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

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