Club History
While the Sailing Club today boasts over 450 members today, the Club had a very grassroots beginning
Our story began in the mid-60s, when a group of students started sailing Penguins out of the old YMCA barn (currently known as the Snow Facility). All the equipment was stored in a small wooden storage area next to the beach, with students hand rolling trailers into the water and paddling their boats out until it was deep enough to put in their rudders.
It wasn’t until 1969 that the University recognized this group of sailors as an official student organization. It was then that three students, R.J Melville, Jim Duncan, and Mark Hasslinger, convinced the University to buy six Vanguard 420s. From there, the club began building the Race Team in addition to teaching students how to sail.
In the following years the club went on to win the SAISA Fall Championship in 1971 under Commodore Trip Hines, and had the chance to compete at MIT for what eventually became the College Sailing National Championship.
The Club continued to grow and experienced its fair share of trials and tribulations over the years. With the addition of 12 FJ’s in 2011, the restarting of a keelboat team in 2019, and the formation of the 501(C)(3) non-profit the Club is organized under in 2019, the Club has slowly morphed into what it is today.