History of Nanticoke River Yacht Club

The Nanticoke River Yacht Club is located at the Blades Harbour Marina in Blades, DE at the head of the Nanticoke River. It was founded in 1974 when some local business men brought McKeever Brothers’ menhaden fishing boat up the Nanticoke and docked it next to the dual highway, Rt. 13, naming it The Flagship, and turning it into a restaurant. They needed business, so they approached boat owners and other businessmen, and asked them to join a club for $10/year. The first meeting was called to order on April 8, 1974, officers were elected and the name of the club decided: Nanticoke River Yacht Club. 

By-laws were developed and in July a committee was formed to create a burgee. Several burgee designs were submitted and the current burgee was selected. In 1976 Commodore Martin introduced the Club to Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club Association. In 1977 the initiation fee was established at $20/person/year. Meetings included slide presentations of member’s trips, visitation to other yacht clubs, picnics, dinners at other restaurants and educational talks about safe boating.

Along about 1989, some friends were putting an engine in a boat and began discussing how it would be beneficial to have a marina in the area. They started getting letters of approval from the state. Various towns submitted their proposals. Senator Venables became interested in having a marina in Western Sussex. After about 14 years of research, they finally decided on building a marina in Blades.

Fred Hertrich, III signed a letter of intent to sell property of which John Willey and his son asked him to set aside a piece on which to build. Fred donated the land which included a vacant three-bay auto repair shop at a cost to him of $12,000. And construction began.

Ground breaking ceremony took place Saturday, November 20, 1999, conducted by the first (1974) club commodore, Ben Hurley. In the cold winter of 2000, thirty-two volunteer members, referred to as “Hard Hats”, began the construction of the Club’s first owned meeting place. Members worked hard to raise funds through dinners, sales and donations in the form of “Certificates of Indebtedness”. Many hours of volunteer labor and other gifts resulted in the completion and renovation of the original building by summer of 2000.