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History
On this page we compile a list of items of historical interest
- Jere Dennison's forward
- Jere Dennison's Offical History
- Jere Dennison's Articles that have been published in recent Logs
- Memorial Articles about deceased members
- Some of the Yearly updates from the Club Historian
Historical Links
Foreword to FBYC History
As a member since 1955, I suppose my advancing years at least partially (but not uniquely) qualify me
to be the current historian for the Fishing Bay Yacht Club. As such, I have endeavored to chronicle many
intriguing stories from our past that are posted below but that first appeared in a series of history
columns for the club’s monthly membership publication called the Log . However, major credit
must be given to MacDonald Wellford, a founding member and first historian, who fanatically maintained
scrapbooks on club history from our inception until the late 1960’s. Mac kindly turned these scrapbooks
over to me before his death as the club approached its 50th anniversary in 1989, and these represent
the primary source for much of the material dealing with the early years of the club’s existence.
Second, credit must also go to the Richmond Times-Dispatch and News-Leader, both of which
newspapers covered club racing and social activities in extensive detail until about 1970 and whose
articles Mac religiously pasted onto the pages of his scrapbooks. And third, credit is due to the many
members who have contributed their ideas, personal recollections, and encouragement to this effort.
While not the region’s oldest yacht club, the Fishing Bay Yacht Club certainly ranks among the senior
sailing institutions on the Chesapeake Bay by virtue of its founding in 1939. The story of FBYC
spans an era from pre-World War II when wooden racing yachts set Egyptian cotton sails, through the rapid
transition to fiberglass hulls and Dacron sails on aluminum masts in the 1950’s and 60’s, and into the
present day when exotic high-tech composites dominate marine-construction.
Jere Dennison
Historian
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