THE VALCOUR SAILING CLUB EVOLVES FROM PYC

Recreational organizations most often find their beginnings in a core of individuals who long had an interest in doing whatever it was that ultimately brought them together. The Valcour Sailing Club is not unique in this respect. The Club traces its roots to a group of sailors of the Plattsburgh Yacht Club that had long enjoyed the pleasures of hoisting sails to catch the warm summer winds on Lake Champlain.

A few sailboats, started to appear on Lake Champlain in the Plattsburgh area in the decade following World War II. Power boats vastly outnumbered these small, wet, and unstable wood boats. Most of the members of the Plattsburgh Yacht Club of that period were power-boaters but there was a small core of sailors who inevitably started to pit their skills against each other.

Prominent among these early sailors was David B. McDowell, a gynecologist who practiced for many years in Plattsburgh, New York. Although well known as a dedicated physician, many people of the Champlain Valley, as well as Quebec, know him primarily for his life-long pursuit of excellence as a sailboat racer on Lake Champlain. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Dave McDowell brought a level of experience and dedication to yachting on Lake Champlain that has rarely been seen in these parts. Having lived much of his life on the shores of Lake Champlain, both as a boy in the late thirties and early forties, and in latter years at his home on Day Point overlooking Valcour Island, he harbors many memories of the scene. He summarizes the early sixties:

"Competitive sailing first came to the Plattsburgh area under the auspices of the Plattsburgh Yacht Club in about 1960. Since the majority of members were power boat owners, the PYC sponsored only one major sailing regatta each year and it involved not only PYC boats but also sailboats from the Essex area. There was also an Essex regatta sponsored yearly by the Village of Essex that included both sail and power events. The Split Rock Yacht Club at the Crater Club south of Essex also conducted sailing events for a number of years and their members also participated in the PYC events as well as in the Essex Regatta. The sailboat racing fleet, at that time, included Snipes, Cape Cod Knockabouts, an Ariel, and two or three other designs mostly under twenty feet."

David McDowell was sailing Valcour III at that time, a wood Cape Cod Knockabout. Other sailors in Plattsburgh included Harry Walcoff sailing an Electra, Dr. H. Leonard Schlesinger in an Ariel, Bob Glenn with a double-ender, George Copeland in a Star, Ed Redcay a Corsaire, and John Washbourne in a Raven. Jim Morse of Essex had built a boat he called the Champlainer which had the same characteristics of the Knockabout. John Grant bought a Champlainer in Port Henry and John Tanner found a Knockabout in Shelburne, Vermont. Derek Allan showed up with his Winabout. With the fleet of Champlainers in Essex, it looked like racing one-design was possible on the New York side of the lake.

The PYC was not very active in terms of sailing events in the early sixties since most of its members were primarily power boaters. With the rise of interest in sailboat racing, and a fleet of boats which would permit a modicum of one-design racing, it was inevitable that a club devoted primarily to sail activities would seem appealing. Although many of the early sailors were willing to organize a sail division under the PYC, the other members did not seem disposed towards the small relatively slow sailboats. As Dr. McDowell recalls, "they did not seem to be very interested in the sailing program, and pretty much it turned out that it was easier to form a separate organization from the standpoint of (sailboat) racing."

In the spring of 1966, the intention of Plattsburgh area sailors to organize the Valcour Sailing Club went out. John Grant sent out questionnaires to prospective members and a piece was placed in the Plattsburgh Air Force Base Daily Bulletin (April 14, 1966) announcing that the "Valcour Sailing Club is being organized for the purpose of setting up a regular racing schedule of appropriate classes."

The relationship of the Club with the PYC was subsequently made clear in a VSC bulletin which stated that "several members of the Valcour Sailing Club, including John Grant, Dave McDowell, and John Tanner, are members of the Plattsburgh Yacht Club and the two organizations will operate in close harmony. While membership in the Yacht Club is not a prerequisite to being a member of the Valcour Sailing Club, members are invited to join the Yacht Club."

Thus the very name of the new organization was chosen to emphasize that sailing was to be the thrust of the club and early records made clear that racing was to be the predominate form of sailing activity. The invitation to join the Plattsburgh Yacht Club seemed to imply that the PYC would provide the broader marine activities not directly related to racing sailboats on Lake Champlain. Unlike its sister clubs across the Lake, the Valcour Sailing Club adopted a name which was unambiguous regarding power versus sail propulsion. Judging from the bulk of its activities over the years, the Club, without contradiction, could have been named the Valcour Sailboat Racing Club.

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