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

Inside of advertising brochure showing focus on sailing and family activities. CYC Archives.

Chapter 4: CYC’s Darkest Hour and the Great Recovery 45 It was in this critical period that the CYC Board of Trustees (consisting of George E. W. Hardy III, Joe R. Wolfe, Edward A. Parker, Riley K. McGraw, Taver Bayly, and Jack Taylor) was formed to take control of the individuals were determined not to let their club slide into oblivion. At the suggestion of the indomitable Taver Bayly, they rented a storefront on Cleveland Street as temporary quarters and christened it the “Downtown Station.” They then convinced Aunt Hattie’s Town House Restaurant next door to allow them to cut a connecting door between the two spaces and serve dinner to CYC members once a week. It was from this humble, landlocked abode that they began the Herculean task of helping CYC to rise, once again, like a Phoenix out of the ashes. Their first problem, of course, was to come to an agreement with the city. After complex, and often unpleasant, legal and financial negotiations, the club received a cash settlement of approximately $200,000 as compensation for capital improvements made to the site and as a “buy out” for the forty nine years remaining on the ninety-nine year lease that CYC had previously held on the site (Haeseker, 1976). While this was a major accomplishment, the club still faced huge obstacles. With no permanent home, no place for social activities, no boat slips, and no place to hold regattas, CYC had little to offer prospective members and few ways to raise funds. They had to find a new waterfront location and they had to find ways to pay for it. Once again, PC Taver Bayly stepped up to the plate and led the effort to save the club (Gamblin and Gamblin, 1976).