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Aeolian
Yacht Club History
| On
September 21, 1906, thirty-two enthusiastic men with an average
age of 25 years, met on the ark Bugaboo moored along the shore of
San Leandro Bay on the east end of the Island of Alameda on San
Francisco Bay. These were the charter members of the Aeolian Yacht
Club. In the two weeks following this meeting, the charter membership
expanded to 52. |
| At
the next meeting, a burgee and the name Aeolian Yacht Club relating
to Aeolus, the Greek God of Wind, were agreed upon. The first social
event, a clam bake on Bay Farm Island, was set for September 30,
nine days after the first meeting. With an initiation fee of $5
and dues of $1 per month (or $10 per year, if paid in advance),
along with theater parties, enough money was raised to buy a small
parcel of land at the present site of the club and have piles driven
and capped. During the last half of 1907 and the early part of 1908,
the club members built a clubhouse. The first meeting in the uncompleted
building was on March 6, 1908. Before the second floor was added,
the building burned down in early November, 1908. With $1,000 in
insurance money, they contracted to have the first floor rebuilt,
and by April of 1909, they were using it for meetings. the second
story was added by club members during 1909, and this is the basic
modern-day Aeolian clubhouse. |
Aeolian
Burgee |
Larry Knight |
Since
the beginning, Aeolian members have been active in all forms of
yachting around San Francisco Bay. Under the leadership of the first
commodore, Larry Knight, and subsequent commodores Carl Strom and
Louis Ward, the club joined the Pacific Inter Club Yachting Association
in 1907. In 1910, an Aeolian yacht, the Molilou, skippered by commodore
Louis Ward, entered the Transpac Race. In 1923, Larry Knight, still
one of the club's most active members, published the first Northern
California Yachting Year Book, which has been published annually
since 1923. The Claude H. Benham Trophy, awarded annually for yacht
club participation in the Opening Day parade, was established in
honor of the Commodore of Aeolian Yacht Club in 1929. |
| Today
the Aeolian yacht club has approximately 250 members and has an
active gathering at its back porch nearly every day, meals in the
clubhouse, cruise outs, cruise ins, work parties, and other activities. |
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