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• How This Historically Black Yacht Club Learned to Thrive by Centering Community

In 1959, the Seafarers Yacht Club's only goal was to establish a presence on the Chesapeake. Now, it's providing services to the community.

Diane m. byrne.

Contributing Boating Editor

Diane M. Byrne's Most Recent Stories

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In 1959, four Black men who were boaters in Washington, DC, decided to take their love of the water to the Chesapeake Bay. Joseph Barr, Hugh Dowling, Ellsworth Randall and Albert C. Burwell had been part of the Seafarers Boat Club on the Anacostia River, but wanted to take advantage of the Chesapeake’s much larger cruising grounds. They decided Annapolis should be home port. But the doors of local yacht clubs were closed to them and marina owners refused to sell Black captains fuel.

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Undeterred, they created the Seafarers Yacht Club, one of the oldest Black yacht clubs in the US. At first, they met in each other’s homes. Later, the group rented a small storefront in downtown Annapolis. In 1967, they purchased an abandoned, two-room 1918 schoolhouse—the first elementary school for Black children in Annapolis’s Eastport area—and turned it into a clubhouse.

The founders organized cruises where service providers welcomed them, hosted cookouts when they couldn’t dine in restaurants, and built a swimming pool at the back of the clubhouse. Over time, as SYC grew, its mission to enjoy boating transformed into something larger, with a community-service focus that included teaching at-risk youth how to swim and boat, hosting dinners for seniors, and setting up the city’s first Sea Scouts program—think Boy and Girl Scouts on the water.

Community service has become a primary mission of the yacht club. Its programs range from summer camps to teach seamanship and swimming to local youth to a Sea Scouts chapter that has seen one member enter the US Naval Academy.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

Capt. Ade Adebisi, SYC’s immediate past commodore, has seen the club mature since joining in 2001, both in membership, which has seen an 80 percent turnover in the last 20 years, and focusing on the local community.

Adebisi first learned of the club through a chance encounter. One day out cruising, he and his family came across Dr. William Woodward, their family dentist—who, unbeknownst to Adebisi—was the club’s then-commodore. After being invited to meet the members, Adebisi never looked back. “These are accomplished individuals who come together and work towards a common goal and support one another,” he says. “We’re not just yacht-club members, we’re friends.”

The club now has 76 members, who own multiple boat types, from kayaks to cruising sailboats to 60-ft. sportfishing machines. During the summer, flotillas of member boats cruise the Chesapeake, or do weekend trips to destinations like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. On more somber occasions, the group wears the club’s dress whites to member funerals. While the founders were all working-class men, today’s group is more demographically and racially diverse, comprised of business owners, professionals and military officers. The club’s female members are also active in running the organization, with many serving as board members.

Over the years, the club has seen business owners, professionals and military officers join its ranks. That’s reflected in the members’ boats.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

Adebisi says the club has made him a better boater, since many of the more seasoned members provide seamanship and boat-handling advice to others. “As a new boater, you’re just learning to deal with all the challenges that come with the water,” he says. “Now, you have other people around to gain experience from, and share stories.”

The current commodore, Capt. Benjamin McCottry, says camaraderie is one of the club’s main strengths. Officially, he’s been a member for six and a half years, but has been around the members “practically all my life,” back to when the 70-year-old was a child.

McCottry is most proud of how the organization gives back to the community. It hosts an annual Thanksgiving Day dinner for seniors, for instance, and uses a donated 28-foot powerboat to teach seamanship skills to local youth.

Three Past Commodores (left to right): Dr. Mel Wyche, David Turner and  Dr, William Woodward.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

In fact, the youth programs are of particular importance to McCottry and his fellow members. Since its early days, the Seafarers Yacht Club has provided swimming lessons in the club pool as part of a two-week summer program that also includes boating education.

“Drowning is the second-leading cause in the country of accidental death in children 12 and under,” McCottry says. “Not only do the kids learn how to swim and save themselves, but they also learn how to save somebody else—without endangering themselves.” Many of the youth, he says, come from homes where no one can swim.

The swimming instruction, as well as STEM-related programs and even chess lessons from a chess master to promote critical-thinking skills, all target local children ages eight to 12. They’re overseen by the club’s non-profit arm, the Seafarers Foundation. Older children aren’t forgotten, with the Foundation further overseeing the first—and only—Sea Scouts unit in Annapolis. Sea Scouts is a program of the Boy Scouts of America for male and female teens ages 14 through 20.

A group kayak around the harbor in Annapolis.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

The Seafarers Yacht Club established its unit, Sea Scout Ship 1959, in 2019. Not only has it become one of the fastest-growing units in the nation, attracting nearly two dozen members, but also it received the prestigious National Flagship Award last summer. This recognizes outstanding program quality, youth achievements, and adult commitment. One member has gone on to attend the US Naval Academy.

“It’s doing rich work,” says Major General Errol Schwartz, the Seafarers Foundation president. What’s more, he sees opportunities to expand that rich work. He and his colleagues are exploring ways to offer programs year-round, plus close the age gap between those programs and the Sea Scouts.

Additionally, he wants to focus on health issues, especially in light of the pandemic. “We want to hear from the youth,” Schwartz says. “They’ve been pent up in this Zoom environment for two years. What are some of the things that are affecting them, mentally or otherwise?”

The club officers in dress whites, honoring a recently deceased member.  Courtesy Seafarers Yacht Club

Whatever it ultimately does, this “tight-knit family,” as Schwartz calls the Seafarers Yacht Club, will continue to honor its past. “Let’s not forget the people who got us here,” adds Adebisi.

Some of the original members are still alive and the work they did to buy and renovate that original two-room schoolhouse laid the foundations for today’s thriving club. “It’s important for us to maintain that history,” says Adebisi. “We’re proud of it.”

Diane Byrne is a longtime yachting journalist, specializing in the megayacht market; she has covered the industry since 1993. She is the founder and editor of MegayachtNews.com, a daily-updated…

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When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

Scott Neuman

Commodore Benny McCottry stands outside the entrance of the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis in Annapolis, Md. It was founded more than 60 years ago by a handful of Black boaters. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

Commodore Benny McCottry stands outside the entrance of the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis in Annapolis, Md. It was founded more than 60 years ago by a handful of Black boaters.

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

David Turner aboard his boat Savior, at Herrington Harbor South on the Chesapeake Bay, on July 29. Scott Neuman/NPR hide caption

David Turner aboard his boat Savior, at Herrington Harbor South on the Chesapeake Bay, on July 29.

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

McCottry points to multiple articles written about the Seafarers Yacht Club. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

McCottry points to multiple articles written about the Seafarers Yacht Club.

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

The children in the Seafarers summer youth program head to the park across the street to stretch and play games. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

The children in the Seafarers summer youth program head to the park across the street to stretch and play games.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

The children watch a movie about chess. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

The children watch a movie about chess.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

Left: Commodore McCottry shows photos from the children's fishing trip earlier that week. Right: The Seafarers clubhouse is fully decorated with sailing and boating items. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

Left: Commodore McCottry shows photos from the children's fishing trip earlier that week. Right: The Seafarers clubhouse is fully decorated with sailing and boating items.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

• African Americans

Seafarers Yacht Club

The Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis was founded in 1959 by a group from the Seafarers Yacht Club of Anacostia. It was the first African American yacht club in the Annapolis area [1] [2] . The club was founded in response to the refusal of Annapolis-area yacht clubs to admit African American captains, and the refusal of local marinas to let African Americans use their piers for fueling [2] [3] . After initially meeting in members’ homes and in a rented storefront in Annapolis, the Seafarers Yacht Club purchased its current property on Chester Avenue in Eastport in 1967 [2] . Prior to becoming the Seafarers Yacht Clubhouse, the building now home to the Club was a school that had been originally built in 1918. [2]

US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla And Sea Scout Ship

In 1970, a US Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla, Flotilla 75, was organized at the Seafarers' Yacht Club House [2] . In 1980, the Flotilla became Flotilla 24-09, now based in Bowie [4] .

The Seafarers Yacht Club's charitable arm, the Seafarers Foundation , serves as the chartering organization for Sea Scout Ship 1959 [5] .

The Seafarers Yacht Club is located at 301 Chester Avenue in Annapolis, MD. Its coordinates are 38.96944939446944, -76.47898346651462 [6] .

• ↑ Fletcher, Patsy M. Historically African American Leisure Destinations Around Washington, D.C., Charleston, SC, History Press, 2015.
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 “Commodore’s Message.” Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis, Accessed 25 August 2022, https://www.seafarersyc.com/about .
• ↑ Neuman, Scott. "When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge." NPR, 4 August 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/08/04/1191257504/seafarers-yacht-club-annapolis-maryland
• ↑ "Welcome to the Flotilla 24-9, District 5SR Web Site." USCG AUX AUXWeb, Accessed 18 August 2023, https://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=054-24-09 .
• ↑ “About Seafarers.” Ship 1959, Accessed 25 August 2022, https://www.ship1959.org/seafarers .
• ↑ Google Maps, “Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.” Google Maps, Accessed 6 September 2022, https://www.google.com/maps/place/Seafarers+Yacht+Club+of+Annapolis/@38.970042,-76.4796424,17.58z/data=!4m9!1m2!2m1!1sseafarers+yacht+club!3m5!1s0x89b7f63f5c6cede1:0xe71fb2a89593b916!8m2!3d38.9694317!4d-76.4789835!15sChRzZWFmYXJlcnMgeWFjaHQgY2x1YpIBCnlhY2h0X2NsdWLgAQA .

When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The Seafarers Yacht Club

Historical group makes big waves in america’s sailing capital.

JUST OVER SPA CREEK drawbridge, where the city of Annapolis connects to its Eastport neighborhood, resides one of the oldest African American yacht clubs on the East Coast. What was once a two- room schoolhouse for African American youth is now home to The Seafarers Yacht Club (SYC), a community-based organization promoting inclusivity through seamanship and youth maritime education.

The first SYC (originally The Seafarers Boat Club) was established in Washington, DC, in 1945 by Lewis T. Green, a local shop teacher who built boats as a hobby. Founders Joseph Barr, Hugh Dowling and Albert C. Burwell incorporated the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis in 1959.

Some early members from the DC location moved from the historic facility along the Anacostia River to the spacious Chesapeake Bay location that afforded expansive boating opportunities. The members first held meetings in each other's homes and rented a tiny one-room storefront in downtown Annapolis. They purchased the abandoned schoolhouse in Eastport in 1967.

Eastport has a long history of employing African American laborers in maritime professions ranging from oystermen to ship builders. These positions eventually evolved into sea captains and business owners, but it was not an easy journey, because maritime education was not always accessible for black children.

Serving the Community by Saving Lives

SYC members were aware that African Americans have one of the highest levels of drowning accidents compared to the rest of the population. In swimming pools, black children ages 10-14 years drown at rates 7.6 times higher than white children, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The SYC board members wanted to lower those drowning rates, which motivated them to create a summer educational program targeting this public health concern.

After opening a newly renovated clubhouse with a swimming pool, SYC offered a summer youth program for kids ages eight to 12 years old, giving them basic to advanced swimming instruction. Taking water safety a step further, they also taught sailing and boating, fishing, and marine navigation. Before long, financial planning and chess instruction was integrated into STEM skills development and introduced to the curriculum.

Forging Partnerships Bolsters Programming

It's no surprise that a boating town like Annapolis would have other organizations with maritime-related missions in sync with SYC. The Boys Scouts of America's Sea Scouts Ship 1959, was a perfect match for SYC and Seafarers Foundation, because it promotes seamanship, citizenship, personal fitness, leadership and community service.

Through their partnership, kids learn about the boating lifestyle. Weekly meetings target essential nautical topics such as marine safety, sailing and navigation, and even galley skills. Accident prevention is a top priority.

In 2018, they held an official launch of the Sea Scout Ship 1959, Seafarers Commitment. This was named in honor of SV Commitment , a 47-foot sailboat used by Captain Bill Pinkney, the first African American to solo circumnavigate the globe via the southern route, through the great capes. He purchased the boat in Annapolis before leaving from Boston on his journey and became a beacon of hope for black boaters by breaking social barriers in local maritime traditions. He is honored in the National Sailing Hall of Fame .

We all benefit from scouting in our lives, and it could have an impact on society, leadership development, confidence building and skills development, says Captain Dr. Derrick Cogburn, former scout, skipper of Ship 1959 and vice commodore of SYC.

The Sea Scouts Ship 1959 was recently awarded the 2021 National Flagship by BoatUS for their honorable achievements. The summer youth program not only prides itself on quality education, it also teaches inclusivity, self-respect and respect for others.

This happens because we take them to places like the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, MD, says Captain Benjamin McCottry, SYC commodore. They're learning things they can use one day down the road and who knows where the road will lead them.

The success of exceptional programs at Seafarers Yacht Club and the universal value of maritime training for all children is best expressed in the words of Captain Bill Pinkney in As Long As It Takes : ... "The sea has afforded me the chance to prove my potential when placed on a level playing field. That is because the sea does not care who you are, what your race or gender is, how much wealth or power you have, or even what flag or political system you embrace. The sea treats everyone the same. It can be a harsh mistress for those who dare challenge it. But those who do challenge it have the chance to reap a great reward; learning who they really are."

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When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

Commodore Benny McCottry stands outside the entrance of the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis in Annapolis, Md. It was founded more than 60 years ago by a handful of Black boaters. Photo by Keren Carrión - NPR

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

‘A beautiful moment’: Seafarers Yacht Club, the…

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‘A beautiful moment’: Seafarers Yacht Club, the only Black yacht club in Annapolis, hosts its first regatta

Last month, the only Black yacht club in Annapolis hosted its inaugural regatta.

While the Seafarers have been a part of the Eastport community for more than 60 years, they never stepped into the sport of sailboat racing. The 78-member club decided to change that in part because of a push from one of its members, Capt. Dale Clark, regatta chairman.

Clark has lived in the Washington, D.C., area for seven years and joined the Seafarers club four years ago. He started sailing at a young age thanks to an uncle who took him out on his boat. Later, he joined his high school sailing team. He has lived all over the world from Kenya to Morocco, where he still has a home. Now he transitions back and forth between D.C. and Annapolis.

“I’m just always trying to figure out ways to expand the community of boating and the best way I know how is by displaying it in the way that I fell in love with it,” Clark said this month. “I’ve seen regattas all over the world and I felt if we hosted one everyone could see how well we are represented on the water.”

The Sept. 24 race began at noon near the mouth of the Severn River. More than 30 boats participated in multiple heats on two courses depending on boat classification. Boats from all over participated, including vessels from the Seafarers and Eastport Yacht clubs along with Annapolis Yacht Club, Annapolis Sailing School and J World Annapolis, a boating school.

“The regatta was fantastic,” said Warren Richter, a member of the Eastport and Annapolis Yacht clubs and an Annapolis native. “The Seafarers did a great job of running it and it was a fantastic time on the water and on land.”

As the regatta began, all the boats cruised passed the anchored pin boat, which marks the course along with floating signs. The captains saluted the Seafarers’ commodore, Benjamin J. McCottry who was captain of the pin boat for the regatta.

“It was a beautiful moment to have our yacht club being represented so well and having our commodore in dress whites being saluted by all the other captains,” Clark said.

The moment represented how much has changed for Black boaters over the last 60 years.

In 1959, a group of Black boaters wanted to set up a home port in Annapolis but found that yacht club doors were closed to them because they were Black. Marina owners wouldn’t even sell them fuel. Joseph Barr, Hugh Dowling, Ellsworth Randal and Albert C. Burwell didn’t let this deter them from creating the Seafarers Yacht Club, which is now one of the oldest Black yacht clubs in the U.S.

In 1967, the Seafarers purchased an old schoolhouse in Eastport and began organizing cruises and hosting cookouts at their club when restaurants wouldn’t serve them. Over time, the mission grew into a larger community service focus including teaching at-risk youth how to swim and boat, hosting dinners for seniors, and creating the city’s first Sea Scout program.

Sea Scouts is a program of the Boy Scouts for teens, aged 14 to 20.

Events like the regatta show how far Eastport and the City of Annapolis have come.

“The community truly came together,” Clark said. “From the business community to the sailing community, to the boating community, everyone completely embraced this event. So much so that I had to turn sponsors away.”

The race was such a success that avid boaters like Kevin and Amanda McNeil had to be involved even though their schedule didn’t allow them to attend.

“We couldn’t make it due to a prior engagement, but we wanted to support the regatta, so we entered our boat and had my sister come up and do the race in our place,” Kevin McNeil said. “She said it was a great time and the gathering afterward was great too. Just a well-done affair.”

The event was capped off with an award presentation back on shore and an after-party complete with a live steel drum band and DJ. There was Caribbean and American cuisine provided by Weakness for Sweetness and Park Tavern.

“Seeing everybody enjoying the company and the music was a moment of complete tranquility,” Clark said. “There’s a lot of talk about division but there was none of that at this event. It was a nice break.”

Proceeds from the event were donated to the Seafarers Foundation to continue its work supporting underserved communities, especially in youth and senior activities.

“Now that we’ve started this the plan is to make it a tradition,” Clark said. “I’ve spoken to people who are excited to try sailing themselves and others who can’t wait till next year to participate again. This is the start of something great.”

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When Black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

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When black boaters faced discrimination on the water, this yacht club became a refuge.

When the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis was founded in 1959, discrimination at fuel docks around the famous port was common. Today, the club is...

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — David Turner, whose father and grandfather worked the Chesapeake Bay as crabbers and oystermen, recalls "getting up at the crack of dawn" as a kid to help out on weekends and summers.

"I hated it," he says. Turner's childhood experience on Kent Island left him wanting "nothing to do with the water."

"That's why I went to college," he says.

He also remembers his father and grandfather's stories of racial discrimination they encountered on the bay. "They couldn't get parts," he says. "They couldn't get fuel."

Turner's dislike for the water eventually faded. In fact, as he got older, he found that the Chesapeake Bay was "in my bloodstream." He bought a boat. Then another. Eventually, in 2007, he joined the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis.

The historically Black group of like-minded boaters is what drew him in. "I found a group of people who were serious about boating, serious about the community," he says. "They weren't worried about what they did for a living every day. They were interested in boating and the broader community."

A safe haven for Black boaters

If not for the nautical flagpole out front and the placard next to the entrance, the headquarters of the club, founded in 1959 by a handful of Black boaters, would blend seamlessly into the surrounding houses in the city's Eastport district. In many ways, it's a reflection of the area's history and how attitudes have evolved over time. The Maryland capital was once an infamous slave port, and until the early 1960s, the club's headquarters served as a segregated school for "colored children."

In and around Annapolis at that time, some fuel docks refused to serve Black boat owners, says SYC Commodore Benny McCottry.

"They would have to be creative and say, 'I'm here to get gas for the the boss' or something of that nature," he says. "So people would assume this boat didn't belong to them."

Today, the SYC is one of several yacht clubs started by Black boat owners that still dot the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It is equal parts boating organization, social club and community center. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seafarers have continued to flourish, now boasting about 80 members.

A space for children to learn about the water

On a recent Friday inside the SYC's headquarters, about 40 children wearing matching yellow-and-blue shirts fidget in their seats as they gather for the final day of a two-week youth program. The popular summer curriculum aims to teach an eclectic variety of life skills — from boat handling and fishing to physical fitness.

But on this day, swimming and chess are at the top of the list. The children had been anticipating a cruise on the Chesapeake Bay, but the weather wasn't cooperating.

"Just like in chess, we need to adjust our plan," Vice Commodore Derrick Cogburn announces to the seated kids. Plan B is to watch Queen of Katwe , a film about Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who rises out of the slums of Kampala to become an international chess star.

Chess, Cogburn tells the children, can help them learn discipline, abstract thinking and how to be flexible about strategy.

The club has its own pool and McCottry, 72, a former Red Cross water safety instructor, rattles off some sobering statistics that illustrate why swimming is a focus: African Americans are 1.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts.

According to club member Alice Mahan, who is coordinator for the summer program, "Most of these kids, when they came, did not even want to get their faces wet."

One of them is 10-year-old Olivia Oliver. Entering the program two weeks ago, she did not know how to swim. Now, she says she's mostly confident in the water, but still a little nervous on the deep end. For her, the best part of the program was kayaking. "It was super fun and interesting to see all the jellyfish in the water," she says.

The SYC also hosts Annapolis' only Sea Scout ship as part of the Boy Scouts of America-affiliated program. Some of its top Scouts have gone on to the U.S. Naval and Coast Guard academies.

Confidence and camaraderie

Lonnie Alsop, 69, who joined the club just a few months ago, says he's known about the Seafarers since he was a boy. "My father had friends who were members," he says. "My dad was not a boat owner. I was always hoping he would be, but that never happened."

Alsop says he's always had a love of water. "I bought my first boat when I was 16 years old, which was a speed boat," he says. "I went from there to larger and larger boats. And so finally I got involved in cigarette-style boats, and I had those for years."

"I always wanted to be a Seafarer, but my life has been so busy that I didn't think I had time to be totally involved in and do the types of things in the community that they are constantly involved in."

He says he's "looking forward to spending more time with them and getting involved in some of the programs that they're carrying on in the community."

The days of being turned away at fuel docks are long gone. Many places on the bay are very welcoming, Alsop says. But even now, he says he's "not super comfortable going to marinas where I'm not really familiar."

"To be honest with you, having the camaraderie of some of the guys who are of my same race makes [me] a little more confident," he says.

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