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

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