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

Big Boat Racing: The Legacy of the Haligonian Chapter 6

St. Pete to Habana Races

While CYC’s history of big boat racing certainly goes back to the earliest days of her existence, record of the club’s participation in regularly scheduled annual regattas begins in 1930. The club had gotten back on her feet just in time to participate in the legendary series of St. Pete to Habana races. The first of these races was held in March of 1930 and was the brainchild of George S. (Gidge) Gandy, Jr.—founding member (1905) and past commodore (1919– 1920) of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club and son of the builder of the Gandy Bridge across Tampa Bay. Like the Key West Rendezvous of CYC’s more recent history, the St. Pete to Habana Race was a multi-club event. In a letter dated May 1929 and addressed to my grandfather, Caesar Irsch (founding member and PC of Davis Island Yacht Club), Gidge laid out the plans for the inaugural race (see Appendix B): “I’ve had time to talk things over with the boys and work out a string of ideas for the Habana race...and have doped

63