The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911–2011

Sara E. Green

Endsheets are excerpts from NOAA chart number 11411.

Copyright © 2011 by Clearwater Yacht Club All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work in any form whatsoever without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief passages in connection with a review. For information, please write:

The Donning Company Publishers 184 Business Park Drive, Suite 206 Virginia Beach, VA 23462 Steve Mull, General Manager Barbara Buchanan, Office Manager Anne Burns, Editor Nathan Stufflebean, Graphic Designer Priscilla Odango, Imaging Artist Lori Kennedy, Project Research Coordinator Tonya Washam, Marketing Specialist Pamela Engelhard, Marketing Advisor Lynn Walton, Project Director

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Green, Sara E. The first hundred years : Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911/2011 / Sara E. Green. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-57864-679-1 1. Clearwater Yacht Club. 2. Yachting--Florida--Clearwater. I. Title. GV823.C57G74 2011 797.124’60975963--dc22 2011006224 Printed in the United States of America at Walsworth Publishing Company

Table of Contents

Clearwater Yacht Club’s Past Commodores

4 5 6 7

Clearwater Yacht Club’s Mission and Leadership for the Centennial Year

Centennial Celebration Sponsors

Dedication: Taver Bayly: Mr. Clearwater and Mr. CYC

Preface: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Camaraderie, Cruising, and Competitive Sailing

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Chapter 1: In the Beginning

13

Chapter 2: Boom, Bust, and Back Again: Clearwater and CYC during the 1920s and 1930s

23 37 43 51 63

Chapter 3: The War Years and the Sailors’ Return to Fun in the Sun

Chapter 4: CYC’s Darkest Hour and the Great Recovery

Chapter 5: The Women of CYC

Chapter 6: Big Boat Racing: The Legacy of the Haligonian Chapter 7: Snipes, Optis, Lasers, and Youth Sailing: One Design, Small Sailboat Racing at CYC Chapter 8: “Down to the Seas:” History of Cruising at CYC

73 83

Chapter 9: Food Fights, Fabulous Feasts, Follies,

and Just Plain Fun: Entertainment through the Years

89

Chapter 10: A Club with a Heart Chapter 11: Formal Club Traditions

101 105 113 119 127

Chapter 12: Excellence in Race Management

Chapter 13: A Century of Champions

Chapter 14: CYC’s Professional Management and Staff Chapter 15: The Current Culture of CYC: A Friendly,

Inclusive Club with a World Class Reputation

131

Appendices

Appendix A: Original Articles of Incorporation

137

Appendix B: Organizing Letter and Notice of Race for the Inaugural St. Pete to Habana Race Appendix C: Recipients of CYC’s Major Club-wide Awards

139 144 145 150 152 152

Appendix D: Clearwater Yacht Club Timeline

References

About the Author

Author’s Acknowledgments

Clearwater Yacht Club’s Past Commodores

1911–1919 1919–1923 1923–1928 1928–1930 1930–1931 1931–1932 1932–1933 1933–1940 1940–1945 1945–1946 1946–1947 1947–1948 1948–1950 1950–1952 1952–1953 1953–1954 1954–1955 1955–1956 1956–1958 1958–1959 1959–1960 1960–1961 1961–1963 1963–1965 1965–1966 1966–1967 1967–1969 1969–1971 1971–1972 1972–1973 1973–1974 1974–1976 1976–1977

Colonel Lowe Emerson

1977–1978 1978–1979 1979–1980 1980–1981 1981–1982 1982–1983 1983–1985 1985–1986 1986–1987 1987–1988 1988–1989 1989–1990 1990–1990 1990–1991 1991–1992 1992–1993 1993–1994 1994–1995 1995–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–1999 1999–2000 2000–2001 2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–2010

George Hanselman Norman L. Kirkland Winthrop A. Young Jules E. Scheffer Thomas L. Horne William J. Hancock

Frank J. Booth Buford Edgar Jimmy Davis

D. Kesby

Jimmy Davis Ted Kamensky

Donald Sieburg Norman Olsen

Taver Bayly

Herman Keller W. H. Tarvin

Pete Stirling

Wm. A. Donovan Charles C. Harris Joseph H. Rayl Arthur B. Johnson II Joseph H. Rayl Norbert J. Zebny Tony C. Jackson Gary Strohauer Francis J. O’Donnell Thomas E. Morgan

Jack Taylor Guy Roberts Karl Remgaum Harold Martens Russell T. Elwell A. T. Cooper, Jr. Boyd A. Bennett Dr. Fred Hemerick Charles Jackson Don Cochran, Jr. George Reynolds Edgar W. Ralston Edward H. Smith William S. Knox Frank A. Stump, Jr. N. Eugene Ridenour Gordon E. Staples George R. Kramer William W. Welbon

David Billing

Vic Spoto

Jerry Prescott Kathleen Lamb Dr. Richard Kidd Richard Boblenz R. Fairlie Brinkley

Walt Powell Ben Givens

Dr. Robert Gunther

John Paterson

Andrew Spetz Gene Fleming Barrie Gustard

Charles D. Haxby Donald Brackett

Spencer Scheideman

Tim Roberts

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Clearwater Yacht Club’s Mission The object and purpose of this Club shall be to encourage yachting by the public; to promote and assist in making members more proficient in seamanship and navigation; to provide good food, refreshments and maintain a suitable clubhouse, anchorage and facilities for the recreation and use of its members and their families; to promote the social welfare, entertainment and diversion of its members, their families and guests. Leadership for the Centennial Year

Officers

Commodore Sandie Ramsden ( photo by George Fulmer )

Vice Commodore

Rear Commodore

Robert de Vos

Hoyt Nichols

( photo by George Fulmer )

( photo by George Fulmer )

Treasurer

Fleet Captain John Cardosi

Jay Steinberg

Secretary Jay Palsha

Immediate Past Commodore

Tim Roberts

Directors

Tom Brewer, Miles Curry, Tom Lloyd, Rowland Milam, Ed Proefke, Jr., Tish Wold

Trustees

PC David Billing

PC Dick Boblenz Harry Jamieson

PC Fairlie Brinkley PC Gary Strohauer

Jim Eaton

Appointees

Father Bob Wagenseil, Fleet Chaplain Dr. Phil Sachs, Fleet Surgeon Robert de Vos, Florida Council of Yacht Clubs (FCYC) Director Judy Widger, FCYC Alternate Director

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The Clearwater Yacht Club and the Centennial Celebration Committee Extend Sincere Gratitude to the Following Centennial Celebration Sponsors

Gold Sponsors Tim and Anne Emslie John and Brenda Hanson Betty McGraw Perkins in Memory of Dave Perkins Jim Price Past Commodore Andrew Spetz and Elise Winters Silver Sponsors Past Commodore David Billing Russ and Debbi Brown Vice Commodore Robert de Vos and Tina Fitzgerald Trustee Jim Eaton Past Commodore Gene Fleming and Sara Green Jim Green Richard C. Griffith Wayne and Marilyn Huneke Tom and Emily Lloyd Frank and Karen Mann Rowland and Kathy Milam Commodore Sandie Ramsden Past Commodore Tim and Terri Roberts Francis and Naomi Seavy Past Commodore Gary and Patricia Strohauer Dr. Helen Techler Peggy Word

Bronze Sponsors Jim and Deborah Alexander Past Commodore R. Fairlie Brinkley SAM Cantrell Johnny and Phyllis Cardosi

Joe and Helen Correia Dick and Diane Crowl Hanna Hurd JoAnn Jacobson Pen and Pat Jennings Past Commodore Dr. Richard and Roberta Kidd Ed Koch and Janna Quinn Jim and Marie Lorenz Jeannie Macpherson James and Tamara Maurice Ron and Kathleen Miller Carol Monas Rear Commodore Hoyt and Marcia Nichols Andrew Rackstein Chuck and Becky Sajeski Donna Ventura Terry Lynn Williams Other Contributors: Jim and Gloria Bone, Donald and Jill Eifert, Peter and Kathy Forde, John and Maureen Kaneski, Barbara Newman, and Dennis and Michelle Sheehan

The Clearwater Yacht Club centennial year officers and directors are at work in the boardroom charting the course for the next century of inclusive camaraderie, cruising, and competitive sailing. Left to right: Director Rowland Milam, Director Miles Curry (standing), Vice Commodore Robert de Vos, Commodore Sandie Ramsden, Immediate Past Commodore Tim Roberts (standing), Rear Commodore Hoyt Nichols, Director Ed Proefke, Director Tish Wold, Director Tom Lloyd, Director Tom Brewer, Secretary Jay Palsha, and Gene Pender. Fleet Captain John Cardosi and Treasurer Jay Steinberg are not in the photo. Photo by Miles Curry.

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Dedication TanadveMr Br.ayClyY: CMr. Clearwater

While the Clearwater Yacht Club (CYC) of today is the result of the hard work, creativity, and dedication of many, many individuals over the hundred years of her existence, all records indicate there is one man who, more than any other, is responsible for her success and longevity. This book is dedicated to the memory of that man and to all past, current, and future club members who, like him, see every challenge as an opportunity; greet every dark hour with humor and a passion for progress; and actively look for ways to make the club, the community, and the world a better place. Telling the story of CYC is simply not possible without telling the story of her most distinguished member. Taver Bayly was the son of Florida pioneers. He was born in Key West in 1890 and moved to Clearwater that same year with his father (Phillip J. Bayly) and his mother (Emma Louise Lowe). The Baylys built their home on the high ground of the bluff overlooking Clearwater Bay. The bluff is now known as Harbor Bluffs but was once called Baylys’ Bluff. Like many pioneer families, the Baylys made their living in the citrus industry. Taver took over this family enterprise after his father’s death. He also went to work for the People’s Bank (later First National Bank of Clearwater) in 1912— starting as a hard-working teller and retiring in 1960 as president. Taver watched Clearwater grow from a sleepy coastal village to a densely populated tourist destination, and he made tremendous

Background Photo: Club members assembled in the dining room of the Mandalay Clubhouse in 1937 to present Snipe 508 to Com modore Bayly. Photo

by Burgert Bros. Tampa (#40257); CYC Archives.

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contributions to all aspects of Clearwater’s civic and social life until his death in 1979. Among other things, he served as a trustee of the first YMCA; was an organizer and the first scout master of the first Boy Scout troop; was the first president of the Clearwater Rotary Club; was a charter member of the Chamber of Commerce; served on the Morton Plant Hospital Board of Directors (and as its treasurer for many years); and helped to found the Clearwater Public Library. In all of these endeavors, Bayly served with unflagging energy, optimism, and creative vision. According to his granddaughter Sandy Jamieson (whose husband Harry is currently a CYC trustee), he never met a problem that got him down. He saw every stumbling block as a challenge to be tackled with gusto and he seemed endlessly able to pull creative solutions out of his hat. CYC was the beneficiary of his talents for many, many years. He served as commodore from 1933 to 1940. Under his leadership, the club acquired its first location on Clearwater Beach and negotiated a lease with the city for a site on Mandalay Avenue; moved an old house from Safety Harbor to the Mandalay site and renovated it for use as a clubhouse (known as the “Little Clubhouse”); negotiated with the city to purchase the vacant “Old Pavilion,” cut the top floor off of the storm damaged lower floor and moved it across the street to the Mandalay site; and turned this piece of a building into the beautiful, much loved, and still missed, “Mandalay Clubhouse”—home to CYC until 1972. Bayly was also instrumental in saving the club after it lost that clubhouse and its lease with the city, and in acquiring the property and clubhouse which has become its permanent home. In the 1930s, Bayly and his troops started CYC’s world famous Snipe fleet and organized and held the first of the International Snipe Midwinters Regattas which CYC still hosts today. In 1937, CYC showed its appreciation for Bayly’s stellar contributions in a very special way. Commodore Bayly, who had been very ill for over a year, was hauled out of his sickbed to attend to a supposed emergency at the club. When he arrived, he found the club full of his friends who had gathered to present him with the gift of Snipe 508 . Guy Roberts had been building this particular Snipe in the “Snipe shed” on the club property for some time. While recovering from his illness, Bayly enjoyed going down

to the club to watch Roberts work. According to his granddaughter, at one point he said rather wistfully, that if he were to have a boat, he would want one just like the one Roberts was building. So, calls went out and the membership chipped in to buy Snipe 508 for the commodore who had done so much for the club. In 1942, after someone else finally took on the challenges of being commodore, the club again expressed its gratitude by awarding Past Commodore (PC) Bayly a well-deserved lifetime membership. In 2009, Commodore Barrie Gustard gave Bayly the additional posthumous honor of being the club’s first Distinguished Member. This book is dedicated to this truly outstanding citizen of Clearwater Yacht Club and the community: Taver Bayly—Mr. Clearwater and Mr. CYC.

Commodore Taver Bayly with his new boat— Snipe 508 . Photo by Burgert Bros. Tampa (#40259) ; courtesy of the Jamieson/Cornett/ Bayly family.

8

Preface YCe as tme radr aa yd,e rTi eo,d aCy ,r uai ns idn gT, oamnodr r o w : Competitive Sailing

Yesterday

On February 14, 1911, five members of Clearwater’s “Wealthy Winter Gentry” met in the Tampa offices of the Honorable J. B. Wall in order to sign the articles of incorporation that brought the Clearwater Yacht Club (CYC) into the world. According to this document, “the general object of the association shall be to promote social intercourse among its members, and to encourage and promote sailing and yachting.” CYC legend has it these articles are the formalization of a plan hatched at an occasion of “social intercourse” held on New Year’s Eve at the waterfront winter home of Lowe Emerson. He is said to have asked his cronies, “How many of you gentlemen are in favor of a yacht club, someplace where we of the sailing gentry can gather for social activities as well as to arrange sporting contests?” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961:2). Apparently the response was positive, because on Valentine’s Day, Lowe Emerson, A. G. Rhodes, L. B. Dickerson, Hub Simpson, and Thomas Phillips were in the judge’s office signing the papers (see Appendix A).

9

Today

A century later, after weathering many squalls and several very dangerous storms, CYC is still going strong and addressing itself very seriously to the twin objectives of “promoting social intercourse” and “encouraging and promoting sailing and yachting.” The club’s statewide reputation for hospitality and fun-filled parties (on and off the water) and its international reputation for producing world class sailors and running highly respected regattas clearly fulfill the vision of the founding fathers. CYC is, however, a more vibrant club with a larger and far more diverse membership than the founding fathers would probably have predicted or desired. These members of the “sailing gentry” would, I’m sure, be astounded by CYC’s reputation as an open, friendly club and the pride members feel in the club’s inclusivity. The vibrant CYC of today stands on the shoulders of hard working club members who have, across the hundred years of her existence, sailed this ship through some very rough waters with skill, style, and above all an abiding sense of humor. During his term of office in 2002–2003, Past Commodore Fairlie Brinkley established what has become known as the CYC Historical Committee and asked it to begin collecting memories and memorabilia from long-time members in preparation for the club’s centennial year. Over the last eight years, Terri Roberts, Marie and Jim Lorenz, and I have had the great privilege of working on this project with some of CYC’s most tenured members.

Dave Perkins chaired the committee until he “crossed the bar” in 2010. Dave grew up at CYC. His parents joined the club shortly after moving to Clearwater in the 1920s, and he and his late wife Naomi joined in the 1940s. Thus, Dave’s experience with CYC spanned over seventy of its one hundred years of existence. Dave’s second wife Betty Wickman McGraw Perkins (a founding member of the women’s auxiliary group called the CYC Gulls) has been a member since 1943 when she and her first husband, the late Carl Robert Wickman, moved to Clearwater. Betty’s second husband, Riley McGraw, served as an officer of the club for many years and passed away while in the position of vice commodore in 1977. Commodore Spencer Scheideman gave him the honorary title of Permanent Vice Commodore of Clearwater Yacht Club . Peggy Word (another founding member of the Gulls) and her husband Robert also joined in the 1940s. In honor of Robert’s love of racing and long-time involvement with CYC’s sailing programs, Peggy established

Above : Dave and Betty Perkins standing in front of the steering wheel from the wreck of the SS Oakley Alexander (donated by Jack Taylor in 1936). Courtesy of Betty Perkins. Left: Commodore Gene Fleming giving Peggy Word the Community Service Award (2008). CYC Archives.

10

the Robert Word Memorial Award for Racing Participation . George Hardy and his wife Hank (another founding member of the Gulls) have been members since the early 1970s. George was a member of the CYC Board of Trustees for seventeen years. Past Commodore Vic Spoto and his wife Mary Lou joined in 1984 and were very actively involved in all aspects of club life. Past Commodore Bill Welbon joined in 1963 and remained actively engaged on the Historical Committee and in the club’s historic Snipe Midwinters Regatta until he “crossed the bar” in 2008. As a daughter of Taver Bayly, Ann Bayly Cornett and her sisters (Phyllis Bayly Jones and Pat Bayly Alexander) grew up at CYC. Ann was an avid supporter of the club’s regatta program (especially the historic Snipe Midwinters) and an invaluable member of both the Gulls and the Historical Committee until she too “crossed the bar” in 2009. Collectively, these committee members have a total of over four hundred years of experience with CYC. They have made tremendous contributions to the club and have saved its life more than once. Most of all, these folks have told some fantastic tales. It is their collective memories and memorabilia that form the heart and soul of this book.

Past Commodore Vic and Mary Lou Spoto at the Commodores’ Ball, 2008. CYC Archives.

Hank and George Hardy receiving the CYC Meritorious Service Award (2008). CYC Archives.

Past Commodore Bill Welbon firing the cannon to signal the start of the Snipe Midwinters Grapefruit Party in 2005. Photo by Amanda Fleming.

Ann Bayly Cornett (left) and Marie Shepard McMahon serving coffee at a Snipe Midwinters Regatta in 1987. Bow Chasers’ Archives.

Tomorrow

During his term as commodore in 2007–2008, Gene Fleming established a Long Term Planning Committee chaired by John Hanson. The committee’s charge was to conduct a careful evaluation of the current culture of CYC and to establish a process of planning for the future in a way that builds on the strengths of this culture. As part of this process, students enrolled in my Senior Seminar in Sociology class at the University of South Florida helped collect data for an in-depth study of the club (Green, 2008). In the pages that follow you will hear about CYC’s current culture as well as its past. You’ll learn this club was and is filled with variety. You will hear about whimsical rockin’ dock

11

parties and very serious world-class sailing. You’ll learn about the various “homes” inhabited by CYC over the years and a period of time in which the club was “homeless.” You’ll learn the history of the infamous annual “drunken grapefruit party,” the Cruisers, the Gulls, the Bow Chasers, the Solmates, the origin of the Optimist Pram and Dinghy, and CYC’s Youth Sailing program. You’ll learn about the club’s contributions to the community and about times when the club and the city were in serious conflict. In addition to the memories of members of the Historical Committee and the results of the long term planning study, this account of CYC’s first hundred years is based on club archives, materials published on the club’s website and in its newsletter (the Compass), the records and albums kept by the Gulls and Bow Chasers, and vintage scrapbooks and photographs generously provided by Sandy Jamieson (Taver Bayly’s granddaughter), Betty McGraw Perkins, Bill Welbon, Jr., Hitch Kamensky (Commodore Ted Kamensky’s son), Donna Ventura, the Cochran family, and Francis and Naomi Seavy. Other important source materials are historical documents and archival materials housed in the archives of the St. Petersburg Times, the Florida Studies Center and the Special Collections Department of the University of South Florida Tampa Library , the Clearwater Historical Society , the archives of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club , the Heritage Village Archives and Library , and The Florida and Wickman Collections of the Clearwater Public Library . The book also draws heavily on three booklets prepared for the club’s fiftieth (Ransom and Tracy, 1961), sixty-sixth (Gamblin and Gamblin, 1976), and eightieth (Hall, 1991) anniversary celebrations and from the input of numerous current and former club members and employees. Photographs of more recent club events have been obtained from a variety of sources. I especially want to thank Bill Brancaccio, Bev Dolezal, Miles Curry, Amanda Fleming, John Hanson, Sarah Nicolosi, Fay Nicholson, Barbara Pender, Sandie Ramsden, Judy Widger, and the many, many other club photographers for their hours of photography on and off the water and for helping to select the photographs that appear in this volume. Without the dedicated efforts of web masters David Billing and John Hanson and Compass editors Harry Nichols, Diane Gustard, Judy Boland, Tina Fitzgerald, and Emily Lloyd, many of these photographs would not have been available for use in this book. Very special thanks also go to the members of the club’s Centennial Celebration Committee (Past Commodore David Billing, Judy Boland, Vice Commodore Robert de Vos, Tina Fitzgerald, Brenda Hanson, Joyce Jenkyn, Barbara Keast, Jim Lorenz, Kathy Milam, Rear Commodore Hoyt Nichols, Barbara Pender, Commodore Sandie Ramsden, Terri Roberts, Past Commodore Andy Spetz, and Donna Ventura) and to the centennial celebration sponsors. Many, many thanks to all who have helped Clearwater Yacht Club’s first century of camaraderie, cruising, and competitive sailing live on in this book.

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A Brief History of Yacht Clubs in America, Florida, and Tampa Bay What is it about the sea that exerts such a strong pull on human hearts? Is it the chemical composition our bodies share with our watery planet or the fact that life began in the depths of the sea? Is it because our ancestors depended on her bounty for sustenance or because she carried them on some of the grand adventures that populated the earth? Are these deep stirrings within us due to the mythic pirates, sea monsters, and mermaids that swam through our childhoods or the way the sea can humble our souls and help us see ourselves as a small part of something much greater? I vividly remember watching the sunset from the bow of my grandfather’s cruiser While Away when I was a little girl. On one such occasion, as the great orange ball sank into the Gulf of Mexico, I suddenly felt with absolute clarity that, like a drop of water in the ocean, I was one with the universe and everything in it. The sea Chapter 1 In the Beginning 13

can do that to us. It can also lead us to repeatedly pour large quantities of hard earned cash into the “holes in the water” we call yachts, to eagerly leave the comfort of our homes for the damp, cramped quarters we call cabins, and to set forth to be voluntarily battered about by winds and waves. The pull of the sea has also led people to form, join, and support social organizations called yacht clubs for hundreds of years. Yacht clubs in the United States were originally patterned after those in the British Isles—the first of which were established in the mid-1700s after Charles II of England returned from exile in the Netherlands at the end of the reign of Oliver Cromwell (Martin, Gray and Mains, 2004; Spectre, 2006). A little over a hundred years later, in 1844, the New York Yacht Club (generally considered to be the oldest in the US) was founded aboard the schooner Gimcrack whose owner, John C. Stevens, became its first commodore. Interestingly, the Stevens family, which played a critical role in the transition from sail to steam in the commercial shipping industry, was also instrumental in the design of sailing yachts whose sole purpose was pleasure cruising and competitive racing (Rosenfeld, Taylor and Rosenfeld, 1958; Spectre, 2006). Florida did not lag far behind New York in the race to establish yacht clubs. The St. Augustine Yacht Club was formed in 1873. In 1876, the Florida Yacht Club was established in Jacksonville and is considered the oldest club in the state because the St. Augustine club ceased operation for a number of years. Clubs were founded in Miami in 1887 (Biscayne Bay) and in Daytona Beach in 1896 (Halifax River). The three original clubs in the Tampa Bay area (Tampa Yacht and Country Club—1904, St. Petersburg Yacht Club—1909, and Clearwater Yacht Club—1911) were next in line and are, thus, among the oldest clubs in the state of Florida (Martin, Gray and Mains, 2004).

Postcard of the City Pier Pavilion (circa 1905). Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library (P466002).

14 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

The Setting: Clearwater of 1911

Clearwater Yacht Club was born at a time of rapid social and economic change in the Tampa Bay Area in general and in Clearwater in particular. According to Pinellas historian Ralf Reed, in 1840, all of Hillsborough County (which included what is now Pinellas County) had only 452 residents of which 287 were soldiers stationed at Fort Brooke (Dunn, 1974). Clearwater was a sleepy little fishing village with some agriculture (Gleason, 1976). In a the Bay were so plentiful that the stories of them sound like Arabian Nights. During the fall months when the mullet were spawning, they often came into the Bay in such numbers that at low tide, the men could walk out and kick them ashore; the women scooped up aprons full at a time. The roaring noise the fish made often was heard across the bay (Clearwater Woman’s Club, 1917: 3).”

Postcard of Cleveland Street looking west (early 1900s). Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

charming document housed in the Heritage Village Archive Library titled “A History of Clearwater,” the members of the Clearwater Woman’s Club of 1917 describe the character of the area a few decades earlier: “Although the people lived in a very primitive way, there were many good things to eat. Deer and wild game abounded, turkeys were easily killed and fish in

Postcard of the Clearwater Public Pier (circa 1902). Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

In 1841, the US government built Fort Harrison as a place of rest and recuperation for soldiers fighting in the Seminole Indian War (1835–1842), potentially signaling the end of the isolated existence of the area’s residents. Growth and development in the area, however, continued to be slow until the end of the nineteenth century. Florida became a state in 1845 and five years later, the population of all of the Pinellas Peninsula had increased to only 178 people. Members of the Whitehurst, McMullen, Campbell, Taylor, Meares, Youngblood, Turner, Booth, and Archer families comprised most of the population of the Pinellas Peninsula during the late 1800s. A post office

Chapter 1: In the Beginning 15

was established in Clearwater (then called Clear Water) in 1859—making it the first established community on the peninsula. Citrus groves and sawmills provided employment for residents. Everything not grown or made in the area (including ice) had to be brought in by boat (Dunn, 1974; Gleason, 1976; Pinellas County Planning Department, 2008). By the turn of the century, both the size and lifestyle of the area had been transformed beyond recognition. M. C. Dwight built the first hotel in Clearwater (the Orange Bluff Hotel) in the early 1880s. Theodore Kamensky, Sr. (a well known Russian sculptor and the father of CYC’s Commodore Kamensky) built the town’s second hotel (the Sea View) after the Orange Bluff burned to the ground. The Orange Belt, a small narrow gauge railroad, was completed in 1888—connecting Clearwater and St. Petersburg to the outside world. This little railroad became a part of the Henry B. Plant Railroad System in 1895 and part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway System in 1902 (Cadwell, 1977; Dunn, 1974; Gleason, 1976; Sanders, 1983). Clear Water was incorporated as part of Hillsborough County in 1891 with James Crane as mayor. Looking for a place in which to build a resort hotel that would serve as an attractive destination for wealthy patrons of his railroad system, Henry B. Plant selected a beautiful spot on the bluff overlooking Clearwater Bay. In January of 1897, Plant’s Belleview Biltmore Hotel opened its doors and began providing luxury accommodations for wealthy winter visitors from the northern states. After Henry Plant’s death in 1899, his son, Morton, assumed oversight of the resort. In 1915, Morton Plant Hospital was built with contributions from the railroad/hotel magnet. Matching funds were raised by Taver Bayly and other area business and civic leaders. In 1900, telephone service came to Clearwater and three years later, a switchboard service was set up (Dunn, 1974). J. N. McClung contributed to the development of the area

Photograph of the Belleview Biltmore Hotel. Photo by Burgert Bros. Tampa (#41349); courtesy of the Florida Studies Center and Special Collections Department of the University of South Florida Library.

16 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

in the early 1900s in several ways. In 1900 he built an ice plant on Drew Street and laid a water main from the ice plant to Cleveland Street giving the city its first running water. In 1905, McClung received an electric franchise, which provided the first electricity to the area (Dunn, 1974; Gleason, 1976). In 1902, a pier and pavilion were built at the foot of Cleveland Street. Along with the railroad, this facility (donated to the city in 1912) became a vital link to the outside world. Mail, supplies, and people

Paving in process on South Osceola Avenue (1910). Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library (P2874005).

arrived via sail and later steamboats (Dunn, 1974). With money appropriated by the United States Congress, Clearwater and Boca Ciega Bays were dredged in 1915—thus making an already superb waterfront even more attractive to yachting enthusiasts. Elaborate winter residences (including the home of Lowe Emerson) began to appear along Clearwater Bay (Cadwell, 1977; Dunn, 1974; Gleason, 1976; Sanders, 1983). Dissatisfied with the distance residents had to travel to the Hillsborough County seat in Tampa, the editor of the St. Petersburg Times (W. L. Straub) published a “declaration of independence” calling for the creation of Pinellas County in 1907. His proposal aroused much interest—especially in the southernmost areas of what is now Pinellas County. In May of 1911, just months after CYC’s articles of incorporation were signed in Hillsborough County, Pinellas County was born when Governor A. W. Gilchrist signed the bill passed by the legislature providing for the separation of the two counties. Pinellas officially began operations as a county on January 1, 1912 (Dunn, 1974; Pinellas County Planning Department, 2008). There immediately ensued a hotly contested “war” over the location of the courthouse. In 1912, the City of Clearwater, under the leadership of Mayor C. H. Evans, donated a site (Cadwell, 1977; Dunn, 1974; Gleason, 1976; Sanders, 1983). The controversy over location, however, was not so easily settled. Gleason (1976: 11), citing the Woman’s Club (1917) account, reports that: “The first courthouse was built by volunteer labor while the neighborhood women brought food to the workers. Torches blazed around the rising structure as work went on through the night, and armed guards with shotguns patrolled it constantly because rumors had

Chapter 1: In the Beginning 17

18 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011 The Clearwater Fire Department was organized in 1911 and staffed with volunteers after a terrible fire (having nothing whatever to do with the “St. Petersburg people”) destroyed much of downtown in 1910. In that same year, the Library Association was formed. A year later, with J. R. Thomson as mayor, a bond issue was passed to pave the main streets of downtown with rocks. In 1916, with funding from Andrew Carnegie (which Taver Bayly helped to procure), the public library was built. Also in that year, a new city charter was created. Among the provisions of this charter was municipal suffrage for women. Clearwater was one of the first towns in the nation to extend voting rights to women. According to the 1917 Woman’s Club history, “ A number of been spread that St. Petersburg people planned to come to Clearwater and burn it down.” According to his granddaughter, Sandy Jamieson, the shotgun bearing “guards” that protected the rising structure from those potentially troublesome “St. Petersburg people” were organized by none other than CYC’s Taver Bayly.

Pinellas County Courthouse in 1912. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library (P497009).

women voted for the first time October 23, 1916 for a $10,000 bond issue to aid in building a bridge across CLEARWATER BAY to the Island on the Gulf…Miss Sue Barco being the first woman to cast her ballot” (Clearwater Women’s Club, 1917:9). The final vote on the bridge project was 131 for to 9 against building the bridge. So, the women of Clearwater had a hand in connecting the town to the then uninhabited barrier island that would become Clearwater Beach and would play a major role in the future history of Clearwater and the Clearwater Yacht Club.

Postcard of Cleveland Street just after the big fire of 1910. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

Clearwater Fire Department and City Hall—built in 1911. Photo by Burgert Bros. Tampa; c ourtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library (P668008).

Chapter 1: In the Beginning 19

CYC Gets Organized

In the midst of this rapidly changing social scene, Clearwater Yacht Club was born.

It all started at a New Year’s Eve party held in the imposing winter home of Col. Lowe Emerson on the Bay at the foot of Rogers Street. The year was 1910. William Howard Taft was President…Colonel Emerson, a carriage manufacturer from Ohio, had gathered his monied northern friends for more than a glass of wine with which to toast the new year in; the Colonel thought it was high time that Clearwater had some social life and he proposed to start it. For years, wealthy families from the north had been coming to Clearwater for the winter, chiefly because they were sailing enthusiasts, the owners of luxurious cutters, sloops and schooners that could take advantage of Clearwater’s deep, clean bay as well as the Gulf, outside (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 1). Like current club members, the founders of this organization were interested in both socializing and competitive sailing. Unlike today’s members who take pride in the friendly inclusive atmosphere of the club, their criteria for membership were much more exclusive. These members of the “sailing gentry” had a rather narrow view of the kinds of folks with whom they wanted to socialize and against whom they wanted to compete. The 1911 articles of incorporation (Appendix A) state “all white males over the age of twenty one years are eligible for membership.” While membership was not restricted by this definition to the wealthy, upper class winter residents of the area, in reality it is members of this group of “gentry” who gathered together to form the club in 1911. This original group left few records other than the articles of incorporation. They never built a clubhouse—instead meeting

Postcard of the Clearwater Public Library—built in 1916. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

in each other’s homes and aboard their yachts (Ransom and Tracy, 1961). This first, ultra-exclusive incarnation of the club did not last long. As Ransom and Tracy note in their fiftieth anniversary booklet: “Although Colonel Emerson could not have realized it, the world was changing, the day of the ultra-exclusive men’s boating club was dying. World War I was just around the corner with its tremendous impact on American life; the tycoon in his

20 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

turreted mansion was about to give way to the sinews and sweat and enthusiasm of young men who thought the Four Hundred was a racing distance” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961:3). When these young men came back from the First World War in 1918 and 1919, they eagerly took to the seas in anything that would float. Clearwater Yacht Club was reactivated in 1919 with

Postcard of Taver Bayly (second from right) and Theo Kamensky (far right) celebrating the end of WWI. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

Frank J. Booth as commodore, Owen S. Allbritton II as vice commodore, and Hunter Baker as secretary/treasurer (Ransom and Tracy, 1961). By this time, Cleveland Street had been paved with brick and led down to the large public pier. At the end of the pier sat a two-story building with an ice cream parlor on the first floor and a dance hall on the second (Cadwell, 1977; Dunn, 1974; Gleason, 1976; Sanders, 1983). This pavilion became the headquarters for the resurrected Clearwater Yacht Club and its social and competitive sailing activities (Ransom and Tracy, 1961). While few records remain from this period of the club’s history, and the club again appears to have faded into obscurity within a few years, Ransom and Tracy (1961: 4) propose that: “…in retrospect, that burst of activity may have been what kept the Club from dying altogether. It was in this 1919 – 1921 interval that the fact was implanted that boating was not a rich man’s sport, that a crowd of average boys and girls and men and women could,

Postcard of the two-story pavilion at the end of the Clearwater City Pier. This building was the headquarters of the Clearwater Yacht Club after the end of WWI. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

by their enthusiasm and not much else, have fun and make friendships that otherwise might be lost to them.” Thus, the Clearwater Yacht Club’s current culture of friendly inclusiveness and enthusiasm for boating activities of all kinds (Green, 2008) may have been born in the years following the return of the veterans of World War I.

Chapter 1: In the Beginning 21

Postcard of the wooden bridge connecting Clearwater with the island that is now Clearwater Beach. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library.

22 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011 Postcard of the elaborate winter residences along the bay. Courtesy of the Fleming/Green family.

Chapter 2 BCol eoamr,wBa t ue rs t a, nadn dCBY aCc kd Au r ignagi nt:h e 1920s and 1930s

On October 25, 1921, Clearwater was hit by a disastrous hurricane. The winds are estimated to have exceeded 100 miles per hour and the water rose to 10.5 feet above sea level. Ships and yachts were washed ashore and homes all over the Tampa Bay Area were damaged or destroyed (Dunn, 1974; Pinellas County Planning Department, 2008). My mother (then four years old) vividly remembered friends from St. Petersburg arriving at her home in South Tampa by boat—and she did not live on, or even very near, the water. The storm made landfall at Tarpon Springs, which meant that Clearwater bore the brunt of its fury (Dunn, 1974). Within a very short period of time, however, the area rallied from this devastation and became swept up in a storm of a very different sort—the Florida Land Boom. 23

Postcard of the Memorial Gardens Causeway. Courtesy of the Fleming/Green family.

24 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011 Speedboat racing became a hugely popular attraction as well as a way for developers to promote land sales in the area. “[S]oon all the waters hereabouts were slashed by roaring speedboats, 26-foot mahogany monsters with 200-horsepower engines, thundering over the water…Clearwater got into the act, of course, and the Bay offered a splendid race course that attracted all the best (and noisiest) speedboats in this area” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961:5). While the roaring speedboats were the newest “rage” in the “Roaring Twenties,” interest in competitive sailing never waned. In 1923, J. Buford As in the first decade of the twenty-first century, in the early 1920s, people all over the country went crazy with Florida land fever. Speculation was rampant and everyone wanted in on the action. “Clearwater along with the rest of Florida, entered the wildest period of its history… thousands flocked to the West Coast, each one dreaming of millions to be picked up in every boondock, every tide-washed acre” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 5). Money flew in from across the country and around the world. With that money came an insatiable taste for “the good life” in its myriad forms. Pinellas County and its beaches became major tourist destinations. Developers scrambled to make the area and its beaches more accessible. The old wooden bridge between the Clearwater mainland and Clearwater Beach was replaced with the “Memorial Gardens Causeway” built to honor the veterans of World War I. At the height of the boom in 1924, George S. Gandy, Sr. built a toll bridge between St. Petersburg and Tampa. Captain Ben T. Davis followed suit by starting construction on the nine and a half mile long causeway connecting Tampa and Clearwater (now called Courtney Campbell Causeway). As the longest causeway/bridge system in the nation at the time, this was a major undertaking (Dunn, 1974; Pinellas County Planning Department, 2008).

Postcard of the Ben T. Davis Toll Causeway (now Courtney Campbell Causeway). Courtesy of the Fleming/ Green family.

Edgar, Esq., after making his fortune in real estate in the north, returned to his hometown of Clearwater at the helm of a forty-five and a half foot ocean racing schooner he had commissioned from the famous designer W. J. Roué. The schooner was built in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and named Haligonian. It wasn’t long before Edgar and Dick Driscoll, a well-known speedboat designer and builder who had moved to Dunedin, began to talk about reactivating the Clearwater Yacht Club. Lester Dicus owned a hotel (the Sunset Point Hotel) at the north end of Stevenson’s Creek. The hotel had a ballroom on the top floor. With her first ocean racing sailboat in port, lots of interest in speedboat racing in the waters off of Clearwater, and a ballroom in which to hold social functions, CYC reorganized with Buford Edgar as commodore, James (Jimmy) Davis as vice commodore, and Ted Kamensky as rear commodore. Clearwater Yacht Club

Caesar Irsch racing the “mahogany monster” Miss Tampa in 1926. Courtesy of the Fleming/Green family.

was off again and roared along with the times. In interviews with Ransom and Tracy, Jimmy Davis recalled: “We had ourselves a time…we danced, we partied, we raced everything from the seagoing yacht Haligonian , to a mullet net skiff with a two-horsepower outboard. We didn’t bother with annual elections or minutes or anything like that, we just had a lot of fun with no regrets” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 5).

Chapter 2: Boom, Bust, and Back Again 25

Haligonian in the 1934 St. Pete to Habana Race. Photograph of an enlarged, tinted photo owned by Richard Kamensky. The original photograph taken by Ray K. Williams is housed in the St. Petersburg Yacht Club archives. Courtesy of Richard Kamensky.

An article printed on February 9, 1928, in The Independent indicates that, in addition to the “mahogany monsters,” racing small outboard craft was a popular sport that drew folks from around the state to Pinellas County: State’s Speedy Craft Entering Events Feb. 28 RACES OVER ISLAND COURSE EXPECTED TO ATTRACT 50 OF FLORIDA’S TINY RACERS Outboard motor craft owners of Florida are tuning their little engines and trimming their tiny shells for the next open races over the Boca Ciega course here Feb. 8 during dedication of the new gulf causeway and the new roads along the gulf beaches. While this particular event was held in St. Petersburg, race officials included members of several area yacht clubs and power boat associations, including CYC’s then Commodore Buford Edgar. In addition to racing, these small outboard craft were used in the popular sport of “aquaplaning”—a predecessor to skiing in which intrepid folks were pulled behind outboard boats while standing on a piece of plywood. Clearwater Bay provided an ideal location for this new sport (Dunn, 1974). By the end of 1928, the bubble of irrational exuberance represented by the Florida Land Boom had burst. As Jimmy Davis put it: “Finally, of course, came the bust, and what a bust.

Caesar Irsch aquaplaning in the bay. Courtesy of the Fleming/Green family.

It left us with no money, no Clearwater Yacht Club, no nothing” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 5). Clearwater was left a sadder, but perhaps wiser, town. The “Memorial

26 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

Gardens Causeway” became known as the “bridge to nowhere.” The beach itself remained largely undeveloped—with just a few houses, a rickety dock, and a pavilion that would later play an important role in the history of CYC. In the midst of this gloom, a land developer from out of town is reported to have told Jimmy Davis he was thinking of starting a yacht club in Clearwater. The CYC crowd was not going to let an “outsider” start a club in their town when CYC was still on the books. “There was a lot of phoning and a meeting was set up in the Seven Gables Tea Room…It was at this meeting that one of the Club’s great benefactors, Donald Roebling, put in an appearance. The first meeting laid the groundwork for a second, larger meeting held at Dailey’s Cafeteria on November 3, 1928. It was on that date, that the Clearwater Yacht Club was permanently returned to active status; since that day, no matter how stormy the seas, the CYC burgee has been kept flying” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 6). With Davis as commodore, Brannen Casler as vice commodore, and Roebling as rear commodore, the club rented an old house on the bay in the area that is now Coachman Park. On October 4, 1929, the St. Petersburg Times carried the following article:

CLEARWATER – The Oesterle house, the first structure at the foot of the bluff north of the causeway approach, was chosen at last night’s meeting of the Clearwater Yacht Club as home for the organization. Committee chairman Kaesby, who was appointed to agree upon a clubhouse, stated that he had investigated several locations and the Oesterle house was by far the best thing he could find. The building formerly stood directly on the shore of Clearwater

Oesterle house on the bay near what is now Coachman Park. Home of Clearwater Yacht Club from 1929 to 1931. Courtesy of Mike Sanders.

harbor, but a dredge fill was made in front of it during the real estate excitement of a few years ago. Now the house stands several hundred feet from the water, but close enough, according to Mr. Kaesby, to make a fine place for a yacht club headquarters.

With financial backing from Roebling and lots of sweat equity from all of the members (including Roebling), the clubhouse on the bay was soon

Chapter 2: Boom, Bust, and Back Again 27

Back and side view of the Oesterle house. Photo by Jeannie E. Woodworth; courtesy of Jim Woodworth, Bill Wallace, and the Clearwater Historical Society.

ready for operation (Ransom and Tracy, 1961). “The little club turned out to be a godsend to a dejected city. Dues were only ten dollars a year and the millionaire visitor enjoyed the same pleasures as the boom-busted bankrupt, a hand at cards, a victrola dance, fish and grits once a week, and above all sailing, sailing, sailing. No wonder the whole West Coast took the Club to its heart. No wonder that, at the end of 1929, the Clearwater Yacht Club not only was in the black, all debts paid, but boasted a bank balance of $1,600” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 7). Thus by 1930, Clearwater Yacht Club was back on its feet again. Davis was re-elected commodore with Taver Bayly as vice commodore and Ted Kamensky as rear commodore. In that same year, as the nation reeled from the disaster of the stock market crash and plunged into depression, Clearwater Yacht Club opened the “Mandalay Speedway in the Bay.” The oil industry provided prize money, and speed boats were again roaring in

Cleveland Street looking prosperous in the 1930s. Courtesy of Heritage Village Archives and Library (P54007).

28 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011

the bay and attracting visitors to the yacht club and the town. The boating activities of the yacht club were used in Chamber of Commerce advertisements of the day to draw visitors to the area. A brochure from this era states: “An annual Mid-Winter Regatta and other boating events staged under the auspices of the Clearwater Yacht Club are added attractions to all who are interested in boating.” In 1931, after a heated debate that nearly split the club in two, threatening its very survival and causing Davis to be recalled as commodore, Clearwater Yacht Club decided to move its headquarters to Clearwater Beach where access to the gulf would be more convenient. In 1932, the club elected Ted Kamensky commodore

Inside of a Chamber of Commerce brochure used in the 1920s and 1930s crediting Clearwater Yacht Club with providing sail and power boat activities for the community. Courtesy of the Fleming/ Green family.

and began the move to the location on Mandalay Avenue that would become her headquarters for the next forty years. At the time of the club’s fiftieth anniversary, reflecting on this tumultuous period of club history, PC Jimmy Davis stated: “So, the poor, tired Clearwater Yacht Club made her home port at last. It is to be hoped that once in a while she will think of the stormy seas she has sailed and the reefs she has been on and off, over the years now half a century, and will remember with pride and affection the crews and masters who steered her course to her present port of splendor” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 9) . The club’s new home was established on land donated to the City of Clearwater by the Skinner family with the understanding the yacht club would have the benefit of the grant. The city offered this plot of land as a site for the new Clearwater Yacht Club building. With a total of less than twenty dollars in the bank, the club now had a site but no money with which to build a building. This, however, did not stop the indomitable CYC members of 1932. “Today, we might wring our hands or at least trot down to the bank to see about a loan; back then, they did things differently. Somebody found out the Peoples Bank of Dunedin had foreclosed on a ramshackle house in Safety Harbor

Chapter 2: Boom, Bust, and Back Again 29