Making Sail, Upper Saranac Yacht Club
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 11, 1909The Upper Saranac Yacht Club was founded in 1899 by camp owners at the north end of Upper Saranac Lake; the camps would later become part of the Saranac Inn cottage complex.
There was apparently a single class of racing sloops, though no clear records were kept. The weekly races became a significant part of each summer’s activities.
In the 1930s, the old boats were retired and a class of Dodge sailboats was substituted. These were clunkers with bench seats, beamy and not fast. Races were held twice a week over six weeks, Wednesdays for juniors and Saturdays for seniors.
Eagle Island's two racing Blue Jays, Cap't Aussie and Bewitched
Courtesy of Chris HildebrandAfter WWII, the Dodges were scrapped and Blue Jays substituted. Races continued through the '70s and were hugely competitive. Under cover of darkness, some contestants were known to have soaped or greased the bottoms of their boats.
In the early '60s, owners of the Blue Jays and a few other residents in the north basin built a very simple home for the Yacht Club on land on the old Deerwood property, leased for a dollar a year from the Bissell family. College students were hired to run an informal program of sailing, water sports and other Adirondack activities. In 1981, the land was sold and the Club turned into a virtual presence. Sailing continued, but in a less organized fashion, with Blue Jays racing against all manner of sailing craft, with a handicapping system to even the competition. The Girl Scouts from Eagle Island frequently joined in.
This continued until 1990 when the Upper Saranac Lake Sailing Association was formed at the south end of the lake under the leadership of Cynthia Coursen,. They settled on the Flying Scott, a 190-foot sloop, after several camp owners acquired them. Eventually there were eight in the fleet. Races were held every summer Saturday at 2 PM. But all boats are welcome and the results are modified using Portsmouth numbers to level the playing field. There were Lightnings, a Hampton, a Comet, as well as International 470 and 420, Lazers, Tanzers and Sunfish.
However, by 2010, the races had faded away once again.
--Based on an article by Airlie Lennon in the 2001 Centennial YearLook, as expanded by Charlie Ritchie in the February 2011 Mailboat
New York Times, July 7, 1907
SARANAC YACHT COURSE.
One of Most Picturesque in Country
Stretches Across Upper Lake.
Special to The New York Times.
SARANAC INN, N. Y., July 6.—The course of the Upper Saranac Yacht Club, recently organized, was laid out this week. It stretches across the Upper Saranac eastward from the Inn, and is one of the most picturesque race courses in the country. It is ample, and the progress, of the yachts may be followed from the verandas of the Inn. Prominent among those who will enter yachts in the races are: S. M. Colgate, Thomas Blagden, C. H. Dodge, F. S. Bangs, John G. Agar, H. G. Runkle, Frederick Gallatin, William L. Rich, Jr., F. J. Firth, and F. D. Lewis…
New York Times, July 28, 1907
SAILING AT SARANAC
Spirited Contests in Yachting Club Events—Recent Arrivals.
Special to The NewYork Times.
SARANAC INN. N. Y., July 27.—There have been several dinner parties at Saranac Inn during the past week, and the yachting has also been attracting attention…
The events of the Upper Saranac Yacht Club are developing some spirited contests. On Saturday morning the boat of William L. Rich, with W. L. Rich. Jr.. sailing, won, with the boat of S. M. Colgate second. Mr. Rich's boat, which is No. 1, covered the course in one hour and thirty-five minutes. Accompanying Mr. Rich were Harry Rich, Harry Blagden, and Mr. Matteson. On the Colgate boat were S. M. Colgate. F. R. Kellogg:, Mr. Richardson, and Miss Von Tombac.
Saturday afternoon there was a special event, sailed twice around the course. On the first round Mr. Rich's boat was in the lead by 400 yards, but at the end of the second round Mr. Blagden's boat was ahead by half a length. Mr. Colgate's boat was third.
W. L. Rich has presented two cups to be awarded to the winners of events which will be sailed in August. Mr. Rich has launched a new Lozier motor boat of 10-horse power. Another motor boat launched this week Is that of A. D. White...
New York Times , August 18, 1907
SARANAC LAKE RACES
Members of Yacht Club Sail for the Rich Cup.
Special to The New York Times. SARANAC INN, N. Y.. Aug. 17.—The cup donated by W. L. Rich to be awarded to the winner of the races of the Upper Saranac Lake Yacht Club was won Saturday by Harry Blagden in a race against five other boats entered by members of the club. The events are sailed under strictly amateur conditions, and attracted to the course on Saturday a large number of boats of all descriptions. There were a number of motor parties, and the Loon was chartered for a tour of the lake and a review of the race. The officials were John G. Agar and Frederick J. Winston.
The Blagden yacht won; time, 2 hours 23 minutes and 18 seconds. The Colgate yacht was second, and the Kellogg yacht third. Yachts were also sailed by F. D. Lewis and William,Rich.
New York Times, August 30, 1908
YACHTING AT SARANAC.
Ladies Have Exciting Race in Close Contest for Commodore's Cup.
Special to The New York Times.
SARANAC INN, N. Y., Aug. 29.—One of the prettiest races ever sailed on Upper Saranac Lake was that of the ladies who met Saturday afternoon and contested for the Commodore Cup given by Commodore S. M. Colgate. Seven boats were entered with ladies handling the tiller and two men handling the sails. It was anybody's race until the last quarter, when the yacht of William L. Rich, Jr., with Miss Katharine Gager at the tiller, quickly took the lead and passed the finish just twenty seconds ahead of the boat of Commodore Colgate, which was sailed by Mrs. William A Minot. Miss Gager was presented with a handsome large silver cup and Mrs. Minot received a second cup.
The fourth of the series of point races of the Upper Saranac Yacht Club was won by William L. Rich, Jr., with Joseph Lewis, second, and Commodore Colgate, third. The fifth race was held over the course to-day and the concluding race will be held Labor Day. Mr. Rich has 38 points, the largest number made yet.
New York Times, August 6, 1911
UPPER SARANAC.
Special to The New York Times.
UPPER SARANAC. N. Y., Aug. 5.—Upper Saranac Lake is suffering from a severe attack of speed fever. So many boats have been launched with more or less disregard of navigation rules that an association has been formed and has issued a circular of rules that are necessarily stringent because of the large number of boats operated here between sunset and sunrise, and the danger thereby to rowboats and canoes. John G. Agar of New York is Secretary of the association and the Launch Committee is composed of Thomas Blagdon and Francis Bangs…
The weekly sailing's of the Upper Saranac Yacht Club resulted in victory for Douglass Blagdon, who is one of the best amateur sailors on Adirondack waters, Joseph Lewis finished second, with Miss Mary Runkle third.
New York Times, July 7, 1935
CLUB AT SARANAC.
Special to The New York Times.
SARANAC, N. Y.-Reorganization of the Upper Saranac Yacht Club, which was founded in 1907 and was active until 1922, is to be effected at a meeting of camp owners as soon as a sufficient number have arrived at their Summer places here. Officers of the rejuvenated club are to be elected and a racing program will be formulated.
The idea of reviving the organization, in its heyday one of the most important yacht clubs active on the Adirondack lakes, is credited to some of the remaining members of the original group, whose active representative is Henry H. Blagden. After canvassing the list of present camp owners on the Upper Saranac, Mr. Blagden, who has a boat, succeeded in organizing a class of eleven boats, whose owners are Augustus S. Blagden, Ambler, Pa,; C. Herman Krumbhaar and Russell Thayer Jr., both of Philadelphia; George P. Bissell and Donald P. Ross, both of Wilmington, Del.; William A. Rockefeller, Greenwich, Conn.; Edward Eagan, New York City; T. Jefferson Newbold, Boston; and Laurence A. Slaughter, who has two yachts. To this list will this week be added the name of Walter E. Frew, donor of the Saranac Inn Trophy in the free-for-all race, an annual feature of the annual Saranac Inn invitation motor-boat regatta.
The new Dodge sailboat, Sea Gull, knockabout type, has been chosen as the boat to be used by members of the club, and a triangular course has been located in the largest part of the lake. A race will consist of two rounds of the course, a distance of about twelve miles.
Each boat will have sails of a distinctive color, the ensemble during a race presenting an appealing picture.
New York Times, September 13, 1936
SAILING RACES URGED
Yacht Clubs Discuss Project for Next Year in Adirondacks.
Special to This New York Times.
PAUL SMITH'S, N. Y., Sept. 12. —Sailing races between crews of the St. Regis Yacht Club, of which William S. Spaulding of Boston is commodore, and the Upper Saranac Yacht Club, of which Mrs. Edward Eagan of New York was recently elected commodore, are proposed as a new Adirondack sport feature for 1937. John B. Trevor Jr. of New York, secretary of the St. Regis club, will confer soon with officials of the Upper Saranac club concerning a tentative schedule for the races, which will probably be held on alternate dates next July on both the Upper St. Regis and Upper Saranac Lakes.
Tupper Lake Free Press and Tupper Lake Herald, September 12, 1990
Races revived on Upper Saranac
A revival of sailboat racing on Upper Saranac Lake took place with a Labor Day Weekend Regatta sailed in Gull Bay Saturday, September 2. Four mixed class races were run with Klaus Meissner, Jr. in his 1952 wooden sunfish leading the smaller boats. Ray Jenkins placed second and Al Peters third in a class of six. The second race of the small fleet finished in the same order.
Entrants were encouraged to make their race with the nearest competitor since the different class boats varied in intrinsic performance. Some competitors were in racing form while others made the rounds for the challenge of the course.
In the first race for the larger sloops Donald Duley sailing a Whaler Harpoon was first, followed by Jo Blitt in a Frying Scot. Third went to John Watson in a Flying Scot. Norman Ann placed fourth sailing a White Cap, Fifth was R. Newbury sailing an American 16.
Eight entrants participated in the second race, who placed in this order: Blitt-Flying Scot, Watson-Flying Scot, Duley-Whaler Harpoon, DeMane-Cat 16, Aho-White Cap, Dahliem-O'Day Sailor, Thayer-O'Day Sailor and Newbury-American 16.
Sailboat racing is an old tradition on Upper Saranac Lake. The Upper Saranac Yacht Club with its blue and maroon burgee was active before 1906. As old camps broke up participants in single class races were lost. This year, participants from the northern and southern end of the lake met in Gull Bay with spectators with classic and other runabouts well in evidence.
The planning committee was Cindy Coursen, Jo Blitt and Dick Coursen. Sheldon Boyd was on hand to assist in case of capsizes.
