A CONDENSED HISTORY OF FBYC

In the spring of 1939, nine Richmond yachtsmen, who during the preceding summer had sailed the waters of eastern Virginia looking for a suitable home port, organized a sailing association at Urbanna, Virginia. The first formal meeting was held on May 8, 1939 at 407 North Allen Avenue, Richmond. Within a year, the newly formed Urbanna Sailing Association had incorporated as the Urbanna Yacht Club and joined the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association.

After World War II, sailing activities proliferated rapidly in concert with growth in the Club’s membership rolls. Unable to purchase a permanent site in Urbanna for expansion, the Club decided to relocate further to the east. On April 24, 1949, the Club, now renamed the Fishing Bay Yacht Club, held groundbreaking ceremonies for a Clubhouse on a strategic two and one-half acre site at the mouth of the Piankatank River on Fishing Bay. The new site offered an ideal combination of a sheltered racecourse for small one-designs and a protected harbor on Jackson Creek with convenient access to Chesapeake Bay for offshore yachts.

Over the years, FBYC has acquired adjoining properties that have more than doubled its original acreage enabling the addition of a pool, supporting facilities, multiple piers, and generous dry-storage for trailered vessels. A new two-story, all weather, Clubhouse was officially commissioned on Opening Day, April 13, 2002, to replace the original Clubhouse in service for over half a century. In 2015, FBYC embarked on an ambitious project to replace the existing deep water wooden docks on Jackson Creek with new floating docks. Phase one of this project was completed in 2018 and proved to be an instant success. Phase two is now underway.

Throughout the decades, FBYC has remained steadfast in its mission as incorporated in its founding constitution to promote the development of the art and science of sailing. To accomplish this mission, the Club has historically offered active programs in OD dinghy racing, handicap and OD offshore racing, junior activities, and cruising.

Complementing its full schedule of annual Club events, FBYC has hosted many regional and national sailing championships as well. Members of the offshore and cruising divisions have flown its familiar red and white burgee over the Chesapeake Bay, along the east coast from Maine to Florida, and across global waters to foreign destinations. Its junior program is acknowledged to be among the most successful in the Chesapeake region. FBYC is truly proud of its sailing heritage.

A more expansive chronicle of FBYC history, along with images and anecdotes from the Club’s storied past and a book celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2014, may be found on the Club’s website at www.fbyc.net.