Stephen Hayford/news-press.com The Royal Palm Yacht Club was chartered in 1947 with 96 members. About nine times that many members now participate in racing and cruising, as well as charitable activities. IF YOU GO • WHAT: Royal Palm Yacht Club open house to celebrate its 60th anniversary • WHEN: 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday • WHERE: Royal Palm Yacht Club, 2360 W. First St., overlooking the Caloosahatchee River adjacent to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, in Fort Myers. • HOW: Reservations are required for the open house, which will include a champagne reception and sampling of the club's food. Call 234-2176 for information. MEMBERSHIP When population began to blossom in Fort Myers three years ago, triggering a real estate boom, Royal Palm Yacht Club memberships jumped as well, but it began a downward turn as the market slowed. Here's a look. • 2003: 825 members • 2004: 1,000 • 2005: 940 • 2006: 850 TIMELINE •1946: Idea of forming a yacht club born from annual Edison Festival Regatta. •1947: Chartered as Fort Myers Yacht Club with 96 members. First meeting was Feb. 28, 1947, at the home of Bob Cramer. Clubhouse later built at City Yacht Basin. •1952: Name officially changed to Royal Palm Yacht Club. Becomes registered with Lloyd's Registry of American Yacht Clubs, and other national yachting and sailing associations. •1958: Bonds sold to members for $100 each to raise funds for riverfront property for the clubhouse. •1960: Along with 12 other yacht clubs around Florida, formed the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs. •1961: Opening of new clubhouse on the Caloosahatchee River. Club numbers 200 members. •1984: Club youth sailing program grows so large it spins off into separate organization, Edison Sailing Center, still thriving today. •1986: Renovation to clubhouse adds second story, full restaurant-style kitchen and doubles size of function areas. •1986: Club votes to allow women as full voting members. •1987: Club celebrates 50th anniversary •2003: Carolyn Veglia is first woman to be appointed commodore •2006: Club begins yearlong celebration of 60th year with about 900 members

A story goes, a group of Fort Myers men were boating in the Bahamas when they got an SOS call from a Scottish yachtsman whose wife had been badly scalded and needed ice.

Every vessel in the fleet responded and gave all the ice there was on board. Two nights later, while the Fort Myers sailors were having dinner at the Royal Palm Yacht Club, the Scotsman walked into the dining room wanting to thank the men, and asked them to meet him later on the nearby dock.

At 10 p.m., in the darkness from the edge of the dock emerged faint strains of a bagpipe. Then in full kilt attire, the Scotsman walked down the dock and back again with his bagpipe playing, "Amazing Grace." The man bowed gracefully and walked off into the night.

Hatton Rogers, a longtime Royal Palm member, recalls the event because he was one of those who helped.

Such stories are likely to be shared Sunday when Royal Palm members celebrate the club's 60th anniversary with an open house to showcase the largest and longest-running yacht club in Lee County.

Special to news-press.com The Royal Palm Yacht Club was chartered in 1947 with 96 members. About nine times that many members now participate in racing and cruising, as well as charitable activities.

The anniversary also marks the beginnings of a design contract to give the club's 1984 decor a makeover, inside out.
"We want it to blend in more with the downtown motif, so we don't look quite so much like an enlarged Kmart box," said Hal Slaughter, who became the club's 60th commodore  Oct. 1.

The 850-member club overlooks the Caloosahatchee River next to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates.

From the boat helms on the walls to the white naval-dress style hats to the hanging burgees, or boat flags, nautical camaraderie is everywhere.

Old Fort Myers tradition

On the back wall are pictures of 60 commodores, who act as chief executive officer for the club. It's one for each year of existence since the club was formed in 1947.

Looking over their faces, many of whom are still members, it's like a Who's Who list for Fort Myers — Circuit Judge R. Wallace Pack; C. Franklin Lott Jr., a well-known businessman; Bobby Williams, attorney and former savings and loan president; Bob Dean Sr., owner of Bob Dean Supply Inc.

So what does it cost to be a part of a club where, as a member in the 1970s once described it, "anyone who is anyone in this county belongs to?"

Royal Palm dues and fees come to about $2,500 a year, with a one-time initiation fee that's ever-changing.

It's a far cry from the $12.50 annual dues when the club opened in 1947, but in terms of today's economy it's about average.

A statewide study showed the cost of a Royal Palm membership ranges somewhere in the middle compared with other Florida yacht clubs.

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Easing traditions

The Royal Palm doesn't follow most of the rigid naval traditions of many oldline, more restrictive yacht clubs, where "you almost have to be born into the club," said Ellen Schneider, a member and spokeswoman for the club.

In recent years the club has gotten away from the old black-ball type voting, where one 'no' vote makes an applicant non-club material. Hardly anyone is turned away these days.

"The prerequisite for this yacht club is that you want to have fun and be a part of the larger group," Schneider said. "So this almost reflects the more laid-back Florida atmosphere. It's a place where flowered shirts are often the uniform of the day."

In 1968, in the original formal dining room — known as The Bridge — ladies of the club kindly requested men wear a formal jacket and tie when dining there.

"But a lot of the men said 'no, we came to Florida to retire, we're not dressing up,' " said Phyllis Golas, the club's administrative assistant. The men now are asked to wear a jacket only while in the formal dining room, but even today there are some who refuse, she said.

Women were not allowed as full voting members until 1986. Single women weren't eligible for membership at all.

A member told The News-Press in a Dec. 9, 1980, story: "There are two reasons single women are denied membership. The first reason is the wives of the male members who don't like the idea of attractive businesswomen being in a position to flirt with their husbands. And the second reason is that many members feel it would open the door for women to begin hanging around the club in search of new husbands."

That year the club had 470 voting men, 60 non-voting women.

The club had its first lady commodore in 2003, Carolyn Veglia. It now has a female as Rear Commodore, Marlenna Guveiyian, and several women on its board.

Racing to cruising

In the club's early years, Sunday Regattas were a regular event.

"Rag men," as the sailors were called because of their sails, loved to race in Fort Myers. A Sept. 2, 1947, News-Press article talks of a regatta drawing 800 fans lining the Edison Bridge.

Today, sailing yachts are the minority and Regattas are almost nonexistent. Of the 375 boats among 850 members, only 16 are sailboats. However, young members of the Edison Sailing Center, which spawned from a Royal Palm Yacht Club youth sailing program, are on the water every Saturday racing in small sailing vessels.

For the last 10 years, Royal Palm has become more known for its power boat cruises. It gained reputation among "sister clubs" in the Florida Council as "the cruisingest club" because of its extensive cruise calendar. The club took 42 cruises during last fiscal year ending Sept. 30, including lunch cruises to trips lasting as long as four weeks.

On the water

Rogers, who was the Royal Palm's Commodore in 1988, recalled a boat trip with colleagues to the Bahamas.

"In the 1980s, (illegal) drugs were a big problem. Most of our cruising members were retired and rather naive about drugs. In the Bahamas, a scruffy looking fellow came up and asked one of our crew if he would like to buy coke. He said 'No, I am diabetic.' And the guy selling coke said, 'And you are also stupid.'"

On another trip, Rogers' fleet picked up a call from a cargo plane wedged behind an island south of Marathon.

"We offered to call the Coast Guard but instead of thanking us the pilot cussed us out good. His cargo was probably questionable."

The Royal Palm Yacht Club isn't only about boating. Roughly a third of its members don't own a boat, but enjoy the social atmosphere and activities such as a club group called the Royal Adventurers that takes brief getaways to other parts of the state.

Every Christmas, the nonprofit club raises $15,000 for the Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida, in place of sending its members Christmas cards.