The Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club has officially completed the 2023 season, decommissioning the club at the yearly ceremony on Sept. 30.

The season at BHYC was packed with a busy event schedule for members complete with a wide variety of themed dinners, lectures paired with dinner, events by land and sea, and so much more.

The Junior Tennis and Sailing Program ended on Aug. 18, and was a great success once once more with 180 students participating. The end of the program was complete with a banquet that celebrated the success of the season, and recognized various participants and their hard work during the program. The banquet included parents as well, and made for quite a fun evening.

BHYC offered many opportunities for members to get involved in activities at the club. There were multiple themed dinners this summer, one of which was the murder mystery dinner, which was a hit! The evening consisted of a lavish menu, and a highly entertaining murder mystery show that involved the members while they enjoyed their meal. Another annual end of season event is “Shots and Shots,” which provides members with access to a flu shot clinic followed by a cocktail hour. The Tuesday speaker series continued through mid-September, highlighting many authors and speakers, including presentations from Colin Woodard, Nicholas Sullivan, Damien Brady, and BHYC’s own Rear Commodore, Jon Dunsford. This year the Club also hosted a Medical Lecture Series led by Dr. Paul Schacknow, MD, PhD, Ophthalmologist, BHYC Fleet Surgeon, and Dr. Larry Gessman, MD, Cardiologist, focusing on the eyes and the heart.

At the annual meeting in August, two members received BHYC’s highest honor, the Dorothy Winslow Stewart Memorial Award for outstanding service to the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club. Kenneth Colburn and Robert Scribner were recognized for their years of service and organization of the annual BHYC Regatta and Shipyard Cup. In our opinion, the best regatta in Maine.

Another highly successful event this season was the annual “Day Afloat” which members look forward to every year. Several Member boats come together with teams of family and friends to compete in a scavenger hunt by boat for the day. Each year there is a committee of members who create a theme and a variety of clues, in the form of posters, that are displayed around the harbor. The scavenger hunt is quite expansive, and takes the participants from BHYC to Linekin Bay and everywhere in between. The boats are provided an answer sheet, bonus questions, and of course a chart with boundaries to stay on track. Participants have the day to find all of the clues and figure out the theme. The boats must meet and raft up to enjoy lunch together, before racing to finish the rest of the hunt. Once everyone returns to the club, a wonderful cookout style dinner is held at the club, and the Day Afloat committee presents awards to the winners and highlights fun stories from the water. This event brings together BHYC members, as each boat can host a handful of members, which allows members without boats to participate and spend a fun day on the water. Thank you to those in the community who allowed our posters to be displayed on their property.

Thank you to all of our members and staff for helping the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club have another successful summer season.