WHORTONSVILLE YACHT & TRACTOR CLUB

No, this is not some sort of joke! There really is a Whortonsville Yacht and Tractor Club. While yachts and tractors may seem like strange bedfellows, it was from the interaction of these two quite different devices and the folks who use them that the WYTC was conceived.

Located about ten miles down the Neuse River from Oriental, “The Sailing Capitol of North Carolina”, the tiny coastal village of Whortonsville was a friendly farming and fishing community which had been waiting since the dawn of time to be discovered by the yachting fraternity. That wait officially came to an end during the mid 1980's when the first sailing enthusiasts took up permanent residence in this friendly village. These early sailors were affectionately referred to as “blow boaters” by the local population who considered them to be a bit “tetched”. After all, who in their right mind would go to all the trouble and expense of buying one of those slow and expensive blow boats, then venture out onto the water for days at a time and when they came back, they still didn't have any fish!

As the beautiful and protected waters of Broad and Brown Creeks that border the Whortonsville community continued to attract new sailors to the area, it became time for an organizational structure to emerge that embrace both the new comers and the old timers, and in 1990 the Whortonsville Yacht & Tractor Club was formed. In the same year, the first JY15 one design racing fleet in North Carolina was officially chartered under the burgee of the WYTC and is still active, competitive and growing.

The highlight of the summer season in Whortonsville is the Summer Solstice Sailabration which is a handicapped pursuit race that is held each year on the Saturday closest to the Summer solstice. 2002 marked the twelfth anniversary of this event which has grown from twelve participants in 1990 to fifty four participants in 2002. This past year there were three times as many people at the awards and post race festivities than the entire population of the community. This is due to the fact that, in addition to local residents who participate in the Sailabration, many non-residents who keep their boats at one of the several marinas in and around Whortonsville come and bring their friends. Whortonsville, you see, is one of those rare locations on the planet where the boat population exceeds the number of humans.

Yacht and Tractor Club members enjoy reciprocal privileges at Yacht and Tractor Clubs worldwide.
 

Chatham County Yacht and Tractor Club