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1946 - 2007 A Brief History of Hamburg Cove
Yacht Club The first meeting of HCYC, of which there is any record, was called an organizational meeting and was held at the Lake Breeze Tavern in Old Lyme on October 19, 1946. The Lake Breeze Tavern was located in Haines Park on Rogers Lake and subsequently burned to the ground. Apparently, a lot of effort went into planning for the meeting, as a Constitution was presented and approved on that date. Officers and Trustees were elected in accordance with the provisions of that Constitution. The First Commodore was Donald G. Reynolds. Thirty-three of the people present at that meeting paid their $10.00 dues and became members. It was decided that anyone who joined prior to April 1, 1947 would be considered a Charter Member. By that date, the club had seventy-seven Charter Members. P/C Leland Reynolds is the only charter Member who is still a member of the Club. Since there were no Club facilities, meetings were held in local restaurants, the Lyme Public Hall, or the Lyme Grange Hall. When held at the latter two locations, dinner was often prepared by the ladies of the Grange, or the Ladies of the Church. The dinners were very popular with the members as there was a lot of homemade food at a reasonable price. Members came from many towns - Lyme, Old Saybrook, New London, Wethersfield, Hartford, Springfield, and even Pittsfield. During the winter months it was not uncommon to hold meetings "Up-State" in such places as the Gelston House in East Haddam and various locations in Middletown, Manchester, Marlborough, and Danielson. There was a spasmodic search for Club Property. Not all Members were in favor, as many liked the $10.00 annual dues. The present property was finally purchased in 1963 for $15,000.00, half in cash, half with a 6% ten year mortgage. Improvement of the property was delayed by a nine year argument with the Town of Lyme over boundaries. The old records were not very specific, and there had been a semi-public access to the Cove for years. Neither side could prove exactly what they owned, so that the solution had to be a compromise. Since the Club was anxious to get the matter settled, and the Town could afford to wait, the compromise was not favorable to the Club. In 1973, the mortgage paid off and the property lines settled, the Club embarked upon improving the property. The property has been substantially improved in several steps, with the present assessed value at $208,250 One of the first activities of the Club was to arrange for the marking of the channel in the Cove. The Club persuaded the Coast Guard to place four additional buoys at the Cove entrance. In the late 1940's the Club funded the cost of stakes and markers; these were installed by volunteers. Membership has varied through the years. At one time, there were 114 male dues-paying members. There has never been anything in the by-laws excluding women from becoming members - there just were not any such members. At one time, guests (mostly wives and children) were excused when the Business Meetings started. It is understandable that the practice was soon discontinued. The Club now has female members and a lot of family memberships In 55 years, the Club has had 34 Commodores 12 Secretaries, and at least 9 Treasures. The Yacht Club Burgee, adopted in about 1949, is a black "lazy eight" on an orange background. The first burgee design by Bill Lagel was white on blue, and hangs in the Club today. It is not known how the colors changed to orange and black, but there is a rumor that this change was encouraged by a couple of members who were Princeton Alumni. The figure eight on the burgee represents the geographical configuration of the Cove. The fact that the Cove is fed by the Eight Mile River appears to be coincidental, and probably did not enter into considerations for the original design of the burgee. Updated January 1, 2001
HCYC Burgee At the first recorded meeting of the Hamburg Cove Yacht Club, a burgee was discussed and all members were asked to bring their concept of one to the next meeting. When my husband, Bill Lagel, asked me to help him with a burgee idea I thought of the figure eight for I had been studying the history of the Eight Mile River Valley. My attempts at drawing an eight were not successful. Cuno Engineering Co. calibrated an eight and made a template for me. Using the template, I cut an eight from white material and sewed it onto a blue flag. I also wrote three legends to go with the burgee. The Legends 1. The Eight Mile River was so named by sea captains of old because it is eight miles from Long Island Sound. 2. The Coves are fed by the Eight Mile River 3. The loops of the eight represent the two coves and the winding passageway between them. At the second HCYC meeting there were about twenty-five entrees. The members chose the “Eight” with its legends. There was a discussion about the colors. Some members thought there were too many blue and white flags and that they were difficult to distinguish from a distance. Albertus Jones, the artist, suggested orange and black for visibility. Several Princeton Alumni were quick to agree. It was so voted. The writer of “From the Rivers Mouth”, a boating column in the Hartford Courant, wrote of our burgee and noted it was one of the very few in the United States that carried three true legends. He was also the one who nicknamed it “The Lazy Eight”. - Frances Lagel |
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Hamburg Cove Yacht Club
www.hcyc.com
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