New Documents Shed Light on Our Origins from the February 2001 S-t-S
January 2001
February 1973, as seen from the fall 2000
30 Years Ago from the September 2000 S-t-S
I recently received a file folder full of old SSSS documents. The Hansens’ gave it to me, but it came from Gerald Thorsen. In return we sent Jerry a S-t-S so he could see what the organization he helped found is up to now. He wrote back telling me where our name came from.
The documents are interesting. The oldest are from the founding of our Club, and before. The newest is a S-t-S from 1979. The description of the 1997 Toliva Shoal Race, printed in this S-t-S, was one of them. There is much information on past Toliva races. There are documents that shed a lot of light on the founding of the Club. Jerry penciled in some comments on some before mailing, and it looks like George commented too. But as we solve one mystery we discover more questions.
There is a mailed-to-the-members report on a meeting held December 4, 1970 telling us that the SSSS name is now official. Apparently this is the meeting that I had thought was held in November, where it was agreed to form a club and a committee set up to write by-laws. Those by-laws were adopted two months latter, February 4 1971, after much debate. Officers were elected, including our first Commodore, then called “Skipper”. There is an after the fact report on the February Meeting.
So it almost looks like we have found our beginnings. We officially have had a name as of December 4 1970. We acquired by-laws and officers February 4 1971, thirty years ago this month. So there is good reason to celebrate now. But wait. This story does not begin with our founding.
Reading both these documents, it is clear that there is an on going racing program even as they are “founding” the Club. It appears they already had an established and well known race procedure that included courses and schedules before there was a formal club. For how long? There is a mimeographed announcement calling a meeting on January 5, 1969 at Jerry’s. “Purpose: Get acquainted, set up some race handicaps, plan a few overnight races for spring.” Both Jerry and George have notes as to this being the first meeting. This is two years before the club was officially founded. The flyer calling this first meeting also calls a race for four days before the meeting: “same time, same courses”. And the flyer ends “Bring past race times.” So it looks like they had been racing even before that. But this meeting seems to be when the Club first came ashore.
The Club seems to have its origins on Budd Inlet. They must have been racing, at least semi organized, in 1968. I found this year, 1968, mentioned as the first year in a document from the late 1970s. It seems that they started racing in the summer of 1968 and raced for about six months, give or take a couple, before getting together in January.
We will keep looking into these documents, and into our past. There will be more in future S-t-Ss. Ed.
Time to celebrate. This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of our founding. Our founders met several times in late 1970 and early 1971 to plan the club. Thirty years ago this month they drew up the By-laws. Some details of our founding came to light on our twenty-fifth anniversary. We hope some of those around at the time will take the time to tell us more. The story is still incomplete.
This is the end of our thirtieth year. Our club has matured. Time to celebrate.
George Hansen gave me an old S-t-S, from before it was the S-t-S. It is more a letter than a newsletter. It is one side of one sheet, typed and hand corrected; not typed and photo copied, typed. The Secretary, Bill Amos, wrote it. It gives us some insight into what SSSS was like then. It is dated February 8, 1973.
It implies that the by-laws were recently changed. They have a Commodore, no longer a “Skipper”. The Club seems to be on a calendar year, as they just elected new officers. They collecting dues, $5. Allowing for inflation, and assuming everything doubles in ten years, current dues are about the same. They are initiating a race fee, a buck a boat a race, collected on the water. The collecting must have been interesting. Race fees are still close to a dollar a race, that is if you sail all thirty races.
Meetings were on the first Tuesday, not the second. There were Meetings only for five months. The next speaker was going to talk about weather forecasting.
The Toliva Shoal Race was February 24. My first thought was that this was after the Presidents’ Day Weekend; then I realized that this was before there was a Presidents’ Day. It does not read like they expected any boats from down Sound. Still the basic structure of events was in place. It was in February. We raced to the Toliva buoy and back. There was a prerace party, BYOL, Friday night and a race day breakfast.
Thirty years ago the sixties were ending. Woodstock was in full hype. We were losing a war in a place no one would have ever heard of, much less cared about, if they did not know someone at risk of dying there. A moon walk was not something Michael Jackson did. And we were asking the last person to leave Seattle to please turn off the lights.
August thirty years ago on Budd Inlet, a group of sailors were racing informally around the navigation marks and the reserve fleet ships. That fall they were to get together to form a club so that their racing would be a little more organized.
It took several meetings. By early spring they had drawn up By-laws and elected a “Skipper”, purposely not a Commodore, and a slate of Officers. The South Sound Sailing Society, purposely not a yacht club, was up and running.
That means SSSS is fast approaching thirty. That makes this a good year to look back at where we have been, and a good year to look forward to where we are going. And also a time to celebrate.
We would like your input. There are many Members that have been around longer than yours truly. We would like to hear from you. What was the Club like when it was founded? In the 70’s? In the 80’s? Do you know how our programs got started? When did Toliva become an invitational race? When was the first S-t-S? Where was the first organized Cruise? Do you have any photos of early events you could share?
The board is always open to good ways to celebrate. And the Club has something to celebrate: thirty years of fostering the art, skill, and camaraderie of sailing in the southern Puget Sound. Thirty years is a long time.