The Floating Clubhouse
Much thought, planning, and many discussions with the City were spent during this first year of the merger in a search for a clubhouse location. Time after time it was thought that the problem was solved, only to fall through each time. Many additional locations were considered: on a bulkhead to be built out from the seawall between the Lawrence St. T-Head, on a fill that the City was considering in the Marina across from the Coliseum, and on the fill where the present Clubhouse now stands. To finance the project, the members voted to issue $100 bonds to be bought by each member. $16,000 worth of CCYC 20-year %1 Debenture Bonds were issued to cover the estimated cost of the project.
By the end of the year, however, it appeared that all avenues had been exhausted in trying to obtain space for a building on land within the Marina area, so the decision was made to go ahead with plans for a floating clubhouse. A war surplus Air/Sea Rescue Vessel was purchased for $1,900 and six months later, after spending roughly $10,000 and much volunteer work for conversion, the membership held their first meeting in their own Clubhouse moored at the end of the Lawrence St. T-Head. That meeting was on June 13, 1951. It would be ten years before the Club would finally solve the problem of obtaining a permanent site and move into a clubhouse on land.
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