5 Things I Love About Our Yacht Club

We’ve never considered ourselves “Yacht Club People”. You know, the stereotypical blue blazered, Sperry Docksider clad, white gloved nose-in-the-air YAAAAAHT CLUB (we pronounce it “ya-chit”, complete with pushing our noses into the air with our pointer fingers) people. We’d still argue that this is as far from our reality as could be; have you looked at any interior shots of Calypso lately?

That said, we’ve been members at Fishing Bay Yacht Club since 2004. It’s a decision we made with a whole lot of trepidation and pinched ourselves for our good fortune ever since. We have never, not once, regretted that call.

We joined because the slip fees plus membership costs were less than what we were paying just for slip fees at another marina in Deltaville, and, we rationalized, we’d get far more. A pool, a community of other sailors, a fleet of club-owned smaller boats we could take out with our kids, even a decent youth sailing program. Good friends from Sail Caribbean days sponsored us (and knowing they were members eased our fears slightly.) Still. It felt a bit like we were compromising ourselves, to say nothing of the distance from home. It’s all well and good to say we could use the pool but taking advantage of that benefit meant we were basically committing to driving to Deltaville (3 hours away) every weekend. With small children, how likely was that?

15 years later, it’s still one of the best decisions we’ve made.

5 reasons we love being members at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.

The water location. We’re minutes from being in the Chesapeake Bay. With frontage on both Jackson Creek (protected, where the big boat slips are) and on Fishing Bay (more open, small boat ramp with a beach and the swimming pool, yet with a t-dock you can pull up to if you’re cruising and need to stop in for something without dealing with the dinghy), there’s water for all conditions. There are lots of options for interesting weekend cruises, including Gwynns Island that’s less than an hour away.

Gwynn’s Island anchorage

The boats. Fishing Bay is a sailing club. Full stop. No fishing boats or trawlers at the docks, no jet skis allowed to launch at the boat ramp. There are a few dinghies on racks, and 2 club-owned powerboats on trailers (used for race committee work), but the bulk of the vibe is sailing. There are cruising boats and racing boats and small boats, all in one place. Ahh.

Part of the Junior Week fleet on the beach next to the ramp, Fishing Bay in the background.

The town. Deltaville was once the boat-building capital of the Chesapeake. Its location, at the point of land where the Rappahannock River and the Piankatank River merge into the Bay, means there’s ample space for marinas and boatyards, with attendant services. It’s a sleepy town with a great hardware store (we check that first for boat parts before we step into West Marine), fabulous sailmaker, adequate grocery store, and incredible seafood market. The only drawback is that for cruisers, town is a couple of mile walk away from any dinghy dock; there is now a free shuttle bus that runs in the summer to make visiting easier.

The ethos of the club. Fishing Bay is a volunteer-run club. We have 2 paid employees: the club secretary who keeps track of paperwork, and the club manager who oversees grounds and all the little details and makes sure things are kept in decent shape. The rest? The members do it all, from organizing events large and small, staffing said events, to cleaning up the club on major clean up days, to teaching sailing during Junior Week. We have no restaurant or bar but instead have 2 kitchens available for members to use. During the season, various groups host potluck dinners for anyone who wants to join in the fun; there are club-organized events as well. It’s all low-key, friendly, welcoming, and endlessly social.

Oysters awaiting roasting.

The people. We came in already knowing a couple of members, which was a great start, but the people we’ve met over the years have become amazing friends. As we’ve found when cruising, your age or stage of life does not matter when you’ve got the sailing connection. Jeremy and I were joking the other night that we’re busier with friends in Deltaville than we ever are in Charlottesville, though we’ve lived in Charlottesville for 20 years - and all except for the Lennarzes are people we’ve met through the club. We fly our burgee proudly.

3 families represented right here, all club members. (Sailing on MoodSway, not Calypso!)

Bonus? The scenery.

Calypso in her slip at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.