Key Biscayne Yacht Club in 1962

September 26th, 2012

From the KBYC website comes this anecdote about how the club came to be:

Stories about the beginning of the Key Biscayne Yacht Club are as varied as the fond memories of the original members. They all recall a spirit of friendship and agree that a hoist to be used by avid fishermen started the series of events that became today’s multi-million dollar yacht club.

Charles B. “Buddy” Austin, our first Commodore, who built the first hoist, recalls, “As home construction increased on the island, there came to be only one bare coastal area where we could launch our boats, and that was in the Harbor Drive Matheson Lane area. The location of the Yacht Club was choice and the sunsets unbeatable. An article in the local paper urged an effort to establish a club, and boy-oh-boy, did the five dollar bills start rolling in!”

Before the first little bar-and-lounge structure was built, now the site of the Commodore’s Room, there were legendary waterfront chowder parties, and on January 16, 1955 the Club was officially established.