The celebration of the Christmas Season at BYC has been taking in the past and today continues to take on many forms. We learn that, as early as 1936, the Skipperettes hosted a Christmas dinner (and sometimes a dance) for $1.25 a plate and made a gift of $20.00 to the Skippers as a result! It appears that this tradition changed about the mid 1940s and eventually evolved into the marvelous dinner presented each year by the Bridge and Flag Officers. Also, we see mention of the Skipperettes holding a Children’s Christmas Party as early as 1945 and a fund raising Christmas Bazaar too. These events continue today.

As recently as the early 1990s, this (the Christmas Dinner) was where our Boating Family of the Year was announced by the Vice Commodore. This announcement has been shifted to "Awards Night" as the Northwest Marine Trades Asso. ( NMTA) no longer awards a "Boating Family of the Year" at the Seattle Boat Show in January. Other major activities include decorating the clubhouse and Christmas tree; the Christmas Ship and Lighted Ship Parade ; Special People’s Cruise and a Past Commodore Christmas Social.

I am sure that the Club has been decorated at Christmas time in one way or another for many years, but there is no known written record of this; so we will have to go on local memory. In the late 1980s, decorations were very modest based on hand-me downs with a Friday night social hosted by the Rear Commodore for the purpose of decorating the Christmas tree. A huge, hand made wreath on the north wall was part of this effort.

At the turn of the decade (approx 1990), the RC decided to buy some new decorations and put some real energy into decorating. This sparked a whole new round of effort over the next decade to become what it is today where we light up and decorate the clubhouse, deck, dock and entry gate! It just looks wonderful.

Now the Christmas Ship and lighted boat parade is perhaps the premier Christmas event for BYC having fun and entertaining the local population. This is a very popular event and many a Christmas party is planned around this schedule. Our earliest recording of this effort is in 1956 where we see P/C Ray Hart’s boat the "Donolie" was the Christmas ship. The Donolie was followed by such boats as Vivienne, Emmeline; Merry Me ll; Intrigue; Escape; Kenarco; and Valkyrie. In more modern times, such boats as Sphinx; Comfort Zone; Carousel; Peachy Keen; Great Bear; Sea Dragon and Seagull have seen this duty. And it wasn’t until about 1989 that the Christmas Ship wasn’t the LEAD ship in the parade.

History shows that as recently as 1972 we were running four consecutive nights (wed. thru sat) of the parade with routes that included Gorst, Brownsville, Fletcher Bay and Point White in addition to our current routes in Dyes Inlet. Christmas wishes, sent in to the yacht club, were read to those on the shore then just as they are today. As many as 3000 of them! It must have been in the early 80’s that we shortened up the route but I can’t confirm this.

The Christmas Ship has evolved over the years as can be seen in the photos below. The most recent "re-do" was in 1992 or 1993 to it’s current configuration. These decorations are stored in our shop and installed on the donor boat by the Past Commodore Club each year.

The Special People’sCruise started in Seattle in the 70’s and was part of the Seattle Seafair Celebration. In 1981, BYC decided to bring this community event to Westsound. The format has changed little over the years. Handicapped "Special People" are provided the opportunity to go on a boat ride and see and speak to Santa Claus. For most, this is a thrill and perhaps their biggest adventure of the year.

Initially, only boats from BYC and some of the other area yacht clubs participated by taking over 300 Special People, Drivers, and helpers of all sorts for a ride. The ride has always included a trip around a brightly decorated sail boat anchored in Dyes Inlet with Santa on deck waiving.

The Special People’s Cruise gained momentum rapidly and became a very popular event. In the early 90’s, insurance issues and concerns discouraged participation of boats causing a real downturn in support by private boats. The number of Special People, of course, remained high. In order to fill the gap and to accommodate wheel chairs, we decided to hire available charter boats such as the "Spirit of ‘76". The show did go on! The insurance issues were ultimately clarified but it was hard to get everybody back on board and feeling comfortable. A lot of personal effort went into this.

In 2000, Seafair withdrew their financial support for the provision of gifts and in 2002, one week prior to the Cruise, they notified BYC that their insurance carrier would no longer continue to cover the cruise on this side of the Sound. Undaunted, BYC contacted our insurance company and was able to obtain an appropriate rider at no cost. Beginning in 2001 the Kitsap Community Federal Credit Union has annually donated $3000 to buy gifts and many Credit Union employee volunteers support the Cruise. Sweatshirts, polar vests and fanny packs have been some of the gifts given to each Special Person.

Today we find participation greatly expanded to include four military installations, three other local yacht clubs, Kitsap Harbor Tours, Kitsap Transit and the Bremerton High School Basketball Team. All who help are fed a delicious meal after our Special People are safely on their way to the Bremerton VFW hall for a light dinner. Each year BYC awards plaques to participants for special effort.

PC Bob Wheeler; BYC Historian
November 2004