From the Commodore:

Fishing Bay Yacht Club is pleased and proud to become a founding member of the National Sailing Hall of Fame. Once we became aware of the mission statement and purpose of the new facility in Annapolis, our Board of Directors voted unanimously to support it.

David Hinckle, Commodore

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History

Founded in 1939, Fishing Bay Yacht Club ranks among the senior sailing institutions on Chesapeake Bay. It was originally founded as the Urbanna Yacht Club by nine Richmond yachtsman looking for a suitable home port, the club quickly grew and later moved to its current home in Deltaville, where they overlook the Piankatank River and Jackson Creek.

From its earliest days, the Club has  focused on developing its junior sailors, and in the 1980s further strengthened their junior program when Kenzie Hubard and John Hawksworth led the establishment of an annual Junior Week, an icon of lower Chesapeake Bay sailing that lives on to this day.

In 1980, Rives Potts, son of Past Commodore Allen Potts, served as Project Manager and crew on the America’s Cup Defender Freedom , skippered by Dennis Conner in Newport, Rhode Island, for which he was awarded the Maury Bowl. Also, in the 1980’s, offshore racing surged in popularity with the PHRF gradually supplanting the IOR rating rule for the larger yachts. During these last two decades of the century, FBYC offshore yachts participated in a number of nationally recognized events, such as the Newport to Bermuda Race, Marian to Bermuda Race, the Miami to Montego Bay Race, the New York Yacht Club Cruise, and Block Island Race Week. In 1994, Albemarle Pippin Strother Scott’s New York 40, retired from a distinguished racing career spanning 16 years under the FBYC burgee.