The PCYC Story
I
Soon
thereafter, Fred Lavoie started a boat yard which is still in the same
place we now have. Mr. Dumas had several garages and horse stalls
located where the lockers now reside. Around 1931, Wilfred LeBlanc and
Joseph Gagnon realized the growing interest in boating and the seed was
planted to form a formal yacht club. At that time there was only a
granite pier and one float to the left of the old runway which was made
of greased wood skids for hauling boats into the boat yard.Above, a young Arthur Dumas, son of founder Alfred Dumas, stands in front of the second club building in 1936
Historical account dated February 12, 1972:
"In 1926 we talked about organizing a yacht club. We talked to Mr. Alfred Dumas, the owner of this land then, plus all the sheds. He bought us a large chicken coop. We started to have our meetings with about a dozen members. We elected Mr. Joseph Gagnon our first commodore, and about one or two years later he died. I was elected as the second commodore and I retained the job for about five or six years. October 20, 1932 I went to the City Hall and got a permit to build our second club. We started to build as soon as we could, and by around Christmas we started to occupy the club and do alot of finishing. I had plenty of help and I enjoyed it. The time was during prohibition ... we paid 25¢ a month for dues and we had close to $1000.
The club frames, floors and studs were all second-hand lumber, plus the roof. But all the trimmings, shingles, and roof was [sic] all new materials. The cost was about $900. Four or five years later we had a fire one night in the club from the coal stove we had for heat. It cost us more to repair it than it cost to build it.
At a meeting February 16, 1934 we had hired a lawyer to come to this meeting to form and incorporate our club. Present were the following as charter members: J. Wilfred LeBlanc, my brother Arthur, the first Commodore's son Wilfred J. Gagnon, Arthur Cote, Leo Le Boeuf, Francis Nazaroff and William Talbot ... In the first club, we had made and formed our club pennant."
J. Wilfred LeBlanc
The City of Salem issued a building permit on October 20, 1932. The first building was constructed at a cost of $597.90 for materials and labor.
Our club burgee ("a blue swallowtail pennant on which shall be inscribed a white witch riding on a broom facing the hoist with four white stars, one star located in each corner of the pennant") reflects the heritage of Salem, the "Witch City."
In 1948, Mr. Dumas built a new building to house the Yacht Club known as Palmer's Cove.
In the photo at left, note the rails for boat launching and the old wooden ramp.
The photo below is the Club as it looked this past June, 2006. PCYC is currently undergoing renovation, and will have a brand new sea wall and deck in 2007.
The photo below was taken on July 4, 1969. Jack Maher (2nd from left on bottom row) was Rear Commodore/Entertainment Chair. The man standing in uniform is Joe O'Neil, Vice Commodore, and the tallest man on the left is Dick Blanchard, who was the Club Secretary.
PCYC is a Member of the
Massachusetts
Boating & Yacht Clubs Association, US Sailing Association,
Massachusetts Bay Sailing Association and the Salem Chamber of
Commerce. 
PCYC is the MBSA Yacht Club of the year - See the Salem News article HERE.
PCYC is a private yacht club. For questions about the club see our Contact Information.