To Members New and Old:

If you have not discovered the delights of a refreshing dip, a leisurely dinner, and a quiet sail after a hot business day in the city, let me commend them to you. The club is always open, and you will generally find several congenial spirits there at any hour of any day. We are limited in the number of guests we can accommodate for Sunday dinners, but for other meals we shall be delighted to have you bring down your out-of -town friend, your Rochester acquaintance who may be a prospective sailor, your monthly committee meeting, your bridge foursome. Soft drinks and cigarettes are always obtainable from the steward, and special meals can readily be arranged for. And have you discovered that Saturday evenings in particular bring together a group of hearties with boundless capacity for amusing themselves? Your officers are anxious that you use and enjoy your club to the utmost. We are also anxious to keep the quality-price ratio of our commissary service as high as possible. This requires that the steward do a good volume of business to supplement the nominal salary which the club pays. So, come often and stay long!

That was a note sent to Rochester Canoe Club members in July 1940 from Commodore H.L. Mason. World War 2 had already started in Europe. With 10 new members, the club had reached the limit of 35 decided to be optimum for the facilities, but would soon decline as members left for the service. Club expenses were $1855, including $113 for property tax, and $138 for coal. Property taxes were only 6% of expenses compared to 36% today. There were 31 boats, up from 23 in 1939. It was a long way back from the fire that destroyed the second clubhouse around 1913, just before World War 1, when the club had a limit of 60 members. That was a defining event for what the club would be like for the next 40 years until the 1950's. Gone were paddling and sailing canoes, replaced by two person boats starting with the 16 ft. Lark, followed by the 12 ft. Sailing Dinghy. Later additions were the Comet and K-Boat. There was no hoist; boats were moored in the cove or hauled out on shore, and stored in the building in the winter. Parking was limited to a small area next to the building.

A news article in 1935 said that "for several years membership was small, but now greatly enlarged with some dozen sailboats, two motorboats, and a lone canoe." Races each Sunday and holiday competed for two cups donated by the Pt. Pleasant Fire Assn. and Pt. Pleasant Assn. with starts alternating from RCC, Irondequoit YC, and Pt. Pleasant. Races were started off the end of a dock, aided by a megaphone and starting cannon that is still in the club. A 1938 article described the club having races each Sunday from July 3 to Labor Day against the Larks of Irondequoit YC and the Comets of Algonquin YC; the entire fleet competed in handicap races for the Sunderlin Cup. The object of the club, as expressed in an amended constitution of 1941, was "to increase the interest in matters relating to boating in any form, and provide suitable accommodation for the care of boats belonging to its members." Active membership was limited to men, with limited memberships offered to women and students.

Newport Yacht Club was formed in 1936, starting at a facility on Newport Point just north of Newport House where the 104 Bridge is now. RCC had its first clubhouse there in 1884, and second in 1887, until that burned in 1913. Apparently, the founders of NYC, with a choice of three clubs on the Bay and three one design two-person sailboats, opted for the Snipe class, which was heavier and slower than the Comet and not raced by the other Bay clubs. Today, the Snipe has outlasted the others with far greater numbers. On the 4th of July on 1939, the Bay clubs vied for the first Irondequoit Bay Title Regatta in Comets, Larks, and Snipes, which was won by Algonquin YC. It would not be until 1952 that a similar annual series would be established as the Brown Jug Race.

Ken Ogden, who met his wife Jean at a dance at the Canoe Club in the summer of 1935, had special memories of that time that he expressed in a 1981 letter. He spent that summer at the club with two friends just out of college. They "slept on a long sleeping porch, had a swim before breakfast, and generally lived the life of Riley. Among the enjoyable memories are Doc Barry dropping in at any old time to play the upright piano for hours. Chaps named Sunderlin and Porter Ramsay who sailed boats shaped like a pancake (I forget the name); wonderful air and wonderful nights for sleeping." Perhaps they even got in some tennis on the club's court!

Leo Balandis November 24, 2005