Summer 2016 | Sea Island Life Magazine Spring/Summer 2016 | Page 26

TRADITIONS

DOCKED HISTORY

THE SEA ISLAND YACHT CLUB SHARES ITS TRADITION OF BOATING
AND FISHING WITH FAMOUS NAMES AND FAMILIES.
BY JACKIE ADAMS

t

Howard Coffin
(center) docked
his yacht at
St. Simons
Island in the
late 1920s.

26 SEA ISL AND LIFE | SPRING/SUMMER 2016

he year is 1928 and various boats occasionally dot the pristine
waters off St. Simons Island, Ga. Racing vessels sail up and down
the Frederica River; couples spend the afternoon on small pleasure boats; and industrialists from the north cruise along on their
yachts. One of the men cruising is Howard Coffin, founder of the Hudson
Motor Co. of Detroit, and owner of extensive acreage on St. Simons Island.
Though born in Ohio, the successful entrepreneur moved south to Georgia
and built a resort on Sea Island. His yacht is called the Zapala, and the
126-foot, wooden hull beauty is impressive. Even more impressive are the
guests standing on her afterdeck: President Coolidge, looking dapper in a
black hat, suit and coat, and his wife, elegant by his side.
The Zapala was docked at the yacht club on St. Simons Island, a small
dock that occasionally housed one other yacht. While it was low-key,
Archivist Mimi Rogers notes that the yacht club helped host Sea Island
guests in those early years. “Sea Island Co. needed accommodations for
guests during construction of The Cloister in the summer of 1928,” she
explains. ”… To satisfy this need, Howard Coffin bought a refurbished warship called the Amphitrite and docked it at the yacht club.”