Over the last 75 years many of our members have had children and grand children grow up in the BYC. We have dubbed them the "BYC Brats", little kids hanging around mom and dad as they worked on their boat, attended activities and enjoyed cruises. A few of our many Brats have offered to give us a glimpse of what it was like hanging around BYC....

Memories from P/C Mark Miller....

Photo: John Rosendale

Growing up in the BYC family was great. In the 50's the club was a lot different. Who-dats didn't exist because everyone knew everybody, even the kids. Even though Dad didn't join till the early 60's we did a lot of boating in the 50's aboard my Uncle Tom's boat the Betty-B, the Corsair, Water Baby and then of course his 65 foot rum runner the Odalisque, not sure about the spelling on that one. My Uncle Tom sold the Betty-B to another Uncle, my Uncle Woody Woodard who later became commodore and was credited for getting the new condo covers built. It seems like every weekend was spent at the club or out cruising. My teen years in the 60's were even more exciting. The club had wooden floats with old composite fuel tanks as floatation. There was a square hatch on the top of each tank and it seemed like there was always one or two sections sinking. These were the Baby Boomer years and there were a lot of kids in the club and they put us to work. I remember being inside those tanks on several occasions. They also used us to shovel snow in the winter. The old condo covers didn't have flat roofs. They were like boat house roofs stacked right next to each other. I remember one winter shoveling snow off the old condos with several other club kids. The parents sent us up because they said we were lighter. We were also more gullible back then. The valley of these roofs came right together (no snow gap) and if you were unfortunate enough to step through the valley where they came together you were stuck like in a bear trap. I think it took them about an hour to get me unstuck once.

Then there were the really good times in my mid to late teens. Dad had a brand new 25' Owens (Miller's High Life) and we cruised almost every weekend. I got real good at handling it because for some reason mom would always tell dad to "Let the Kid Drive the Boat". Worked out good for me and because I was small and could fit in the engine compartment I also did a lot of the maintenance. My reward was that Dad trusted me with the boat and let me take it out by myself. Imagine being 16-17 years old and taking your dads boat out for a cruise. I did it a lot and it made the old timers crazy. I know my dad took a lot of heat over that and always got five or six calls from members saying they saw his kid taking his boat out. I got the boating bug young and have found it to be incurable. I can't thank my folks enough for passing it on to me. It was and remains a wonderful and significant part of our lives.

Being a BYC kid and boating adventures by....... Sharon Morris Leedy...
I was a BYC Brat at the young age of 5 with the launching of my parent's boat at Shelton. My brother Lewie christened it by pouring a small amount of a bottle of beer over the bow (parents drank the rest) as I slept in the forward bow. It was named "Sharon Lee" which really made me feel special since my father and Mr. Swanson built it. My father always saved his annual leave from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and we spent a month in the San Juans and Canada. I loved being on the water and met many friends at the various ports. Having a 34 foot monk was quite a boat in the 40's and 50's and drew a lot of attention when pulling into port.

The memories are so many but I will try to hit a few highlights. There were about 10 kids my same age at the Club so we had a great time with our dinghies. Dennis Haven was the only kid with an outboard so if we got along with him, he would tow us around the bay. Sharon Phillips and I would make our peanut butter sandwiches and sneak the scatter rugs out of the folk's boat and put them in our dinghies and cruise (row) and have our dinner. I had hair that I could sit on at 12 years and I wanted it cut so on one of the cruises Janet Tucker who would have been about 16 years braided it and then cut those long braids off. I remember the adults being upset about it but I was approaching 13 years so it seemed right and proper.

As we grew into teenagers, we enjoyed watching our folks with the beer game and seeing if they would make it back to their boats. Everyone looked out for each others kids and they became very close to each other's families. Betty Tucker gave me a Baby Shower for my first child, Gary Bulette's mom knitted me a beautiful baby blanket, and Ann Haven was always a mom to me. I have so many wonderful memories of the closeness of other kid's parents.

Rosy Phillips was beautiful and very good to me as well as Millie Warren and oh could Millie cook good stuff. I loved the Salmon Bakes at Point Monroe. We had tug-a-wars with our parents, dingy races (parents were drunk), and forever waiting for the corn on the cob to roast in the hole with the seaweed and the salmon to cook on the fire.

I invited several boat-less friends on our boat as a teenager and they tell me it was a great memory. There are many stories about our adventures but one really stands out. We were tied up at Olympia Yacht Club and I asked my parents if we could walk up to the Capital. This was after breakfast so I think they thought by noon we would be back to the boat. It was getting dark (summer) when we came back to the gate at the Club and my father was waiting for us. He said he was ready to call the police to find us. I remember my father being crazy and I didn't understand all the concern. Not a whole lot has changed through the years with teenagers not understanding their parents.

I could go on and on about all the great times I had at the Club and cruising as a youngster but I really want to say that returning to the Club as an adult is wonderful and I will have many more stories to tell all my friends and family in my Golden Years. Thank you Bremerton Yacht Club.....

Another Kid, Norm Smith, shares his memories... My growing up at BYC started in 1948 on my 6th birthday when my folks boat "Betsy Too" was launched at Sulfur Springs. A launching article was even published in the Bremerton Sun.

My next recollection was the annual Salmon Bake and Corn Roasts at BYC's property on Point Monroe. This was a weekend event with the boats anchored at the Point during the day and moving into Port Madison at night. In later years the Salmon Bake moved to Eagle Harbor at the location now occupied by the Queen City Yacht Club outstation.

As a kid, along with all the other kids, the standard uniform for all of us was a life jacket. We all spent time digging clams and rowing around the floats, and into the lagoon. The wood floats on aircraft rubber fuel tanks were a continual project for all hands, young and old, keeping them afloat and together. Especially after the winter storms.

Heavy Weather Race weekend also stands out with a great may BYC boats at anchor in the bay so the guest boats would have moorage. One hundred plus boats raced, all finishing at the Manette Bridge at the same time. Way back when there were "The Old People", our folks and us kids. Then the "Old People" passed on and our folks moved to the upper status and we moved to the middle with our kids filling the lower ranks. Now we are on top, our kids in the middle and our grandkids fill the bottom ranks. Time moves on!!

A few memories from Mark Libby...
Being a kid at BYC was like having a 100 moms and dads. Everyone knew everyone and kept an eye on all us kids. We could not get away with anything! Our best keeper was Mrs. Leech, the caretaker. She was like a surrogate mom to all of us Brats. She had eyes that could see everything! We kids loved to play in those old WWII fuel tank bladders. We would get inside and pretend all sorts of adventures, of course we were not supposed to be inside, but if no one was looking, in we would go! I remember we spent a lot of time helping our dads caulk and plug the old boats. There was no fiberglass in those days. Also, the club house was not like it is now, it was two WWII surplus housing units. There was this one heavy weather race. I was on our boat the TYNG, a 28' cruiser with BIG gray engines (big to me). We were on the north end of Bainbridge Island and the weather was so bad that everything on the boat was flying around, no one could stand up, not even my dad, but he was not about to slow down, races were really important...I guess you could say that was what really made Heavy Weather fun.

One of the most fun times were the clam bakes at Pt. Monroe on Bainbridge Island. It was a big beach party. We would dig for clams, have sack races, and eat corn on the cob and baked salmon.....just great family times. When I was in high school Ed Foster started Peninsula Sail Club and I joined that. I was not around the club after the 60's much, too busy with my family, work and sailing. I am glad to be back and active as an adult member; it is great to see the youth sailing classes taking off. Being a BYC Brat was the best years of my growing up.

Lewie Morris thinks back...
I think I have always been in the yacht club. I can even remember being down at the old club on Windy point before we moved everything up to Rocky Point.

Most of what I remember about this place was the fun and the kids, lots of them. It was real family stuff then. Everyone knew each other and looked after everyone's kids. We had this caretaker, Ivy Leech, she was a major Who-Dat, and she ran the place! No one got past her. In the last 1940's we had a BYC Junior Club and lots of us kids belonged. It was going pretty good until the Korean War came along and the senior members enlisted and then the club fell apart.

I can remember lots of cruises, in those days everyone drank more and we kids became good bar tenders for the folks. We did not cruise to docks; most of our cruises were large raft ups in the bays in south sound. I could ramble on lots more, come see me at the Who-Dat table and I'll tell you a lot more stories. Lewie Morris

Lastly....Gerri Hill Bachman ...a teen looks back at BYC
I can remember helping my mom, Zelma Hill, make crafts for the Skipperettes bazaars, selling raffle tickets, checking in observers for my dad, P/C Jim Hill. We had a small 26 foot boat and it was full with 3 kids and mom and dad but boy did we have fun. I loved going to the San Juans. I remember one time helping my folks put on a casino night at their place for the club; I spent hours learning to be a craps dealer.

I hope that gives you a glimpse of how our club was for those youngsters growing up at BYC. I know there are lots more stories out there...these are just a few.

Prepared by, Gerri Bachman one of the teenage BYC Brats