History of the Gulfport Yacht Club

The Gulfport Yacht Club was first orginized in August 1938. It all happend one night when three sailboats with twelve boys between the ages of 13 and 19 were sailing on Boca Ciega Bay. The talk of the evening turned toword starting a yacht club, so C. J. Allen, better known to his younger friends as "Pop", called for a meeting of all the Gulfport youth interested in sailing. The result was the Gulfport Yacht Club, which met at various homes successfully for several years. Most of its members were called into service with some branch of the Armed Forces.

Most of the boys at this time were building their own boats and the competition was very fierce.

The first Commodore was James Flatter, who later became Gulfport policemen, and some of the early members were Jim and Bill McManus, Bruce Ellis, Maurice Dykes, Clyde Council (killed in action), Harvey Holland, Floyd Samson, Bill Longley, Bill Brown (killed in action), and Bob Callinan.

After WW II ended the Club was reorginized at the home of Nathan White, now the Station Master of the Amtrack station in Saint Petersburg. Bert Mann was elected Commodore and plans were made to build a clubhouse. By 1946 the Club was very active having F.S.A. sanctioned regattas and was listed in Lloyd Register. Mann's boathouse on Elam Bayou was used to hold meetings, along with various other homes. Ed McDonald was appointed Chairman of the Building Committee and a surplus barracks were obtained (unassembled). The 16x48' building was erected along what is now the Marina Channel. It was built out over the water on pillings, with the inside part on the land next to the roadway. It became very yachty looking layout, with a board deck along the water. It had windows all around it and under the windows were four foot panels on which murals were painted, mostly seascapes, by former Russian Baron by the name of Nick Cherkasoff. The ladies put the drapes on the windows, the rafters were adorned with a set of international code flags, and a lot of wicker furniture adorned the room. It was beautiful.

In May of 1949 the Gulfport Sea Scouts were charterd, cosponsored by the Gulfport Yacht Club and the Lions Club, with Howard Snyder as the skipper. Training cruises were taken on the 60 foot sailboat "Dixon" owned by Col. Steve Lang, for who the trophy raced for by the intermediates, was named after he passed away.

About this time the club had accumulated about 5 prams, used by the Juniors, along with three "Y" Flyers owned by Doc McLellan, Al Snell, and Howard Snyder.

In 1950, the Benton Trophy was presented to the Gulfport Yacht Club to honor the boys who lost their lives in WW II, and raced for by Juniors.

Some of the Club races that were raced for early years:
- "Whistler" Race, from the pier out aboout 20 miles to the Whistler bouy and return.
- "Blue Water" Race, from the pier to Joohn's Pass and return
- "Mullet Key" Race, from the pier a cruuise to Mullet Keywith a picnic, and a race back to the pier.

All of these were raced in small boats "Y" Flyers, Windmils, etc.

The Gulfport obtained its first lease from the City of Gulfport in 1952, later surrended when lease on our present location was obtained. This first lease was for fifteen years with on option for additional five years. At this time clubhouse was moved across the road, where it remained untill our present clubhouse was built, and then the old one was torn down. After the building was moved across the road, it became the place to build the boats. A form for building Windmills was brought down from Gainsville, set up and boats built on it. A Skeeter Class form was built and a number of boats were buit with money donated by the Gulfport Lions Club. These boats were sailed by Intermediates and raced in regattas in Tampa, Sarasota, Saint Petersburg and locally. These boats were built at night and into the small hours of the morning by Doc McLellan, Howard Snyder, Glen Snyder, Stu Eck, and with occasional help from others.

In 1956 the hoist pole and boom which we still use, was obtained from the old "Sunshine City Boat Club". It was first installed at the old club and moved to its present location.

Regattas were held on Memorial Day every year, for a very little outley of money, by making the trophies, supplying food prepared by wives of members for which there was no charge to compete. For example, the 1957 regatta cost the Gulfport Y. C. $77.62 which covered food, trophies, sound system, and other incidentals.

Regattas were held very successfully for many years by the Gulfport Yacht Club and many other area yacht clubs. The Sarasota Labor Day Regatta in 1960 had entries in 20 classes, the G.Y.C. was represented by 32 members, about half of them were Juniors. The Gulfport Yacht Club brought home 12 trophies in 5 classes!!!. As in most of the regattas in the 50's, the Gulfport Yacht Club Regatta in 1959 drew 109 entries.

In 1959 Commodore Al Snell appointed Howard Snyder,a chairman of the building committee, to design a new building for the Gulfport Yacht Club and to raise funds to build it. A plan was presented on March 15, 1959 and approved by members. Money was collected at each meeting to buy materials to start the construction. Seven members had enough faith that we could succeed and donated $430.00, and the Junior Yacht Club donated $21.75.

A one dollar a year lease was obtained on January 19, 1960 from the City of Gulfport, after many meetings with the Planing Board and the Council.

The Gulfport Yacht Club Inc. charter was drawn up, approved by the members qn March 3, 1960 and approved by the Secratary of the State of Florida about two weeks later.

On April 16, 1960 a work party was called for by Howard Snyder, who was now Cmmodore, and construction begun on the new house. The construction was under the direction of Gordon Cleary. Labor for laying the blocks was donated by the brick layers union of which Gordon Cleary was a member. Labor for mixing mortar, digging and ather common labor was done by Gulfport Yacht Club members. Carpenter work was done by a unit of Navy Sea Bees.

During this time more money was raised from the G.Y.C. treasurery and some parents of juniors to a total of $900.00. This along with donation of materials enabled us to finish the project by 1961.

During the 1960's Gordon Aubrey did a lot of work in the clubhouse installing the ceiling, floor covering, cabinets and many other things, including operation of the Junior Program. During the 1960's racing and regattas continued to flourish, with the 1960 regatta having 14 classes.

In 1966 the Gulfport Yacht Club had 4 entries in "Yachting Magazine" - One-of-a Kind Regatta, more than any club in Florida ever had, and possibly in the nation. Meetings were held in the 1960's every Monday night by the Race Committee, just for the purpose of discussing racing tactics and any other subject pertaining to handling, trimming, and develotment of faster sailing techniques. These meetings were very well attended by the members. During the 1960's the Gulfport Yacht Club sponsored a Sea Scout Unit under the direction of Howard Snyder, and won fourteen sailing regattas. The regattas were held twice a year on a regular basis by the Pinellas County Organization of Units from Saint Petersburg, Clearwater, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs, and the Gulf Beaches. The Scouts won and retired the large trophy twice and than donated it back.

In the 1970's the activites still on the rise with good regattas still flourishing. There was the additionto the Memorial Day Regatta, the Pidge Powell Memorial Trophy Regatta. In 1972 the regatta held on November 5th, had 49 entries, of which 20 were from the Gulfport Yacht Club.

During the middle to late 1970's there was a decline in regatta activity, not only at our Club, but in other clubs throughout the State. This was also reflected in the racing program, which now in the early 1980's, is begining to show the signs of resurgence. After having no regattas for some time, we have hosted the Windmill Midwinters Regatta and expect to host other classes soon.

In 1983 the Junior Program has been reviewed and is progressing well. The program is under the direction of Howard Snyder.

Now, all we need is to have faith....