Marin
Yacht Club started as a Yachting annex of the Marin Golf and Country
Club on 29th of September 1929. F. Somers Peterson and his wife Helen,
founders of the Country Club, with its 9 hole Golf Course, had in
reality, little interest in playing golf. They both were fascinated by
the water and nurtured a great love for sailing. Living in a house
situated on the heights above the entrance of San Rafael creek and
canal into the San Francisco bay, they had watched creation of the
Beale Island. They had seen how the Army Engineers, by straightening of
a U turn in the course of the creek they had turned a marshy peninsula
into a marshy island and seen how creation of a yacht basin and a
clubcould be realized on that site.
It
was the result of this flight of imagination and helping hands from
similarly interested souls, which led to creation of the Yachting Annex
of the Marin Golf and Country Club, as the first step. Difference of
interests between the golfers and the boaters finally led to a
separation of activities and as a final act the Yachting Annex was
separated from Marin Golf and Country club. On March 1934, the nineteen
members of the Yachting Annex drew up their own “declaration of
independence” and the Yacht Club, was formally incorporated on October
25th, 1935 when the first board of directors met at F. Somers
Peterson's home and adopted the articles of corporation of Marin Yacht
Club as an independent identity. Thus, this date marks the birthday of
Marin Yacht Club in San Rafael California.
Through the years, the
club officers and directors have held to the ideals set forth by the
founding members and the Marin Yacht Club has succeeded in living up to
these principles. By actively promoting youth sailing education, the
Club hasassisted many young people in achieving dreams of taking the
helm of a sailing or motor vessel. Through this and other similar
activities, the Club has become a reliable pillar of the community. It
is all the members’ wish to be able to continue on this path well into
the future.