Harvard Yacht Club Needs Home; One Mystic River Site Scrubbed

The Harvard Yacht Club has once again sailed into rough waters while attempting to find itself a new home.

This week, the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) refused to let the club build its new sailing facility at an MDC-owned site on the Somerville shore of the Mystic River Basin.

The MDC-which controls most of Metropolitan Boston's riverside parks-took the action after Somerville officials had attacked the proposed lease of the land to the yacht club. Arguing that this city could not afford the loss of the recreation land, Rep. Vincent Pire (D-Som.) said, "Harvard should stay on the banks of the Charles and leave the Mystic River alone."

Right now, the small boats which the 100-odd yacht club members sail are moored at a temporary dock adjacent to the M. I. T. boathouse. The club does not yet know if M. I. T. will let it continue to use the facility for next spring's sailing season.

"The spring season is a question mark," said Alfred S. Woodworth Jr. '70, the Commodore of the club, "But it's been a question mark for 25 years, and yet we've been able to run a successful program."

At times during the past decade, the University has helped the Friends of Harvard Sailing, the yacht club's alumni supporters, in their efforts to find a permanent site for the club. But after negotiations for several proposed sites on the Charles fell through, Harvard officials told the alumni to find a site on their own.

This August. the MDC told the alumni group that it could build the sailing facility somewhere on the Mystic River Basin. Though the Somerville side of the basin is now out of the question, an MDC spokesman said yesterday that the agency might approve building the facility on the Medford shore of the basin.

The sailors are now considering the Medford shore of the Mystic as well as a site on the Charles, Woodworth said. The proposed facility would cost $175,000. About one-third of that sum has already been pledged to the club, he said.