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The Vision and How it all
got started...including
links to our
Photo Gallery & Historic Articles by Leigh Lyon
The Coos Bay Yacht Club was spawned on the bay with a few boats in
the late 1930's. The first formal meetings were held in the passenger
section of the old Eastside to Marshfield ferry, 'The Tourist' after
it was beached a the foot of Newmark Avenue. 'Squatter's rights' moorage
at the base of Tower Street on Block #1 in the City of North Bend
was offered by the County for free usage during the early 1940's.
That
arrangement continued until 1947, when the Club purchased the site.
Major Club advancements took place in 1941.
The Club burgee design was adapted in March, with the charter membership
closing on May 10th. The official 'Coos Bay Yacht Club' was incorporated
in July, 1941. The first board meeting in the completed clubhouse
on the bay was held in May, 1942. The original clubhouse was built
on
a floating pad of cull mill logs, but by the end of World War II,
it was in pretty bad shape. After years of work of driving piling
and building a solid dock, the clubhouse was moved to a solid foundation
with the
help of the high tide.
After many years of sailing and thriving on the environment of salt
water, rushing tides, slippery log floats, high and low water, pilings,
and heavy winds, the increase of traffic from log rafts to offshore freighters
pressed the membership into leaving the hostile environment on the bay,
and moving to it's present facilities on South Tenmile Lake. The old
logging site covered with a quarter century growth of brush, [Red] alder
and [Douglas] fir was inhabited by an old deserted two-story frame house
located where our clubhouse stands today. The warranty deed for the purchase
of the greater part of 160 acres was executed on August 31, 1956. The
next month, the Club voted to sell the moorage on the bay. The hard work
then began. The clearing and burning, road building, dock building, and
the installation of trails, power, and water all took place in the winter
of 1956, and spring of 1957. The clubhouse was built, with the restrooms
completed in 1959. Many improvements have taken place over the years.
A boat trailer storage area was established, and trailer RV sites installed.
More docks were built and others replaced as the club grew in membership.
The clubhouse was enlarged and is the site of many club meetings and
social events today.
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