Yacht club’s first female member says it was just a matter of time.
Sure, it’s exciting and a privilege and all that to become the first woman member of the Catalina Island Yacht Club since its founding in 1924. But Cheryl Muat is still surprised that it’s drawn any notice.
How surprised?
“When you called, I thought you were calling about a subscription,” Muat told a reporter recently. “I mean, it’s an honor to be the first woman member. But I didn’t do this for any fanfare, and I’m still sort of stunned at the attention.”
Stunned because the cheery mother of two joined the 200-member club to make friends, not waves.
“It wasn’t like my husband and I said, ‘Let’s see if we can stir up a commotion,’ ” said Muat, 37, of Huntington Beach. “We just put in my application, waited and found out that I was accepted.”
Muat’s path to the club was paved just over three years ago when its members amended the group’s bylaws to permit women. The move was prompted by the hubbub facing another Santa Catalina boaters group, the Tuna Club, whose all-male membership came under scrutiny as it sought a new 10-year lease on an Avalon city building.
“At the time, there weren’t any women clamoring to get into our club,” recalled Ray Miller, publicity chairman for the yacht club.
But when the Tuna Club’s all-male membership became an issue, Miller said, “the board saw what was happening and said, ‘Oh oh, we better do something to forestall any problems.’ They decided the time had come to end discrimination.”
When that happened, Muat’s parents urged their daughter to apply for membership. “My dad’s a member and my mom’s in the auxiliary. So when the bylaws were changed . . . I decided to apply,” Muat said.
With its membership strictly limited at 200, Muat had to wait several years, as does any new member, for a vacancy. And when it arrived last month, the San Pedro-born daughter and granddaughter of fishermen was at last a member of the club.
“Being the first female member is an honor. The island means so much to me and my family,” said Muat, whose children, Chris, 15, and Shauna, 12, have spent most of their summers on Catalina. Her husband, Drake, is a captain with the Newport Beach Fire Department.
“I like being in the club just to be there. I like boating. The club is a nice place to go. The people are good people, fun people,” she said. “And my husband and I felt this was a way for us to sort of have a piece of the island and the club.” The family’s 40-foot sportfishing boat is moored in San Diego.
As for breaking new ground, Muat said, opening the doors to women, be it a yacht club or a fire department or almost anything else, just makes common sense.
“There’s no reason not to allow women or men or any group into an area if they’re qualified,” said Muat.
“When fire departments first allowed women, it was a shock to a lot of people. Now, my husband works with women. He accepts them. He respects them,” said Muat, who works for the Ocean View School District. “So long as someone’s qualified, they should be accepted.”
That philosophy, Muat said, has guided her for some time. Ten years ago, she remembers, the director of her son’s Little League was shocked when she walked into his office and told him she wanted to coach the team.
“The guy said, ‘Oh, you want to be the team mother.’ And I said, ‘No, I want to coach.’ The guy was just floored,” says Muat, whose record was 15-3 that year as a Little League coach.
Now, as she becomes a member of the yacht club, her husband is about to become the first male member of the women’s auxiliary, whose bylaws also were changed several years ago.
And how does he feel about it? “Are you kidding? He’s in seventh heaven about joining a club of all women,” Muat said, laughing. “He’s a fireman.”
