Sandusky Sailing Center is seeking experienced Sailing Instructors / Coaches for our 2020 Summer Program. Instructors will work with our team of instructors and program directors to execute our learn to sail, community and race team programs. The SSC school runs a 8-week summer program from early June to early August with approximately 100 junior sailors, ages 7 – 17. Our Sailing Fleet includes Opti sailboats, Club 420, and Lasers. Additionally, we have keelboats including a Colgate 26 and J-24. For more information on this opportunity, and to apply, please visit our job ad HERE.
Although for several years big boats were racing under the SSC burgee, organized offshore racing did not begin at SSC until 1956 when Jim Huntley and Norm Winkel founded the Lyman, now renamed as the Sandusky Islands Race, which today is considered one of the top offshore races on the Lake Erie circuit. Regular offshore activity did not begin, however, until after 1960 when the club did a figurative and literal turnaround
The front of the SSC clubhouse, which faced Battery Park Marina, was modified 180 degrees to face the newly created Sadler Sailing Basin. This area had formerly been the sludge basin for the Sandusky Water Department. This marina is now recognized as a vital part of the Sandusky Sailing Club.
With the new marina, the character of the club began to change and membership grew rapidly. 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.
In 1961, SSC members formed the Midget Lake Racing Club (MORC), with Burt Hord as commodore. MORC grew rapidly on Lake Erie and SSC members have ever since figured prominently in MORC activity both locally and nationally. Jim Snodgrass served as International Commodore in 1962, Dale Walker in 1984-1985, most recently P/C Bryan Huntley in 1997-1998, with Station 14 having furnished a total of five International Commodores and six members of the MORC Hall of Fame, including two from Sandusky, Jim Snodgrass and Dick Beurmann.
With the advent of IOR rule in 1968, a small but quality fleet developed, with a most notable achievement by John Root, with “Fine Feathers,” winning first class one winter in the “Big League” SORC. Jim Roberts figured prominently in bringing PHRF racing to Lake Erie and SSC yachts are continually a potent force in the huge PHRF fleet. As an offshoot of PHRF, Dick Hamilton was a leader in promoting JAM (Jib and Main) racing on Lake Erie.
In recent years, J-24 and Tartan 10 fleets have been added to the SSC fleet and the 1985 & 1997 T-10 national champ was SSC member George Ward, sailing “Wine Squall.” At the I-LYA Centennial Regatta in 1985, Jim Johns with “SKIM” led a clean sweep by SSC, taking first through fourth in the huge 44-boat T-10 fleet.
With all this growth, the clubhouse again needed expansion and improvement but the annual land lease agreement with the city was a deterrent to any major investment. Finally after negotiating a long-term lease in 1978, a magnificent new clubhouse was constructed and dedicated on April 14, 1980, and the original building razed. A prominent feature in the new building, however, is a handsome fireplace constructed from stone salvaged from the original “Commodore’s Room” from the first clubhouse, thus heritage and tradition live on. In 1992, a sheltered patio was constructed on the northeast side of the clubhouse.
Today with an extremely practical yet handsome clubhouse, large dry sail areas for boat storage, four launching cranes, a ramp, a growing marina with electricity and water for the larger yachts, 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 its members facilities unmatched in North America. With 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, an outstanding and dedicated race committee and a willingness to regularly sponsor national and international sailing events, that the quality of seamanship and fellowship at SSC are of the highest order.
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