Island Hopper departed the dock at 9:15 AM heading to the Capital Yacht Club in Washington, DC. Winds are 5 out of the Southwest. It was a calm cruise down the beautiful and scenic Potomac River.
Capital Yacht Club (CYC) was formed on October 19, 1892 by nine yachtsman who met on the naptha powered launch ALERT in order to hire a watchman to keep an eye on their vessels anchored in the newly formed Washington Channel. This was not long after the Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE) had begun a massive dredging project that created East Potomac Park, the Tidal Basin and created many of the features of the SW Washington Waterfront that we are familiar with today. The SW waterfront was still a working seaport, with fish wharfs, municipal piers for tobacco and farm produce, numerous ice and coal docks, towing companies and coastal steamship wharfs projecting into the Channel. CYC’s first facility was converted from a coal scow to a two level clubhouse known as THE ARK that was moored on the West side of the Washington Channel at the foot of ninth street beginning in 1894. By 1900 the club had grown to 30 members and leased property at 700 Water Street on which they built a 1 and a half story wooden building. The club continued to grow and in 1922 CYC moved into a new clubhouse near the club’s current location. This building was the classic yacht club with peaked roof, copula and second story balcony that we have many pictures of. CYC facilities at this time included a marine railway! From its inception, CYC was heavily involved with racing. Several regattas were held each year and CYC was a charter member of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association (CBYRA) that began informally in 1906 and Incorporated in 1910. Racing was occasionally interrupted by war, but little else.
The crew relaxed and then took a cab into Georgetown for dinner at the Equinox restaurant. Equinox was chic with fabulous food.
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