15-FBYC Believe It...Or Not!

Amusing Historical Anecdotes...

by Jere Dennison

  • In spite of dedicating their ‘new’ clubhouse on Fishing Bay in 1949, FBYC members suffered for ten long miserable years with frigid showers until a hot water system was finally and mercifully installed!
Chuck Raynor, Logstreamer at the time, published this exciting announcement in the Spring, 1959 issue of the Log:

A couple of years back when I first had the pleasure of coming to Fishing Bay, mention was made of hot water for showers. Being a new member I hadn’t felt it politic to mention this subject, so I have remained in the dark on the status of the fabled warm waters. Now, however, it is my honor to be able to announce that money had been appropriated, a heater is being purchased, and soon the magnificent thing may come to be.

Believe it...or not!

  • In 1961, two FBYC clubmembers with two other crew were shipwrecked for nearly two days on an uninhabited island in the Chesapeake Bay when their sailboat was damaged and grounded during a fierce Autumn storm!
The October 17, 1961 Richmond News Leader reported on the incident in an article titled “Local Men Describe Bay Experience.” The FBYC members were Byrd W. Davenport and William H. King. The other two victims were Hugo Stevens and St. George Grinnan, Jr. All were from Richmond. The newspaper account is abbreviated below:

The 38-foot ketch the four were on ran aground in a windstorm Saturday night in water three feet deep and 40 to 50 feet off Watt’s Island, 15 miles south of Crisfield, Md.

“The first night was pretty rough,” King said today. “We were all soaking wet and the temperature got down to about 40 or perhaps in the high 30’s.”

The boat’s sails, except for the mainsail, which was tied down, blew out in the raging winds that also churned up the water around the island.

King said the men got practically no sleep Saturday night. Each made several trips through the churning surf from the ketch to the island carrying gear and supplies from the boat.

They were able to get one of the batteries on the ketch working and call for help on the boat’s radio. Their plea was heard by the Norfolk marine operator who passed along the message to the Coast Guard.

An 83-foot Coast Guard patrol boat arrived on the scene about midday Sunday, but couldn’t get close enough to the island to remove them.

By Sunday night, conditions on the island had improved. The men had fashioned a windbreaker out of tarpaulin and made a fire.

They were picked up by a private cabin cruiser early Monday. All four men survived the ordeal without ill effects.

Believe it...or not!

 

  • In 1969, the Fishing Bay Yacht Club embarked on an ambitious physical expansion program, but our beloved swimming pool that we take for granted today was in danger of receiving insufficient support from the Board for construction to proceed!

Before the pool became a reality, wives and children who were not participating in our racing programs endured the blistering summer weekends clustered under the two large shade trees in front of the clubhouse or dodging stinging nettles around the pier on Fishing Bay. Generally these ‘shore support teams’ were not happy campers, and there was rebellion brewing amongst the familial segment of the membership.

In order to encourage the swimming pool project, Nancy Lewis, wife of Bolling Lewis, composed a delightful poem addressed to the yacht club Board. Here is her ‘Sailing Widow’s Plea’:

A baby-sitting boat watcher is all I can be,
While my own Bus Mosbacher goes out to sea.
And in between screams that someone’s been stung,
The children yell out that the race has begun.

We start from the pier to get better perception,
But realize the distance creates visual deception.
We can’t tell a Sunfish from Mobjack or Jolly,
The sun in our faces has made it a folly.

To give him a cheer or wave him adieu,
Is all that we beach ‘sitters’ can possibly do.

How many of us girls are in the “on-shore” boat,
Helping our husbands to keep afloat?
By nursing their children and battling the nettles,
We try to keep our family life deserving of medals.

So please! To the Fishing Bay Yacht Club Board, keep us cool,
By giving the families a swimming pool.

Believe it...or not!

Fishing Bay Yacht Club
Office Mail: Fishing Bay Yacht Club, 2711 Buford Road #309, Bon Air, 23235,
Clubhouse Address: 1525 Fishing Bay Road, Deltaville, VA 23043 (no mail delivery)

Phone Numbers: Club House 804-889-2327

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