Beacon - Annapolis Yacht Club

Gary Jobson Interviews AYC’s Past Commodore
In addition to his tremendous service to AYC, P/C Charles R.
(Sunny) Smith, Jr. has also served as Commodore, Sailing Club of
the Chesapeake; Fleet Captain, Chesapeake Station, Storm Trysail
Club, and member, Board of Governors, Storm Trysail Club; Rear
Commodore, Chesapeake Station, Cruising Club of America; former
volunteer coach of offshore varsity sailing team, USNA; and
continues to be a long-time member of the AYC Race Committee.
He is a member of the Annapolis Maritime Hall of Fame and
currently serves on the Board of Directors, Annapolis Maritime
Museum.
Sailing his various Uh Oh’s, he has been an overall winner
twice of CBYRA Race Week and of the AYC Disharoon trophy for
overall AYC performance; an overall winner of the Annapolis to
Hampton Race; an overall winner of Atlantic City Race Week;
and overall IOR winner, Cowes Cup, Block Island Race Week.
Jobson: How does it feel to be a past commodore of the
Annapolis Yacht Club?
Smith: I’m very proud. The club has come a long way
and has done an excellent job of putting our image out
through our race committee and we’re a very well respected
club in the country. The thing I was proudest of
at the end of my two-year term is that American Boating
magazine selected AYC as one of the ten top yacht clubs
in the country.
During my tenure as Commodore, we had a lot of
things to do and we tried to accomplish a number of
things. We tried to have fun in the club. And that’s what
we did. We had nice parties. We had events that were
well attended. Everyone liked everyone. Between races,
we used to come in and socialize in the club and then
go back out and do another race. It’s not like bang, bang,
bang as it is now.
Jobson: You’ve been a member here for how long?
Smith: Since ’44. I get my 65-year pin this year.
Jobson: Wow. Did you have any inkling in 1944 that
you would be a member this long?
Smith: Never. Because we were getting ready to go overseas
at that time, too.
Jobson: What was it that inspired everybody to say,
“Okay we need a new clubhouse” in 1961–62?
Smith: Well, the old clubhouse, it was falling down. We
would dance in the ballroom and everyone invariably
wound up in one corner by the bar because the ballroom
floor had such a slant to it. We were growing and we
needed a larger space.
One of the things that sold us on it was dancing on
the third floor where the bar was located. We were able
to move around a little bit better and it was better laid
out. The dining room in the old club was on the lower
deck and that’s where they had shuffleboard and a television.
We had dance classes there. Up on the second
deck, that’s where the slanted ballroom was.
Jobson: I was looking at some past films that we found
here in the club. Everyone is wearing a uniform. Has
there been a long association between the Annapolis
Yacht Club and the U.S. Naval Academy?
Smith: Yes. Several of our commodores were officers
and one was a Commodore of the Navy. My uniform goes
back to ’66 and amazingly enough, it still fits. This was a
very formal club at that time. It required coat and tie to
come in. The dining rooms were formal with coat and tie.
Jobson: So you’ve done lots of racing here, ocean racing,
round the buoys, big boats, small boats. How has racing
changed during your tenure here at AYC?
Smith: We were a small boat club. Then, we went to the
larger boats and now we’re an ocean racing club as well
as small boats.
Jobson: How did frostbite racing get going?
Smith: Six of us started. I was in a syndicate with Arnie
Gay and Ollie Grahn. We chartered Rainbows from
Jerry Wood who had Annapolis Sailing School. We
raced six races in an afternoon. If we sailed out past
Severn Sailing, we really thought we were doing something.
So we used to sail in the harbor here. Start at the
club, finish at the club. In between races, we’d come up
and have something warm and then go back out and do
it again. It was a lot of fun.
continued on page 22
VOLUME 1, NO. 2
AYC BEACON
21