded and in a matter of weeks the old landmark was razed at a cost of $3,450. Meanwhile, a number of members resigned in protest. By the following Spring the grounds had been smoothed over and seeded, not without some nostalgic regrets for the loss of the cottage whose previous owners - including the Lohrkes and Robertses - had been active sailors.
A second major addition was a new floating dock valued at five thousand dollars. It was primarily the work of the estimable, if terse, Captain John Buck, a man of many useful talents who as dockmaster effectively looked after the whole physical plant for some ten years. In grateful recognition of services rendered by him, Commodore Charles F. Hansel, in behalf of the Club, presented a clock, a barometer and a check for two thousand dollars to Captain Buck on the occasion of his retirement.
A census of ninety-six members at this time revealed that the fleet consisted of forty-seven power boats, mostly outboards, outnumbering all other categories. Next came twenty-six Sunfish and Sailfish, followed by eighteen large handicappers, then fifteen Wood Pussys. There were seven Lasers, four Comets, four Stars, three Lightnings and eight other one-designs. Now six Puffers were acquired as a kind of replacement for the aging Wood Pussys. More would soon be added.
In an effort to exercise some degree of decorum in and around the clubhouse, the house rules were updated and emphasized. Among its twenty-five paragraphs the code specified that members were responsible for the personal appearance and conduct of their guests, going into some detail regarding acceptable attire. In the wake of the 1960's it had become conventional to be unconventional. Any limitations placed upon individual freedom inevitably generated debate. Within a year, for example, the stipulation regarding neckties at dinner was dropped in favor of turtlenecks and ascots but strictures against T-shirts and hairy chests remained in force.
For the first time the midwinter dinner party was held on the Island at the Dering Harbor Inn and proved to be most successful. More and more members were spending offseason weekends on the Island, whereas fewer and fewer had been attending the annual dinners in New York City, even at the Tavern on the Green. Attendance at the roast beef dinner rose to one hundred thirty-six members and guests. Overnight accommodations were available at thirtyfive dollars per couple for those whose cottages were completely closed for the winter.
Membership, despite the extra assessment, was spiralling steadily upward, helped no doubt by reducing the initiation fee from three hundred fifty dollars to two hundred dollars in view of the assessment levied to pay for the Bull property. A year later the fee was boosted to four hundred fifty dollars! The clubhouse per se prospered under its new general manager, James Eklund, culminating in the gratifying report that S.I.Y.c. was "by far the best yacht club on Eastern Long Island". Not only were the restaurant sales up forty-three percent and bar sales up seventy percent without a commensurate increase in costs but, more significantly, sails of another kind were going up also. Twenty-seven yachts had competed for the Heatherton Trophy and twenty-two boats engaged in the Spring series. Bids to the S.I.Y.c. Invitational Regatta that year were limited to one hundred participating boats.
In connection with the nation's Bi-Centennial a fairly elaborate schedule of events was planned under the leadership of Commodore Daniel Reich. A special booklet was printed for the Club's 90th birthday. The season began with an Open House as early as May 1, followed by an Opening Ceremony at the end of the month.
For the first time in the Club's long history, at the urging of Norman Dudgeon, a formal commissioning was held in front of the clubhouse. The flag officers in dress uniform stood at attention while the Fleet Chaplain, Dr. Theodore Bobilin, pronounced a blessing, the flags were raised and the cannon boomed. A reception followed.
About a month later the Yacht Club, along with many other organizations, participated in the Island's Bicentennial Parade. Susan Holmes and Henry Bull hastily constructed a float on the latter's boat trailer, depicting a wave-tossed vessel bearing the S.I.Y.c. insignia. Much to their pleased surprise it took first place in the patriotic and historical category.
On that same weekend two of the Club's most venerable yachts proudly sailed up the Hudson River as official entries in New York's Bi-Centennial Operation Sail, namely, Charles and Betty Hansel's Friendship sloop Omaha and Bridgford and Esther Hunt's catboat Selina II.
New elements in the 1976 social program included a revival of the Clam Bake on Ram Island causeway, a RedWhite-and-Blue Barn Dance, Family Night Suppers and backgammon tournaments in recognition of the old game's newfound popularity. With the introduction of governmental licensure requirements - not to mention weekly games at the local Legion Hall- bingo had long since faded from the Club picture.
The appearance of the grounds had been vastly improved by burying the overhead power and telephone lines for the greater safety of boats and trailers. The desirability of installing a swimming pool was broached and received considerable support, especially from parents. Obtaining a quorum for the transaction of business, however, was proving difficult, especially in August. To counter this problem it was announced that "on the agenda will be consideration of whether our waitresses should be topless over Labor Day weekend". No record of any meeting survives and a couple of months later the trustees decided to eliminate the mandated August meeting.
Meanwhile at the end of this lively season hurricane Belle shredded the clubhouse awnings and five thousand dollars, covered by insurance, was required to replace them.
That same winter the ice did a lot of damage - "the worst winter in memory" - but the trustees took it in stride and made plans for the 1977 season under the leadership of Commodore Daniel Reich, skipper of the handsome sloop Polar Bear which a few years later foundered in an Atlantic gale.
The decision to tear down Bull's old dock in the harbor cove brightens otherwise dry minutes - and this history - with a welcome glint of humor.
"The use of the dock by Hugh Luddecke for storing and lowering race markers into his boat was discussed and his faithful attendance upon this thankless task gratefully acknowledged. Vice Commodore Fenn assured the officers and trustees that Past Commodore Luddecke (currently in France and unable to defend his wobbly dock) would not be left to shinny down a single piling with an armload of race markers while trying to pull his boat under him with one toe."
It proved to be a good racing season. Eighteen affiliated groups - not all of which were full-fledged yacht clubs - participated in the E.L.I.Y.A. Regatta.
The return of the Off Soundings visitors, after an absence of eight years, was warmly welcomed. Nine classes of boats, totalling two hundred eleven, were scheduled to depart for Shelter Island at ten minute intervals from Sarah Ledge Can 1 at the mouth of New London harbor. The 26.6 mile course "includes Race Point Nun 2, to be left to Port, thence to Cerberus Shoal whistle 9, to be left to starboard, bell I G I off the ruins near Plum Island, to be left to port, then to the finish line at B W Bell one and a half miles northeast of Ram Island in Gardiner's Bay." Similar courses were planned for the following day with the usual cocktail parties and festive dinners to while away the evening hours.
Back on shore the trustees prudently decided to submit the contentious swimming pool proposal to the membership for final decision. They agreed, however, to lease the tennis courts from the Heights Association for a trial year and request right of first refusal if the courts were to be sold. Later negotiations led to an understanding whereby the two courts have been operated ever since by the Tennis Committee of the Club.
The Association, out of whose first office the Yacht Club was spawned, was undergoing a period of strenuous readjustment. In a succession of changes the North Ferry as a clear-cut commercial operation and the Association as a not.,for-profit corporation were placed under separate governing boards. The nine-hole Golf Club, known as Goat Hill, was sold to the Town of Shelter Island. The Chapel property had already been deeded to the Chapel's Board of Trustees. The last legal vestiges of the old Shelter Island Heights Association disappeared a couple of years later, on January 1, 1980, and was replaced by an entity with the self-explanatory name of Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Association. Many of the persons deeply involved in the restructuring of the Association were prominent members of the Yacht Club.
Swimming Pools and "Doughdishes"
In February 1978 a blizzard hit the Island causing considerable damage to the S.I.Y.c. dock and flooding the clubhouse once more with a couple of feet of water. Since insurance took care of the repairs, the members embarked on an impassioned discussion regarding the proposed swimming pool, estimated to cost sixty thousand dollars. The argument was heated and involved threats of resignation. One of the most telling points of opposition to the pool was the contention that, owing to low-lying terrain, it would have to be built above ground. Otherwise, it would tend to float! Eventually the subject was tabled. . . or watertabled.
Of much greater significance at the beginning of the season was the presentation of a thorough-going, six page report of the Sailing Development Committee and its perceptive analysis of the one-design classes. By this time the number of regular members was nearing two hundred and the committee saw the need for a medium class of boats between the Etchells and Lasers on the one hand and the Wood Pussys and Puffers on the other hand. By August two more one-design categories were established: the Herreshoff 12's and - in theory - the 420's.
The acquisition of the H-12's, a.k.a. Doughdishes, merits a brief digression owing to the close association of Nathaniel Herreshoff with the earliest days of the S.I.Y.c. In 1914 the Herreshoff brothers began construction of a small gaff-rigged sloop with a heavy keel and self-tending jib. Production ceased during the second World War but was revived in 1972 by two different manufacturers, using fiberglass instead of wood.
Two years later, in June 1974, Sam Hird sailed the new version across Long Island Sound into Dering Harbor, thus re-introducing the "new" H-12 into Shelter Island waters. He gradually interested other Club members in building a fleet, including a few of the prewar models which had been lovingly preserved by Andrew Fiske, Walter Brigham, and Dennis Clark. By 1979 both the new and the old boats constituted their own one-design racing class.
More Members, More Boats, More Guests
Not only were the regular members now putting the clubhouse facilities to the test but the sheer quantity of casual guests from other clubs was becoming a problem. Records indicate that visitors from one hundred twentyeight other clubs had registered during the previous season. There was strong suspicion that some of the arrivals did not really belong to the clubs whose membership they claimed. A few of the designated clubs were many hundreds of miles away, others sounded totally fictitious.
In any case unfortunate abuses of privileges occurred both ashore - in the bar, restaurant, washrooms - as well as in the use of moorings and the launch. As Secretary Rowsom succinctly noted in his August 18 minutes, "A lively discussion was held concerning the use of club facilities by street walkers, mid-channel anchorers, and mooring moochers".
Consequently, a list of nineteen "recognized clubs" was set up comprising those with which reciprocity of privileges was both feasible and desirable. The geographical boundary of the" approved area" was described as north of Cape May and south of Cape Cod. But as late as 1984, for example, when one hundred forty-one visitors registered from the list of recognized clubs, forty-one guests claimed membership in non-existent sailing organizations.
One very welcome delegation of visitors in midsummer 1978 came from Annapolis to express formal appreciation to former Commodore Jasper Kane for the donation of his fine sloop Georjabelle to the U. S. Naval Academy.
By 1978 membership in all categories - thanks to thirty-one enrollees - rose to three hundred and ten. More boats were joining the fleet, especially Lasers. By the following season it would include nine H-12's. All the classes, Lasers, Etchells, H-12's and Puffers, were now engaged in one-design races. The racing committee's balcony on the second floor of the clubhouse underwent reconstruction.
Pictures following Chapter 9
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Pictures | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Pictures | Chapter 6 |
Chapter 7 | Pictures | Chapter 8 | Pictures | Chapter 9 | Pictures | Chapter 10 | Pictures