
100 YEARS
OF HISTORY
BIYC has a long and happy history. Generations of kids have enjoyed the program, learned and strengthened skills, formed lifelong friendships and returned – with joy – to watch their own children take part.
Each year, the Club is managed by the Commodore plus officers and staff. They run the meetings, paddleboarding, swimming, SUP and rowing races and are assisted by adults for sailing. An advisory board, headed by Seymour Beek, sets the standards and guidelines for Balboa Island Yacht Club. The activities and spirit of the Club have remained amazingly unchanged for a hundred years.
HISTORY & MEMORIES
“Mom loved BIYC and her memorial service was at the Pavilion so all could see Murphy dock, the first one east of Beek’s.”
- Jim Hawkins, 1933 Sec | Treas June Murphy’s son
• • •
BEYOND BIYC — COLLEGE LIFE
BIYC LEADERSHIP & MEMBERS ARE A FORCE AT PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITIES, BOTH AS SCHOLARS & ATHLETES
Please click on each photo to learn more

ROBERT GRIFFIN
1922-1924 COMMODORE
FIRST BIYC COMMODORE

PICTURED WITH 1982 VICE COMMODORE JEVON HADLEY AT THE 60 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OPENING DAY CEREMONIES HELD ON BEEK'S PIER ON BALBOA ISLAND
• • •

GENE BAUM
1923 SEC | TREAS
FIRST BIYC SECRETARY | TREASURER






Pictured with 1946 Commodore Seymour Beek and 1982 Commodore Chad Clark at the 60th Anniversary ceremony.
More of the 60th Anniversary article pictured in 1982 memories.

When Mrs Beek died in 1981, a steering committee was formed to provide guidance to the officers. Gene Baum chaired the committee until he died in 1996.



Presenting the Gene Baum Perpetual Trophy to Eddie De Witt at the 1989 banquet, pictured with Commodore Ross McIlwain

MICHAEL BAUM
1955 COMMODORE
GENE'S SON
THE GENE BAUM PERPETUAL TROPHY
Awarded to the season’s most improved sailor over the course of the summer.
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MARIE MCSPADDEN
1923-1925 SEC | TREAS

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Glendale HS grad1929 or 30, graduated Scripps College 1934 and Stanford Masters in history around 1935, married John Sands 1938, lived in Glendale, AZ, teacher, 4 kids, she headed the Glendale Arts Commission and ASU cultural advisory committee
Pictured front child, far left, and in black?
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• • •
JACK MAYNARD CROOK
1925 COMMODORE





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BILL MERRILL
1927 COMMODORE
• • •
THE MURPHY FAMILY
GERTRUDE • BILL • DAN • HELEN • JUNE • BARBARA
PARTY ON SEAHAWK 1968
MURPHY FAMILY ARTWORK



GERTRUDE MURPHY
1926 SEC | TREAS









DAN MURPHY
1928 COMMODORE
HELEN MURPHY
1927 SEC | TREAS
UCLA KKG & EQUESTRIAN LIKE HER SISTER GERTRUDE


MARRIED DAN'S STANFORD TEAMMATE
EXCERPT FROM 1928 COMMODORE DAN MURPHY'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Early in summer vacation, a newcomer to the island would be asked to have his youngsters (ages 6 to 16) join BIYC, the children’s yacht club in the area. It had recently been started by Mr. Beek, and when we got there, it was a going concern with a meeting place, activity schedule, young officers, and committee members. The purpose of the club was, of course, to promote healthful activities and give youngsters some responsibility with respect to the organization. These purposes were fulfilled admirably. Every weekday there was something doing: Monday model-boat racing, Tuesday swimming races, Wednesday sailing races, Thursday rowing contests. Each Friday was a wiener roast or barbecue in one of the vacant lots in the area. The early officers of the club were the older children.
At the beginning, all boats were often converted rowboats with a mast or two and a centerboard or leeboard. Gradually, class boats came into being. First, there was the Marion class, a 15-foot gaff-rigged catboat, and the Sea Mew, the same length but considerably slower and wider. Soon after came the Snowbirds - a 12 footer with good sailing qualities. It took the bay by storm, and the annual “Flight of the Snowbirds” witnessed hundreds of the little boats, all sailed by youngsters competing for prizes. Later came the Star boats.






BILLY MURPHY
1931 COMMODORE

BARBARA
MURPHY
1931 SEC |
TREAS




JUNE
MURPHY
1933 SEC |
TREAS
WILLIAM MURPHY
THE MURPHY'S FATHER
POSSIBLY THE FIRST STAFF COMMODORE
ADULT SUPERVISOR OF THE CLUB TREASURY
BIYC MEMORIES FROM 1933 SEC | TREAS JUNE MURPHY HAWKINS
From 1924 on, we spent the summertime in Balboa first renting a house while ours was built. My father bought a lot at 546 S. Bay front on Balboa Island. We first rented a house at 133 Pearl for the first three summers. The pier was built in 1927 and we moved into the house in 1928. It had 6 bedrooms upstairs.
We called that house the “Hurricane deck” because there was always something going on. We had our friends visit often. Our pier in front was the meeting place for all the sporting events for the BIYC: swimming, sailing, paddle boarding, rowing, diving, and canoeing. Mother ran the show most of the time. I had a regular group of girlfriends. They called us the “howling” mob. They came from several different cities in So. California. Their families had summer cottages on the island. Very few people lived there all year. I don’t think anyone had heat in their homes. We sailed a 12- foot wooden hulled cat boat called Snowbirds. Ours was number 10 and called Shenanigan. They were easy and safe to sail. We went all over the bay, often getting stuck on the sandbars and mud flats. At times we went to Harbor Island for picnics and a swim “a la nude.” There were no houses on that island then. Other times we sailed to the entrance of the bay and had a picnic at China Cove. It wasn’t named that then. The entrance to the harbor was crooked due to the many sand bars. If we wanted to get out to the ocean, we had to watch the tides and never were allowed out without two or three boats together.
I was brother Bill’s crew for races most of the time. On weekends we sailed at the Southland Sailing Club now the Balboa Yacht Club and also the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. We would always do fairly well, but seldom first place.
My father always insisted that we were able to swim well. We had to swim across the bay from J.A. Beek’s pier to the pavilion, usually on Sundays when my father would be down for the weekend and the water was calm.
On special occasions we went to Emerald Bay for picnics. We went with neighborhood kids. We would body surf in from our boats anchored out beyond the waves. We explored the tide pools and used plow holds of kelp for our anchor. Once we explored an old movie set of a Venice village built around 1924 for a movie. There were no houses, just a beautiful empty beach. We either went by cars or boats. Father bought a 41’ wooden hull sloop from his brother (Hayes Murphy) in Connecticut. He had it shipped on a freighter through the Panama Canal into LA harbor. It was a slow, seaworthy boat. On it we would anchor and swim to shore at various beaches along the So. California coast.
Our time with the Balboa Island Yacht Club was busy. Mr. Beek organized trips to Catalina Island. We went there on weekends. There were usually three or four boats, and his favorite cove was 4th of July Harbor. We also went to San Clemente Island a couple of times. It was a barren island with little round cacti that were hard to see, but easy to pick up thorns through our tennis shoes. Ouch! Santa Cruz Island was our favorite. We hoped to get there once every summer and see the fresh waterfall and the painted caves. I attended several regattas in Long Beach and Santa Barbara, but I was too young to do much else. I crewed for my brother Bill on the Snowbird in both harbors seemed very large.
• • •

BERNIE MCNALLY
1929 COMMODORE
THE COMMODORE BERNIE MCNALLY TROPHY
Awarded to the season’s champion sailors for Lasers and Sabots with the best race results for the entire summer.
• • •
ROBERT ROLLINS
1930 COMMODORE
THE ROLLINS PERPETUAL TROPHY
The Round-The-Island Row race is held once a year, participants enter with a partner and row around the island. A trophy will be awarded for the 1st overall team. Medals will be given for the 1st place team in each age group (4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, and 14-16). An award will also be given to the youngest team to finish within the specified guidelines.



• • •
BURL JOHNSON
1933 COMMODORE



THE BURL JOHNSON MEMORIAL TROPHY
Awarded to the Commodore’s Cup Sabot winner
• • •



WARWICK HAYES JR.
1936 COMMODORE




• • •
THE PENBERTHY FAMILY
FIRST GENERATION COUSINS
PEARLITA • MARY • JOAN • ARTHUR (SIBLINGS)
and their cousins,
PAUL • FARRIER "FEY" (SIBLINGS)



PAUL PENBERTHY
1935 COMMODORE
PEARLITA PENBERTHY
1932 & 1934 SEC | TREAS
FARRIER PENBERTHY
1937 COMMODORE



Joan and Pearlita at the Beeks' pier
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JOAN PENBERTHY
1939 SEC | TREAS
ARTHUR PENBERTHY
1942 COMMODORE

Pearlita, Mary and Joan Penberthy

ARCHIVES FROM JOAN'S SCRAPBOOK
Art Penberthy and Ted


VOLLEYBALL & BADMINTON ON VACANT LOTS

100 BLOCK OF TURQUOISE

SECOND GENERATION
KAREN VORSTER (PEARLITA)
SUSIE • MICHAEL SMITH (MARY)
JOHN • STEVEN • ANNE • DAVID LAMONTAGNE (JOAN)
JULIE PENBERTHY (ARTHUR)
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DAVID LAMONTAGNE
1978 COMMODORE
AWARDED THE MUNROE TROPHY BY 1938 COMMODORE TED MUNROE


ANNE LAMONTAGNE JUDGING THE DIVING COMPETITION IN 1972


Karen Vorster plunges into swimming race - 1968

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ANNE LAMONTAGNE with Carrie McKinley

Karen Vorster ( center ) with Richar Matics and Charlie McKinley
THIRD GENERATION
TONY • MICHAEL LAMONTAGNE (JOHN)
LAUREN • LUC • GRACE LAMONTAGNE (DAVID)

GRACE, LUC, MARY KATHRYN, LAUREN, DAVID LAMONTAGNE

LAUREN LAMONTAGNE
2015 COMMODORE
WITH DAD, DAVID
LUC LAMONTAGNE
2016 SEC | TREAS
WINS MUNROE TROPHY



MERCOTTI SANDERS • GRANT BYERS • ERIK SVENDSEN • LUC LAMONTAGNE
LAUREN & LUC LAMONTAGNE


GRACE & LUC LAMONTAGNE, CARA REDDIN
2015 BIYC OFFICERS
LUC LAMONTAGNE • GRANT BYERS • LAUREN LAMONTAGNE BRODIE BORLAND • KATHRYN PETERS


• • •
• • •

DICK MUNROE
1939 COMMODORE


THE MUNROE FAMILY
FIRST GENERATION
TED • MORA • DICK

MORA MUNROE
1935 SEC | TREAS
TED MUNROE
1938 COMMODORE

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Madeline ?, Mora Munroe, Pearlita Penberthy, Mary Penberthy & Joan Penberthy
Mora with Munroe family home in background - 1400 South Bay Front
Mora Munroe




DICK MUNROE MEMORIAL TROPHY
This trophy is presented to the Most Outstanding Competitor of BIYC. It is a memorial trophy honoring BIYC member Dick Munroe, who lost his life in World War II. Dick was a terrific all-around sportsman, so his trophy is awarded based on a calculation that gives points for every event. Final tally honors top ten kids who accumulate the most points for all their activities. Sailing is included, so highest ranks generally end up going to those who sail. Winner is considered All-Around Champion of the Club.

Mora Munroe & Domino
Cooper Blackband - Munroe
Champion 2020

SECOND GENERATION
KATHY • BARBIE • RICHARD • CONNIE (TED)
TRACY • ANN REICHLING (MORA)

COUSINS: Tracy Reichling, Kathy Munroe, Ann Reichling, Barbie Munroe