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Nanticoke River Yacht
Club, Blades, Delaware |
The Nanticoke River Yacht Club is located at the
Blades Marina in Seaford, DE at the head of the
Nanticoke River. It was founded in 1974 when some local
business men brought McKeever Brothers’ menhaden fishing
boat up the Nanticoke and docked it next to the dual
highway, Rt. 13, naming it The Flagship, and turning it
into a restaurant.
They needed business, so they approached boat owners and
other businessmen, and asked them to join a club for
$10/year. The first meeting was called to order on April
8, 1974, officers were elected and the name of the club
decided: Nanticoke River Yacht Club.
By-laws were developed and in July a committee was
formed to create a burgee. Several burgee designs were
submitted and the current burgee was selected.
In 1976 Commodore Martin introduced the Club to
Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club Association. In 1977 the
initiation fee was established at $20/person/year.
Meetings included slide presentations of member’s trips,
visitation to other yacht clubs, picnics, dinners at
other restaurants and educational talks about safe
boating.
Along about 1989, some friends were putting an engine in
a boat and began discussing how it would be beneficial
to have a marina in the area. They started getting
letters of approval from the state. Various towns
submitted their proposals. Senator Venables became
interested in having a marina in Western Sussex. After
about 14 years of research, they finally decided on
building a marina in Blades.
Fred Hertrich, III signed a letter of intent to sell
property of which John Willey and his son asked him to
set aside a piece on which to build. Fred donated the
land which included a vacant three-bay auto repair shop
at a cost to him of $12,000. And construction began.
Ground breaking ceremony took place Saturday, November
20, 1999, conducted by the first (1974) club commodore,
Ben Hurley. In the cold winter of 2000, thirty-two
volunteer members, referred to as “Hard Hats”, began the
construction of the Club’s first owned meeting place.
Members worked hard to raise funds through dinners,
sales and donations in the form of “Certificates of
Indebtedness”. Many hours of volunteer labor and other
gifts resulted in the completion and renovation of the
original building by summer of 2000.
The Nanticoke River Yacht Club is still supported
primarily by volunteer labor. It is currently opened
Wednesday evenings, Friday nights and monthly Saturdays.
It is rented by the community for meetings, parties,
weddings and other celebrations. A monthly newsletter is
issued and we remain a member of the Chesapeake Bay
Yacht Club Association. |
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