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

Snipe in front of the “Little Clubhouse”—later home to Arthur Kisby. Courtesy of the Seavy family .

30 The First Hundred Years: Clearwater Yacht Club, 1911-2011 YACHT CLUB TO OPEN NEW SAIL RACE SERIES SUNDAY A new series of races, to last for five weeks, will be begun by the Clearwater Yacht Club tomorrow. The races will start at 2:30 o’clock off the beach north of the city pier, which juts into the Gulf at the western end of the causeway. Arrangements for the sailing series were completed at the latest weekly meeting of the club, when it was decided to divide the fleet into two teams, the Whites and the Blues. Frank J. Booth will be captain of the Blues and Donald Cochran will head the Whites. The Blue fleet will be comprised of Frank Booth in the “Ankle Deep,” David Kirkconnell in the “Mercedes,” Jake Lanier in the “Slicker,” and Gardner Fuller in the “Shearwater.” In the White fleet will be Don Cochran with the “Dickie Bird,” Ed Spence in the “Hustler,” Clayton Whitesell in the “Ruby Taylor,” and Marion Ruff in the “Bonnie-Bell.” Five boats of the Blue team will appear in the first race, against four of the White team, but in the succeeding races, the White team will have an extra craft. Theodore Kamensky will not appear in this series with the “Meditation” for the reason that he will act as sailing master on the schooner “Haligonian” which will participate in the St. Petersburg-Habana race on April 16. and had condemned the old building to the wrecker’s hammer. Out to Safety Harbor went the Yacht Club men, made a deal and tore down the doomed building. From Safety Harbor, they trucked the scraps over to the Beach and put them together again, piece by piece” (Ransom and Tracy, 1961: 10). This self-made clubhouse, fondly dubbed the “Little Clubhouse,” provided a warm and friendly, though tiny, home for CYC members and visitors from 1932 to 1934. Taver Bayly was commodore during the club’s years in the “Little Clubhouse” and under his leadership, the club remained active in both power and sailboat racing. The Evening Independent ran the following article on April 2, 1932: