West Shore Sail Club

History

The West Shore Sail Club was established on April 12, 1972 by a group of 12 sailors, who met in the home of one of the founding members.  The sailors came from a number of marinas on the western shore of Lake Erie, hence the club name logically became the West Shore Sail Club (WSSC).  The club was founded with the goal of providing fellowship for persons and families wanting to share the joy of sailing through cruising, racing, and off the water activities.  The club grew from the original 12 member families to a peak of over 130 families in the mid-1980s to the current approximately 60 families today. 

The WSSC was founded on the premise of being a low cost, but still full value organization, unencumbered with the limitations of owning property and facilities, since all of the members would dock their boats elsewhere, but come together for meetings and activities.  Because of this, as the club grew, meetings moved from member homes to the back room of the Chandlery marine store in Wyandotte, to the upstairs room at Waters Edge on Grosse Ile, to the basement of the Roadhouse Bar in Gibraltar, to Homespun Hall on Grosse Ile, to the Sportsman’s Den in Riverview, to the Good Time’s Café in Woodhaven, to the Presidential Inn in Southgate, to the Jock’s and Jill’s bar in Trenton, to Mr. Nick’s in Trenton, our current home.

The activities of the club have also developed into a full calendar of events.  Over the years, in addition to the monthly meeting and programs, these have included the Commodore’s Ball, the wine and cheese party, the blessing of the fleet, the Christmas in July gathering, the corn roast, the Christmas party, and numerous other recurring and one-time events.

The racing of the club has progressed from a couple of informal club races in the beginning, to a full program, which makes the WSSC the leading racing club in the downriver area.  The club started the highly successful Wednesday Night at the Races program in 1973 with 15 club members participating to a full 12 race schedule, which peaked at over 130 boats racing in the early 1980s, and still has about 50 boats participating today.  The WSSC Regatta started as a short course race, progressing to the 46 mile (76 km) Spirit of ’76 race in the 1970s and 1980s, to various shorter distance and multiple race formats in the succeeding decades.  Through all of these changes, the WSSC race program has always been the most widely attended races in the downriver area.  In addition, in the late 1970s, the ladies of the club had informal Thursday morning “races”, where the intensity was a little less than on Wednesday.  In the 1980s and 1990s, there was an organized Ladies Night at the Races on Tuesday that was quite popular for quite a while. The club also founded the acclaimed (and sometimes disclaimed) Jack & Jill race, the single-handed and double-handed races, as well as the Port-to-Port race to the Cedar Island Regatta, and the Lighthouse Challenge.  Because of the club’s dominance of the downriver racing scene, the WSSC has its own awards night.

However, the WSSC is not only a racer’s club.  The Cruising Committee coordinates and organizes a number of cruises for each summer season to various points of interest.  In the past, club members have cruised as far north as Georgian Bay and even Lake Superior, as far east as the Thousand Islands of eastern Lake Ontario, as far west as southern Lake Michigan, and as far south as Florida and the Caribbean.  In fact, a couple of members have sailed around the world.  Almost all members have cruised to the Lake Erie islands or have gone to Cedar Point, Leamington, or Toledo Beach.  Half of the enjoyment is doing it with your WSSC friends.

As you can see, the West Shore Sail Club is far from being a one-dimensional club.  It has always offered sailing related activities to fit almost every need, and doing it well, at low cost, because of the volunteer efforts of the members, joining in to work together on these many and varied programs.  We have come a long way in the first 35 years of our existence, and plan to continue to do so into the distant future.

Mike Jablonski
Past Commodore, 1979
April 19, 2007

Our Past Commodores