As one of America’s most prestigious yacht clubs dating back to the late 19th century, Annapolis Yacht Club was always a little stuffy and elitist for our taste, but that doesn’t take away our sadness at the nasty conflagration that totaled the Maryland mainstay with smoke and fire damage on Saturday. A lot of good people will be out of work for a long time, and a massive collection of yachting history is likely lost, but there are two silver linings; first, reports say just one firefighter was injured, with no other casualties, and second, AYC member’s race boats are tucked away for the winter. The big drysail fleet lives on the site across the river, so the racing fleet shouldn’t suffer big losses next year. And who knows? The dockside might just get better without that posh, formal building to distract from what we all love – sailing (and it could be a great time to join SSA).
“We thank the Annapolis Police and area Fire departments for their quick action and our senior management for quickly evacuating the facility,” Commodore Rod Jabin said in a statement. “We are saddened by the events of today but thankful that no one was seriously injured. The yacht club was closed to its members while preparing for the Lights Parade and all of the staff got out safely. Club officers and management will be assessing the situation tomorrow to determine the extent of the damage and move the process forward to rebuilding.”
Info is in the thread here. Photo from a sweet drone gallery on Mid-Atlantic Aerials on Facebook.
