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

12. In 1928, the boom went bust leaving the city with “with no money, no Clearwater Yacht Club, no nothing.” 13. In November of 1928, CYC members held meetings at the Seven Gables Tea Room and Dailey’s Cafeteria to get CYC back on its feet again. 14. In 1928–1929, CYC rented a house on the mainland near where Coachman Park is today. Members renovated the house and enjoyed fish fries, dances, playing cards, and sailing. 15. CYC opened the “Mandalay Speedway in the Bay” in 1930 and “mahogany monsters” were again roaring in Clearwater Bay. 16. In 1930, the Skipperettes (CYC’s first women’s group) was formed at the suggestion of Commodore Davis who believed they would be a “refining influence” on the club. 17. In 1929, plans for the first annual St. Pete to Habana Race were conceived for the “downright enjoyment” of yachting on the Gulf of Mexico (held in 1930). The St. Pete-Habana Race competitors were invited to bring wives and sweethearts along on a modern, comfortable steamship. One of them joked “bring one of the ladies, but not both!” The racing rules stated this race was to be a “friendly cruise” and not a race for blood or money and the Race Committee would exhibit neither love nor devotion for “sea-lawyers.” 18. Haligonian (at this point owned by Houston Wall of Tampa Yacht and Country Club) sailed in the 1930 St. Pete to Habana Race with CYC’s Commodore Ted Kamensky aboard and won first place. Haligonian and Kamensky continued to compete in the St. Pete to Habana races throughout the 1930s and won many silver trophies—several of which are in CYC’s trophy case. 19. In 1932, after a big blow up that nearly destroyed the club, CYC moved from the rented house on the mainland to a Clearwater Beach location on Mandalay Avenue that would be the club’s home for the next forty years. The site was donated to the city by the Skinner family for the use of CYC. Members bought an old house in Safety Harbor that was scheduled for demolition, dismantled it, and used the material to build the “Little Clubhouse” on the Mandalay site. 20. In 1934, the club adopted the Snipe as its focus for one-design sailboat racing and Guy Roberts began to build boats for the fleet. Miss Ann Bayly (daughter of Commodore Taver Bayly) christened the first boat in the fleet the good ship Jack Snipe in 1935.

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