Special to the Transcript
With the coldest day in decades still fresh in our memories and weeks of winter gloom still ahead, summer may seem a mirage. But despite the bitterest chills, it always comes. At Cottage Park Yacht Club, that means launching boats, checking engines, hoisting sails and, most importantly, reconnecting with friends. To help bring the summer season a bit closer to reality, CPYC is hosting its first Open House for members of the public since before the pandemic.
At the March 5 Open House, you will learn more about the 121-year-old gathering spot, tour the Pilothouse pub, the Sunset Bar, the Westerly Ballroom, our bowling alleys, gym and marina. Directors of different programs will be on hand to discuss summertime youth sailing, adult sailing lessons, kayak and sailboat rental, mooring and slip facilities, and offer a taste of the broader community that CPYC draws together.
Cottage Park Yacht Club began in 1902 when a group of boat owners bought the ticket office and pier of a defunct ferry line that had been bringing people to Winthrop each summer. Since then, CPYC has become a center of boating and sailing on Boston Harbor, hosting everything from monthly trivia nights to international regattas in an event calendar that runs throughout the year. The club has a commitment to supporting the community around it, and regularly reaches out to help others through blood drives, food donations, use of its facilities by community groups like the Winthrop High Sailing Team, as well as the centerpiece to its charitable efforts, the annual summer weekend to benefit Make-A-Wish.
The club is in a period of physical renewal and member growth. To learn more, email [email protected], and if summers on the water, sunsets on the head pier, after work drinks on the Pilothouse deck all sound like a welcome relief after winter’s gloom, the doors open at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 5.