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 of the most distinctive innovations in the eighteen months immediately following the second World War were the introduction of the Wood Pussy class and the formal organization of the Junior Yacht Club, which involved the adoption of a constitution and the building of a separate club house. Together, the two innovations contributed substantially to the restoration of the Club's vitality.
Relieving Cabin Fever
By midsummer 1945 the U. S. Coast Guard had relaxed many of the restrictions imposed by war, even though V-J Day was still a month away. The Red Cross, as well as the Shelter Island Garden Club, continued to use the clubhouse on a one-day-per-week basis. The flag officers, however, lost no time in extending a dinner invitation to the commodores of nearby clubs for a discussion of racing plans.
Signs of renewed activity, like fresh green leaves in early Spring, began to appear. The American Yacht Club requested permission after an absence of three years to return to Dering Harbor on their first postwar cruise. Apparently reacting from a case of wartime cabin fever and exhilarated by a recent race to Gardiner's Bay, Norman Bel Geddes pleaded, "I hope we have more long races and that next season we schedule races every other week, even though only two or three boats participate." Meanwhile. fifteen new members pushed the total to a gratifying one hundred sixty-eight. The genial Fleet Chaplain and his wife, Rev. and Mrs. Huget, were feted on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary.
Sailing and racing, to be sure, had barely entered upon the road - or sealane? - to full recovery. The fleet as a whole was sadly depleted but one very important corrective measure was approved before year's end, namely, the decision to promote 'a new one-design class. Waldo Kraemer recollects that he undertook to study this important question with Shelter Island conditions particularly in mind, especially a boat's behavior in rip tide. Finally, he bought up ten Wood Pussys and sold them to members at $445 each. Later this sturdy little catboat, 13.6 feet overall, became available in fiberglass. For the next two to three decades this was the one-design boat which, more than any other, came to symbolize the S.I.Y.C. As late as 1985 seven of the lovable craft - a favorite with both Seniors and Juniors -were still listed on the Club's roster.
So far as the official records are concerned, the years after 1945 are blank until we reach the minutes of the 1949 annual meeting at which:
"Dr. Miles reported for the library committee that three very widely read books had been obtained for the club house library during the past year and recommended their reading above all other literature as they contain the basic philosophy of life. The Gideon Bibles," he concluded, "are welcome to our library."
The Service Bar
Unrelated to the above, it was also reported that a new flagpole had been erected on the premises and that a division of opinion existed on the question of installing a bar or retaining, if one so wished, the customary B.Y.O.L. (bring your own liquor) policy. Some of the older members preferred to honor a tradition which harked back to the Prohibition Era, whereas some of the younger members opted for a liquor license and an open bar.
The result was a compromise of sorts. The latter group gained consent to operate a "service bar", actually a kind of cubbyhole adjacent to the main lounge. For a couple of seasons these members undertook to stock the bar themselves, even employed a barman and turned all profits over to the Club. Eventually the service bar was subsumed under Club management and finally, as we shall presently see, a permanent bar was installed in the lounge itself. Despite the amount of attention lavished on property maintenance and housekeeping problems, the sailing and racing programs, judging by the steady growth of the fleet, remained a real center of interest. At the regatta of the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound the S.I.Y.c. had more entries than any other club but brought home fewer prizes, which may have contributed to the decision to resign from that Association in the following year in order to concentrate on racing closer to home, especially with the E.L.I.Y.A.
Membership hit a new high of two hundred sixteen and social activity increased along with sailing activity. An orchestra was engaged for twenty dances instead of the previous five. The need for even more clubhouse space was keenly felt, especially since the bar had been officially approved. It was decided to gain the desired space by building a porch on the west side of the Rainbow Room adjacent to the "closet" bar. Member William U. Becker, who until the last had strongly opposed the idea of a Club bar, bowed to the "democratic process" and graciously offered to cover the costs of construction, including awnings and electrical wiring, whereupon the meeting responded with a rising vote of thanks. From then on it was known as the Becker Porch.
The Beckers and the Webers, by the way, may be counted among the pioneers of the Island's southwest shorefront, thanks to the gift of a generous father - a well-to-do Brooklyn brewer - who in 1889 built twin houses for his married daughters. About the turn of the century both families joined the Yacht Club. Several years later William lJ. Becker, a son, became a member also.
As for the operation of the bar, members were required to buy coupon books to pay for their drinks and every Monday the treasurer, George Bradley, would total up the coupons while Henry Carpenter checked the bottles. At the end of each season the remaining alcohol was disposed of by sale to the trustees.
In view of the renewed activity it seems a bit odd that Commodore Burr T owl should begin his summary of the season by saying that there seemed to be "so little to report". A few months later, pleading the extra demands made upon his time as mayor of Westfield, New Jersey, he resigned not only his office but also his membership in S.I.Y.C. His action underscored the plain fact that responsible leadership of a busy yacht club is, to say the least, an energy-consuming avocation. Waldo Kraemer agreed to return to the helm for the 1951 season.
The first order of business was to repair winter storm damage which in recent years had become an annual aggravation. Seventy-five percent of the members responded to a special appeal for funds. By the end of the season the chairman of the racing committee, Frederick Koelsch, in reporting that approximately thirty ~oats participated in the Saturday races, complimented the Stars for a good turnout. Commodore Kraemer, comparing 1951 with 1946, was high in his praise for" a ,large and enthusiastic membership" and "more boats in commission than ever before".
The revival of interest in racing may have been stimulated by the donation in 1952 of a prestigious award for Sportsmanship and Good Fellowship. The plaque was presented in memory of long-time member John W. Heaslip who was commonly regarded as the "right hand" of New York City's Park Commissioner, Robert C. Moses.
Women and Children (First?)
Some members felt that the real purpose of the Yacht Club as a sailing club was somewhat diminished by the weekly presence of the Shelter Island Garden Club and its annual flower show on the premises. A considerable debate erupted at an August meeting. One member, who had strongly favored the open bar, went on record with the clenched-teeth statement that "men and boats had developed the Yacht Club, not flower shows". However, a majority defended the Garden Club's presence and the next year made a special point of assuring the ladies, who had recently donated new window boxes, that they were cordially welcome to continue using the club house lias a center of their activities". Which they continued to do for another fourteen years.
In a somewhat similar vein there was a division of opinion among the trustees as to whether "the usual stag dinner" should give way to a mid-winter dinner dance. After establishing that both had been tried in the past and that the stag dinner had been found more popular, the stags emerged triumphant.
Nevertheless the ladies, many of whom of course belonged to the Garden Club, proved to be pleasantly indispensable to the S.I.Y.c. It was about this time that Miss Erma Kraemer, Waldo's sister, inaugurated the Ladies' Supper which became an annual - and very popularevent. The delectable covered dishes, prepared at home, were kept warm in the Club's inadequately small oven. Cutlery and crockery at that time often had to be borrowed from the Presbyterian Church.
At the end of the 1953 summer Commodore John Bischoff reported "an active racing season" with welcome additions to both the Star and Wood Pussy fleets. Chairman Koelsch urged the members to concentrate, if that is the right word, on Wood Pussys, Stars, Comets, and Lightnings.
The Brooklyn Challenge Cup
In the following year there were two noteworthy events. First a big party on the occasion of the New York Yacht Club's 100th anniversary regatta in July - just after Jack Heatherton had given the local Club a new starting cannon and, in September, a National Wood Pussy Regatta,
Now is as good a time as any to pick up the story of the Ocean Challenge Cup which Heatherton had brought to Shelter Island after the demise of the Brooklyn Yacht Club. According to Jasper Kane, the Cup had occupied a place of honor among the Club's trophies. Races were held for it and victors were permitted to retain the Cup until the following season. Meanwhile Heatherton's personal interest in the Club affairs waxed and waned, as did the Club's enthusiasm for tong-distance racing.
Across the channel, however, the Chinese Yacht Club began planning long-distance races on a regular basis and were casting about for a suitable trophy. Theodore Brigham broached the subject with Heatherton who, in a subsequent letter dated November 1953, agreed to donate the Cup in perpetuity stating, "I am mindful of the fact that a trophy such as I now possess should not be held when there are yacht clubs in existence which are interested in long distance racing to the extent that your club may be". He suggested that the trophy be called the Brooklyn-Chinese Yacht Club Perpetual Long-Distance Trophy.
The first race for the venerable Ocean Challenge Cup was run in 1954 "from Greenport to and around Cleveland East Ledge Lighthouse, returning south of Block Island". It was won by Larry Reybine aboard Ziegler's Bounding Home. At intervals thereafter other races have been held.
Storms, meanwhile, continued to afflict the Island and the Club. Early in 1954 the trustees launched a Disaster Fund to repair damage to the big pie.r ($1,500) and east porch ($1,000). V olun tary con tribu tions averaging twentyfive dollars from fifty-four members helped to defray these costs. The very next August and September, however, hurricanes Carol and Edna set off a lively discussion as to the advisability of raising the clubhouse a few feet before an unusually high tide might raze it completely. Another proposal advocated putting scuppers in the flooring.
Neither solution was adopted. In his annual report for 1956 Commodore Henry Carpenter simply remarked that the S.I.Y.C. had recently "weathered more hurricanes than in the entire previous history of the Club". No wonder there was grim determination to anchor the Junior clubhouse to terra firma while, at the same time, placing it above flood tides, if not completely beyond ravages inflicted by teenagers.
Regardless of the vagaries of Mother Nature - 1955, for instance, was the summer of "extreme heat" - nothing except lack of wind was permitted to interfere with racing and sailing schedules but appraisals vary widely from year to year as to the success of the passing seasons. By 1955 it was reported that the "Lightning fleet dissolved in thin air" and a year later the Wood Pussys were allegedly lithe only regular racing class".
It was the same year in which all trophies had been polished both for display and as objects of renewed competition. Chairman Koelsch was able to assure the annual meeting that the S.I.Y.C.'s "reputation as a sailing club had spread considerably". A member felt compelled to caution the trustees about scheduling any activity that would interfere with "church affairs" but in the next year races were held on four Sundays at ten o'clock. At least on one occasion said member's name was noted as being among those present at a Sunday morning trustees' meeting.
Youth Must Be Served
A significant series of events involved the Club's youth, both boys and girls. The flag officers were aware that only a very small percentage of the members' children was involved in Club activities. Ever since the Wee Scot racing began in 1927 and even after the introduction of sailing dinghies in 1934, the Juniors had received little or no attention. Now a change set in. In 1953 the Junior Yacht Club adopted a constitution and from then on the young yachtsmen began to be mentioned more frequently in the official minutes. Maybe the youngsters themselves made their presence felt as when - some years later - there were occasional complaints of noisy and rude behavior, inappropriate dress and unbecoming language around the clubhouse. The era of children as "seen but not heard" had definitely come to an end.
Renewed interest in the J.Y.C. races brought the special contribution of the hard-working Sandwich Committee. into prominence. Each week six or eight ladies would make and individually wrap hundreds of light lunch items precisely according to prescribed recipes. At season's end the profits - several hundreds of dollars - were proudly turned into the Club's treasury. The committee consisted primarily of mothers of the Juniors. Standard fare for the Saturday races included tuna, bacon and egg, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Sometimes turkey, in which case the price rose to fifty cents each. The practice came to an end when full-time stewards laid claim to the lucrative business.
Support for the Juniors appeared from another quarter. Early in 1955 at the suggestion of H. Stanley Krusen the trustees agreed to employ a sailing instructor for ten weeks at sixty to eighty dollars per week. Following a visit to various New England clubs Krusen observed that "the boys and girls were active and avid sailors. Moreover, they took great care of their sailboats. Both of these elements appeared to be lacking at Shelter Island". Consequently, Krusen was appointed a committee of one to find a qualified person.
An advertisement placed in the Yacht Magazine brought a response, via APO, from William B. Osgood III in Germany. His background being quite satisfactory - Cornell University and the Stamford Yacht Club - he became the first in a long, unbroken line of sailing instructors. Twenty-four youngsters enrolled that first summer and the new program was characterized as "probably the largest single forward step taken by the Club since the introduction of the Wood Pussy in 1946". Krusen was warmly complimented by the Club membership for his personal interest in the matter.
The following year the sailing class swelled to forty but then dropped back to thirty-five, consisting incidentally of twenty-six girls and nine boys. So a woman instructor was added. Meanwhile the calendar of the J.Y.C., in addition to racing, was replete with beach trips and scavenger hunts, all by boat of course, as well as dances and other shore parties.
By 1957 it was agreed that the younger set should have regular use of the Rainbow Room and the south porch for their parties, reserving the "front of the clubhouse" for adults. At this point, owing to the natural proclivity for hyperactive youth to race in and out of the clubhouse, even when the Garden Club happened to be meeting, the desirability of providing a separate clubhouse for the Juniors was viewed with favor.
Waldo Kraemer, who had recently donated a skiff to the Junior Club for use as an auxiliary launch, undertook to raise funds for the new structure. Gifts ranging from $500 to $1,500, primarily from Henry Carpenter, LaVerne Hench, Jasper Kane, John I. Snyder, and Kraemer himself, soon turned the proposal into reality for the 1958 season. The cost, to be sure, had risen from a projected $4,500 to $10,000, but special care had to be taken in view of the havoc wrought by recent storms to set an extra-stout building on extra-strong concrete pilings. Part of the higher cost, according to authentic sources, was attributable to the persistence with which construction workers paused to behold the passing parade of young women clad in yachting garb and/or swimwear.
Counterproductive Competition
Two new factors were making their presence felt in the one-design yachting equation - dry sailing and fiberglass construction. Following the example of one nearby neighbor, the Club felt the need for davits and a hoist. Money was soon raised to pay for the foundation and the davits at which point John Snyder offered to donate a two-ton electric hoist which was duly installed in 1958. The fleet at the time counted only five Stars but expected more. Meanwhile, the presence of the hoist certainly helped to attract forty-four Stars to a big regatta the following year. Fiberglass was, of course, rapidly revolutionizing boat building.
The Star class received further impetus from the offering of additional racing prizes including the Heatherton Star Trophy and the Peconic-Gardiners Bay Star Trophy, both of which were awarded for the ensuing four to five years. Other classes in subsequent years were similarly encouraged to compete for plaques on which the winner's name was engraved. The Lightning plaque was inaugurated in 1959, the Wood Pussy plaque in 1960 and the Blue Jay's in 1961.
The ultimate effect of the above-mentioned new factors - dry-sailing and fiberglass - seems to have been counterproductive so far as competitive racing is concerned. Dry sailing was obviously faster but more time and effort were required to get the boats in and out of the water. Not only did the number of boats decline but just plain pleasure sailing suffered from a loss of spontaneity. Nevertheless, the new hoist was, for many good reasons, counted as a distinct asset and Commodore Umpleby in his annual report made special note of the Club's two important acquisitions.
Now that the Juniors had been given a brand new home, the Seniors bethought themselves of their own clubhouse which was well over sixty years old and could use a touching up. Members were asked to contribute twentyfive dollars each for this purpose, but that was only the beginning.
The Rainbow Room, now ten years old, still needed acoustical attention. Other suggestions for improvement came from the members in a great variety of combinations. Architects were turned loose to present plans. Meanwhile, Frederick Koelsch donated a pianostill in use - and a freezer.
Outdoor considerations included the need for a wider roadway and more parking space to accommodate a growing number of automobiles. This raised complicated questions of extending the property line by as much as one hundred feet north and west, that is, beyond the north bulkheading. And that involved negotiations with the Town and with the Heights Association which still held - and holds - a small patch of shore front called Chequit Park. Negotiations with the Town proceeded for several months involving a touchy question as to the ultimate ownership of approximately three hundred by one hundred feet of new fill.
Commodore Trafton Badger referred to 1959 as a "season of retrenchment", meaning apparently a pause to back off and take a critical look at priorities and available resources. The mood, however, was good, judging by his statement that "the dances have been fun and the suppers enthusiastically attended which would seem to indicate that our members prefer eating".
A more somber note was cast by the death at the beginning of the year of a former fleet chaplain, the Rev. J. L. Caughey, and at the close of the season by the death of the incumbent chaplain, Arthur H. Limouze. A motion was made that several trees be planted around the Chapel in memory of Dr. Limouze. A memorial service was held the following summer and a brass plaque placed in the Chapel but there is no record that trees were planted.
A New Broom
Meanwhile, John I. Snyder, Jr., who cruised back and forth to New York in his 80 foot Salamar with a crew of five, had become the commodore. Like Heatherton, he regarded himself as a man of action, which he undoubtedly was. Beginning, it is said, as an investment banker with Kuhn, Loeb & Co., he became head of the Pressed Steel Car Co. in
western Pennsylvania, subsequently president of U. S. Industries, a conglomerate.
An ardent advocate of technological advance and a trailblazer in providing factory automating equipment, he was honored by appointment to a presidential commission on "new paths in public policy". Echoes of his views, expressed to a Congressional committee in 1963, reappeared in the Atlantic Magazine for March 1985, to wit, "A man named John Snyder, the president of a robot-making company, (said) that automation was eliminating 40,000 jobs each week. . . "
Snyder plunged vigorously into Yacht Club affairs. Not always waiting for the mills of democratic consensus to finish grinding, he was a man in a hurry. 1960, therefore, proved to be a very busy year. A letter to the membership in January estimated the costs of clubhouse renovation at between ten thousand dollars and twelve thousand dollars. A building Fund Drive was launched and by May he announced that one-third of the amount had been raised or pledged. The trustees demanded more detailed information. By July 1 Snyder assured the membership that $15,247 were available and work began almost at once on a whole series of projects. When confronted by mounting bills for which sufficient funds were not on hand or in sight, the Commodore reportedly shrugged his shoulders and said, in so many words, not to worry.
Good reason for so much nonchalance lay in the fact that Snyder had received from the Lipton Tea Company a grant "for a yacht club on Shelter Island". The great interest of Sir Thomas Lipton in yachting is well documented. Snyder's original intent was apparently to bestow the money on the Menantic Yacht Club, but after due consideration he concluded that the Island didn't really have room for two yacht clubs.
The list of improvements accruing to the clubhouse was impressive but the dislocations during the summer season were severe. Renovations included the enlargement and enclosure of the East porch, an acoustical ceiling and indirect lighting in the Rainbow Room, a curved bar in the Trophy Room opposite the fireplace, new shower rooms for men and women, an enlarged kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a general overhaul of the electrical and plumbing systems. In short, the nearly seventy year old clubhouse was extensively rebuilt. Norman Free, general manager of the renowned St. George Hotel in Brooklyn, was brought in to direct the installation of the new kitchen and restaurant and was installed, in turn, as Vice Commodore.
The transformation of the original club room into a bar caused the biggest hassle, not unlike the earlier debate over having any bar at all. A further source of irritation, not least for the commodore's fellow flag officers, was the cavalier way in which major alterations were pushed ahead at the expense of the summer's social program. The interior was, in the words of one member, effectively "demolished" for the season.
For lack of a kitchen and staff, all food service ceased. "It was the intention of the Commodore that there be no entertainment program during reconstruction," writes Dorothy Hassel, widow of Rear Commodore Michael Hassel who had assumed office unaware of Snyder's plans. "We managed under utmost difficulties to have, I recall, four dinners with local help. The same situation prevailed in 1961 when the Club had a complete kitchen but no regular help."
The opening of the 1961 season fea tured the" dedica tion of the new facilities" and, as the Rear Commodore and chairman of the entertainment committee diplomatically phrased it in his year-end report, "the kitchen and serving of hot meals proved to be a full success". He then added a plea for better communication and coordination among the flag officers "whereby the wishes of all members should be taken into account".
The metaphor of the new broom sweeping clean would not be inappropriate. In the radical process of renewal carried out by Commodore Snyder many mementoes and souvenirs of the past, including important records, either disappeared or were deliberately discarded. Some were salvaged from the Town dump. Improvement, of course, means different things to different people. The upcoming 75th anniversary was evidently envisaged as a celebration of the future rather than the past.
Pictures following Chapter 7
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