MEMORIES FROM LEN MONTAGUE

From: Len Montague

To: Arthur Bronstein; artb@twcny.rr.com

Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2014 9:41 AM Subject: Re: HHYC HISTORY

Henderson Harbor Yacht Club was first founded in the 1930's. May Robinson and John Jones were members and May's father Morton Picksley. They sailed International Dingies. No club house that I know of. People got together in 1947 and founded our current club led by Heiny Rouse our first commodore. The club opened on a dock and small building lent to use by Dr. Tyler a dentist in Adams. A swimming teacher was hired who also made sandwiches for sale. He made them in our cottage. His name was Ted King a student from Yale. There was no sail school instructor but one of the founders of the Lightning class gave lectures on sailing, Mr. Barnes. Forgot his first name. These were the only sailing classes ever had.

Racing was in Snipes and Rhodes Bantams. Trophies were made by Ken Harris for the winners that they could keep. The later trophies he made had to be returned. The club moved into the building that is the Junior Club House in 1949. The sail school Instructor and steward lived upstairs. I did this in 1950 and 1951. Mrs. Gillette made lunches. The only bar was a refrigerator with beer in it. Every Wed, there was a hamburger and hotdog cookout. The Lightnings came in 1950. No keel boats until later. We made concrete blocks for moorings at John Jones cottage. The first dock was a rubber pontoon with a wooden cover. There was a diving board at the end. Jack and Pete Jones used to fire a small cannon off the end of the dock at Tylers to start the races. One time they fired it and put holes in the sails of an early starter.