F ishing Bay Yacht Club is a private sailing club located in Deltaville, Virginia. For over 50 years we have been located at the base of Stove Point Neck. We have a beautiful view over Fishing Bay for watching our One Design racers, our Juniors in the Optis and famous sunsets. To the left is a picture of the view over Fishing Bay at the occasion of the visit of Schooner Virginia to FBYC in July 2005.

The original clubhouse on Fishing Bay was built in 1950 shortly after the club relocated from Urbanna. We replaced our clubhouse in 2002 and shown to the right is the second floor room in the new clubhouse.

The yacht club has water frontage on both Fishing Bay and Jackson Creek. Fishing Bay is a well-protected bay on the Piankatank River and Jackson Creeek provides a well protected location for the clubs slips. You can see an aerial photo of Fishing Bay, Stove Point & Jackson Creek here or Larger Format.

Sailing

We operate our sailing activities through 4 divisions. Our Offshore Division conduct an extensive Sailing Events Schedule for boats rated for PHRF and MORC. We also have 4 active J-105s and a number of J-24s. Our Schedule includes a Spring Series and Fall Series and several summer regattas, including the Leukemia Cup Regatta and and the Stingray Point Regatta racing for the Brent Halsey, Jr. Memorial Trophy on Labor Day weekend.

Our Cruising Division organizes social activities and sailing cruises for those with live aboard sailboats who want to visit different places and get together with friends. Traditionally they have one, two or three day trips at the beginning and end of the season and longer trips in the summer – usually one to two week trips around the Chesapeake Bay and sometimes trips to New England, Maine, or North Carolina.

Our One Design Division has its own schedule of spring and fall series, and various summer races including our traditional Annual Regatta held in August. Racing is held in several areas of Fishing Bay. We usually have racing for the fleets of Lasers , Mobjacks , Front Runners , Flying Scots , 420s , and Optimists. Our Laser Fleet hosted the 2000 U. S. Laser Masters Regatta and hosts frequent Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championships. In 2004, the club hosted the Mobjack Nationals and in 2005 is hosting the Flying Scot Atlantic Coast Championships. We have been selected to host the 2007 Flying Scot North American Championships.

Our Junior Division runs a very popular Junior Week every year in June. It has grown to about 125 juniors, in classes ranging from Opti-Kids and Beginning Opti up to Racing Class, Team Sailing, and Windsurfing. The Junior Race Team travels with boats, coaches, and parents to Junior Regattas all over the Bay, and sometimes returns with silver - as witnessed by our team attending the 2005 Virginia State Optimists Championships in Hampton. The Juniors hosted the 2004 Optimist Atlantic Coast Championships, the 2005 Bay Open Championships and Junior Olympics. and the 2006 Virginia State Championships for Optimists, Lasers, and 420s.

Facilities

In 2001-2002 we replaced our original Clubhouse with a new 2 story clubhouse. The capital costs of the project were primarily funded by a fund-raising campaign among the membership together with accumulated club cash. The new clubhouse gave us a brand new catering kitchen for events, a large efficient screened in porch, a winterized room downstairs with a cozy fireplace, and a wonderful new upstairs area that is air-conditioned, along with a quiet screened in porch overlooking Fishing Bay. We commissioned the brand new main clubhouse on Opening Day 2002. See pictures of the completed new Clubhouse.

Shown at the left above is a view of the new Clubhouse from Fishing Bay Road. And on the right, the view is taken from the One-Design Dock on the Fishing Bay side.

The other side of our property fronts on Jackson Creek, where we have a number of slips occupied by member yachts and we have a 3-ton lift for dry-sailed yachts and visiting trailered yachts. Jackson Creek offers easy access to the mouth of the Piankatank River and the Chesapeake Bay where we conduct our racing for our Offshore boats. Near the docks on Jackson Creek, FBYC has a second clubhouse known as "Fannie's House". It has a kitchen and living room with a large screened-in porch overlooking Jackson Creek and is used by members who keep their boats in our slips on Jackson Creek, and for training, meetings, and regatta scoring. We now have wi-fi wireless internet access available in the Main Clubhouse and in Fannie's House and it reaches all the boat slips in Jackson Creek.

In 2004 we purchased 2.1 acres of adjoining land to the east of the club property. The new land materially increased our capacity for on-site parking and boat storage, plus it added additional waterfront on Fishing Bay. The picture on the left shows the new land being used as a rigging field during our 2005 Bay Open Championships, and the picture to the right shows Optimists about to be launched into Fishing Bay on the new beach ramp.

There is a salt-water pool and wading pool directly adjacent to the dock, overlooking Fishing Bay. Rack space is available for small boats like Optimists, Bytes and Lasers. Boats can be launched on Fishing Bay using on a concrete ramp which can be used for cars and trailers, or on the new grass beach ramp on the new property.

Membership

The Club web site has significant additional information available to its members. However we have posted most of the information that prospective members might need at our public Membership pages and at Membership Frequently Asked Questions Pages. Membership application is encouraged from those interested in becoming actively involved in our sailing programs. Prospective members should contact our Secretary at secretary@fbyc.net. for information pertaining to the application process and obtaining a membership application. An applicant must be sponsored by two current members.

Fishing Bay Yacht Club has reciprocity arrangements with other clubs throughout the Chesapeake Bay and beyond. A full list is shown on Our Member's Only web pages at Reciprocity.

Organization

FBYC is a member of US Sailing and CBYRA . Fishing Bay Yacht Club's Historian has done a great job recording The History of the Club and interesting articles about the Club which have been published in our Log and on the website. The Board of Trustees meet monthly in Richmond, Virginia.