The history of the Sandusky Sailing Club

Editor's note: 2023 marks the 90th anniversary of the Sandusky Sailing Club. To celebrate, members of the club shared the story behind the club and its nine decades of existence. SANDUSKY — The birth of Sandusky Sailing Club was the result of rebellion. The year was 1932, a time when the country was mired in the Great Depression. The Roosevelt administration had just completed a WPA Project consisting of the outer wall of Battery Park Marina, and a separate basin to the east to be used to collect sludge from the water works plant, located on the land that is now occupied by the Sandusky police station. Threatened with an increase in dock fees at Battery Park Marina, a group of sailors decided to protest by creating a separate sailing club. This resulted in the formation of the Sandusky Sailing Club. The first formal meeting was held on Aug. 4, 1932 in Worthy Brown's office at the foot of Meigs Street. Those attending elected flag officers and set their dues at 25 cents per year. A club constitution was drafted that states, "The object of the Club shall be the promotion and encouragement of sailing and seamanship, and of a sportsmanlike attitude toward racing and competition. The club is organized to encourage small boat sailing and racing among those who may not be able to afford large annual dues and assessments." Meager beginnings can best describe the activities of 44 charter members. Land consisting of a pile of rocks in the northeast corner of Battery Park was leased from the city on a year-to-year basis. The following year, 1933, the members leveled the pile of rocks and built a small, simple, but very efficient one-room clubhouse utilizing volunteer help and donated materials. The members' boats were of all types, sizes and shapes, so organized racing was by handicap in two divisions: "A" and "suicide" (little boats). Also in 1933, a group of sailors whose primary interest involved racing started to earnestly discuss what could be done to promote a single one-design boat, common to all. At the time, members of the club were trying to race five different class boats including Snipe, Star, Cub Star, Olympic Monotype and Luedke Cub, each with different sailing characteristics. Unable to agree that any one of the five types of boats should be promoted over the others, members decided to commission the design an entirely new boat. They hired Francis Sweisguth, designer of the "Star" (now an Olympic boat), and directed him to design a good family boat, fast but with a simple rig, economical and easily home-built. His first effort, a 22-foot keel boat, was rejected because of the deep draft and the fact that the dock fees at Battery Park changed from 25 cents a foot to 60 cents a foot at 18'1". The new design was therefore established with an 18' length, a centerboard, a larger cockpit and a simpler rig. It was called the "SC2" (Sandusky Sailing Club Class), and several members began building boats. By 1935, five of the new "SC2" boats participated in that year's I-LYA Regatta. The club controlled the "class" until early in 1936 when a separate class association was formed. The boat today is known as the "Interlake" and the sail insignia and the Sandusky Sailing Club burgee are basically identical. In 1938, a new club room, galley and restrooms were added to the clubhouse, again with volunteer labor. The original club room then became known as the "Commodore's Room." That year also saw the formation of the Sandusky Junior Sailors and that fall the first class of 14 young sailors graduated. Sandusky Sailing Club also had a very large impact on the growth of the Thistle class sailboat. The Thistle is a 17' open cockpit design that was introduced at the 1945 I-LYA Regatta at Put-in-Bay. Competitors were impressed that the new boat out-sailed all participants including many boats much larger. The next year, 1946, the class officially recognized Thistle Fleet #3 at SSC. Six boats appeared on the Sandusky Bay scene that year. In the early 1970s the Thistle class grew at SSC to include as many as 42 boats. In 1949, the clubhouse was again enlarged, doubling the size of the meeting room. This time the money was donated as a memorial. Although for several years some big boats were racing under the SSC burgee, organized offshore racing did not begin at SSC until 1956 when the club inaugurated a race around the Lake Erie islands that is now known as the Sandusky Islands Race. Overcoming adversity best describes the next milestone in the history of SSC. In 1960, the oil company Phillips 66 made an offer to the City of Sandusky to develop the underutilized Battery Park Marina. Phillips proposed to enhance the marina by constructing docks at no cost to the city. They also agreed to pay the city 5% of gross revenue including receipts from gasoline sales. The only loser in this deal was the sailing club. One of the conditions of the agreement was that SSC must vacate the east corner of Battery Park Marina, as its relatively small dock would interfere with the overall development plan. Obviously, the developer and the city realized that relatively small sailboats would not be purchasing significant amounts of fuel. Led by Jack Springer, the club's resourceful 1961 commodore, members rallied with passion and commitment. Springer suggested to the city administration that to consummate the deal, the Sandusky Sailing Club would vacate Battery Park Marina by reversing the entrance to its clubhouse to face the city's now-unused water treatment sludge basin. In turn, the city agreed to allow SSC to develop the sludge basin which was subsequently dedicated by the city as the C. Webb Sadler Sailing Basin to be used by sailboats only. The city also required that the basin be available for use by the general public. Thus, the SSC Constitution was amended to reflect ground rules with regard to a management agreement to develop Sadler Sailing Basin for the city, including the stipulation that all monies from the operation of the basin be kept separate from those of the Sandusky Sailing Club. The first task was to open up the seawall of the sludge basin to allow access to Sandusky Bay. With this done, the clubhouse was modified to face the newly created Sadler Sailing Basin. With the new marina, the character of the club began to change and membership grew rapidly. Many one-design members with growing families acquired larger cruising/racing boats. The marina also attracted "out of towners" who could weekend at the club on their cruising boats; soon thereafter an offshore racing series began. Unlike the smaller one-design boats, auxiliary racer/cruisers come in many different sizes, weights, sailing characteristics and speed potential. Thus, a "handicap system" was needed in an attempt to equalize the boats while racing. In 1961, SSC members endorsed the Midget Ocean Racing Club (better known as "MORC") handicap rule. MORC grew rapidly on Lake Erie and SSC members figured prominently, winning regattas both regionally and nationally. With the advent of the lOR rule in 1968, a small but quality fleet developed. Another rule, PHRF, that does not require extensive and often expensive detailed boat measurement, was developed and introduced to Lake Erie and SSC in the early '80s. The popularity of this rule has proven to be a potent force in the development of a large PHRF fleet. An offshoot of PHRF, utilizing only jib and main sails, referred to as JAM, has recently become very popular as the larger boats can be sailed competitively with reduced number of crew. In the '80s and '90s, J/24 and Tartan Ten classes respectively have also been added to the SSC fleet. During the first five decades of SSC's existence, the club operated under a series of one-year leases negotiated with the City of Sandusky. These leases contained a 30-day eviction clause. Many SSC commodores over the years tried to secure a long-term lease with the city. The priority of a long-term lease gained momentum in the mid 1970s as conversations around the club included the topic of possibly building a new clubhouse. Finally, after negotiating a long-term lease in 1978, a new clubhouse was constructed and dedicated on April 14, 1980; the original building was razed. A prominent feature in the new building is a handsome fireplace constructed from stone salvaged from the original "Commodore's Room" in the first clubhouse; thus heritage and tradition live on. In 1992, a sheltered patio was constructed on the northeast side of the clubhouse. In 2006, SSC again faced a challenge to the operation and some would argue the very existence of the club when an out-of-town developer proposed to build condominiums and a hotel on land overshadowing the Sadler Sailing Basin. SSC members responded to this threat with a vigorous campaign to remind city officials that for the past 45 years, SSC had transformed what was originally an unsightly sludge basin into a regional showcase of sailing facilities. The club emphasized that all this development had been accomplished without the use of any city, state or federal funds. Fortunately for SSC, momentum for the development waned as an economic recession became more acute. In an effort to secure its future, in 2008 Sandusky Sailing Club successfully negotiated a new long-term lease with the City of Sandusky, not only for the grounds adjacent to the clubhouse, but for the entire site of the facility including Sadler Sailing Basin. The new lease effectively streamlined the development and management of Sadler Sailing Basin by allowing SSC to control all aspects of the operation of the basin.Today, SSC is deservedly proud of a practical yet handsome clubhouse, large dry sail areas for boat storage, four launching cranes, a ramp and a growing marina with electricity and water for larger yachts. In 2014 the electrical service in Sadler Sailing Basin was completely upgraded to accommodate the increasing needs of berth holders. With the beautiful protected waters of the Sandusky Bay for one-design racing and the Lake Erie Islands at the front door for the larger boats to race around and cruise to, Sandusky Sailing Club offers members and visitors facilities unmatched in North America. SSC maintains very active Learn to Sail and Junior Racing programs, racing series and cruising activities for all sizes and types of yachts, both one-design and offshore. The club is blessed with an outstanding race committee and membership willing to regularly stage national and international sailing events. US Sailing recognized the Sandusky Sailing Club with the prestigious St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy for its outstanding performance in hosting the 2013 Thistle National Championship.