The Missouri Yacht Club

A “yacht” club in name only, the original Missouri Yacht Club was located in Kansas City. It was on the Missouri River at the foot of Main Street and the members were powerboaters who enjoyed cruising the river. The Missouri was muddy, subject to flooding and not terribly interesting. After a while membership dropped and the club was virtually abandoned.

With a vision for a yacht club, Neligh Coates and Candy Houston, who were among the first to build homes on the newly formed Lake Lotawana, organized a small group of Lake residents to explore the idea. There was much contention among the group, mostly financial. Some wanted to do everything on the cheap while others wanted a more elaborate club. Finally, the founding group agreed to go ahead, rented an abandoned farmhouse on lakeside property and did minor repairs. The newly formed Missouri Yacht Club hired Mr. and Mrs. Queen to be the managers/cooks.

Kerplink! Kerplunk! Splash! Shortly after the Club opened, it rained. The roof was leaking like a sieve right on the fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The Coateses, the Houstons and two other guests were soaking wet. Mopping up couldn’t handle the amount of water pouring from the ceiling. The only solution was to drill holes in the floor and allow the water to run out. That was the night a decision was made to build a real clubhouse.

The budget was set at $50,000 and the original clubhouse, which essentially was the same as exists today, was completed for $46,000. Neligh Coates was the first Commodore and, many years later, I was also Commodore.

As Commodore, I was the guy in charge. The problems were similar to restaurant ownership, cleanliness and quality of food. I had to act as the go-between the members and the staff and the members were not always reasonable. The fried chicken was too dry or cold. Mashed potatoes were lumpy or too salty. It was impossible to please everyone.

I drew great satisfaction from knowing that most of the members were happy with the club and appreciated how hard the staff worked.

And the sailboat races! The time a race took depended upon the length of the course the committee set and the wind velocity. A race might be as short as one-and-one-half hours and as long as three hours. The summers in Missouri are sweltering hot and the sailors worked up a good sweat. Nothing tasted better than a nice cold beer after two or more hours of concentrating on getting the best out of your sailboat and making the right tactical decisions during the race. 

When I was racing there were two classes of boat races at the same time, although they were started 10 minutes apart. The faster C class race started first followed by the slower Snipe class. Occasionally, the judges made the Snipe course shorter, and the Snipe races would finish first.

The races always ended at the club. Those people interested in the races watched from their powerboats and then, in a leisurely mood congregated on the lawn in front of the club house to watch the sailboats battle for positions at the finish.

After the race, the sailboats were tied up at the dock, while the sailors with a beer in hand, discussed the tactics of the sailboats during the race. The sound of laughter bubbled up through the mood of community.