PART 2: THE BIRTH OF A SAILING CLUB
Any retell of the early history of the Carter Lake Sailing Club, originally called the Denver Sailing Club, must rely on the handwritten words from Emmy Koehler, the first recording secretary. She details the development through a history she called the “First Seven Year Cycle of the Denver Sailing Club, Inc.” from before the first official meeting on August 20, 1953 to the end of 1960. Her anecdotes illustrate the determination and grit of the early members, their trials and triumphs, and the foundational growth of the organization. Revisiting these notes gives current club members opportunity to consider the motivations, attitudes and experiences of club founders.
THE FIRST SEVEN-YEAR CYCLE OF THE DENVER SAILING CLUB, INC.
Emmy Koehler, Secretary
1953: All sailors, unite![1]
Before the Second World War, only a few individuals sailed on Sloan’s Lake in Denver, among them was our own charter member, George Seeman. During the 1930’s, the City of Denver decided to build a boathouse with WPA labor in the hope of encouraging more boating. It did boost the interest and, restricted through the gas shortage during the war, many people took to sailing.
The watersport lovers united in the Mile-High Boats Association. Up to the spring of 1946, the sailors often were in the majority; it was not unusual to have twenty boats during a Sunday race. Slowly, however, the picture changed; we separated from this club and formed our own, but loose, organization. That it became never more than that was due to many factors. Finally, through the many rules and regulations imposed by the city, the sailors were being penalized and representation at the city’s Boating Commission was deemed necessary. By the Spring of 1953, Otto Koehler urged all sailors to unite as only by united force anything could be accomplished. Preliminary meetings were held, the first by-laws drawn up, etc.
On August, 20, 1953, the first official meeting of the Denver Sailing Club (DSC) was held, with 13 members present and paying dues of $1.00 each. Officers were elected and proposed by-laws drawn up. Of those first year charter members still claiming a consecutive membership today (1960) are: Otto and Emmy Koehler, Jean and George Seeman, Piet Hondius, and Don Hillis.
Caption: Sailing has long been a popular water sport on Sloan’s Lake, as shown in this picture, circa 1945.[2]
The Labor Day weekend of 1953 was spent on Shadow Mtn. Lake; 4 boats and 11 members participated. The sailing was wonderful and the fellowship excellent. By the end of September, the membership had grown to 26. The attendance during the winter was about 75%; the topics of the discussions centered around the acquisition of trophies, pennants for the boats, racing and general plans for the future.
1954: “Let’s Give Carter a try!”
These plans soon included Carter Lake. Otto Koehler had broached this subject for the first time after learning that this reservoir would be half full by summertime. He emphasized our chance of leasing a lot from the government and the possibility of building a clubhouse there. The opposition to this plan dropped in exact proportion to the sinking water level at Sloan’s Lake, which reached the zero level for sailing by end of July, 1954.
So, “Let’s give Carter a try!” became the slogan during the month of August. As soon as we were notified we could use the lake, we launched three boats on the Labor Day Weekend (Seeman, Bonnie and Koehler) and more boats followed on Sunday.
The planned first Labor Day Regatta could not be held until September 17/18, 1954 when nine boats participated. Frankly, we felt like pioneers, battling the dusty road after leaving #287, no accommodations whatsoever, no dock, no toilet, the water level only about 35’, plenty mud. However, the sailing was wonderful, we had the lake to ourselves, the farmers of the surrounding area became our friends (many of them had never even seen a sailboat before). Quite a few camped out, others stayed in one hotel, and on Sunday night we had dinner at the Wayside Inn. In spite of, or maybe because of the hardships, we had a wonderful time.
The first regular annual meeting was held in October 1954. 32 members paid $2.00 dues. The first trophies and the first Good Sport Cup were awarded. On December 28, we gathered around an enormously tall Christmas tree for a delivered chicken dinner, gift exchange, songs and films.
During the winter of 1954/55, the discussions naturally enough, centered around the necessary equipment; buoys, toilet, and maybe a fireplace. The members were assessed again and again as the dues were not sufficient for these expenses.
1955: A Crucial and Decisive Year
And so the first full season at Carter Lake started on Memorial Day 1955 with a small dock, a donated dinghy name our own “Little Liver Pill”[3] and a little later the toilet, nicknamed “the club house” where also the oars and other items could be stored. The following is recorded in the minute book:
“The start of the summer season was pretty ominous; everyone expressed the hope that it would not stay that way. The happenings were mostly due to the continuous heavy winds, but also some negligence on the part of the sailors.
The first weekend wrecked Jay Shelov’s boat; Piet Hondius’ turned over and lost some gear and the jib; Al Bonnie couldn’t launch his boat until late at night and then had a flat tire on top of it. The luckiest man that weekend was Otto Koehler who drove over and dislodged an enormous rock with do damage done to his new car. On the second weekend with 7 boats in, 5 drifted away, 3 of those turned over, and the mast on Bruce King’s boat was broken. By the Memorial Day weekend, however, everything was shipshape and 12 campers camped out.”
But what about the promised club site? The Recreation Dept. of Larimer County had allotted us ground on the east side of the road leading to the shaft house, with rights extending clear to the shore line. Later, the U.S. Forest Service objected to this as every citizen has the right to every foot of the shore. In the end, we obtained the 2 acres we have now on the west side of the road with our promise to build a clubhouse later.
In the annals of this club, the story of the sunken Little Liver Pill dinghy will be well remembered, also the friendly kidding Otto Koehler had to endure for a long time. Noted in the minute book:
“How Otto did it exactly is still a mystery, but he did it. He was late for a race; his boat, under sail, got somehow entangled with the lines of the dinghy, the buoy, and whatever else there was. It was windy, he was in a hurry; but while he and his female crew was working feverishly to get free, the wind decided that that was enough of the foolishness. So the boat sailed across the lake with the dinghy, buoy and about 250 pounds of weight. We, on shore, watched the struggle with interest until suddenly “Six Chips” (Otto’s boat) sailed free of all ballast. But where could that ballast be? You guessed it—at the bottom of the lake. The dinghy had filled with water, the weight had snapped the line, and everything went under. Otto tried to resurrect it the next weekend with the help of a motorboat, but it preferred the deep, deep water. It was inconvenient without our Little Liver Pill; some had to take to swimming and here and there I heard slight cussing. However, never give up hope. Three weeks later our dinghy was lying on the beach, a little bit weathered and slightly peeled, but still serviceable. Good old “Carters Little Liver Pill”, may it live forever.”
But the year 1955 was not yet over. Some of the top men of the Big Thompson Project (of which Carter Lake is a part) decided that some valves had to be checked or repaired. In order to do this, the water was let out to 5’ below dead water level (the latter is below the out or inlet). This time we were really way down, below the large inlet cement structure. We used to anchor our boats on it and had a grand time hollering into the cavern mouth of the tunnel.
1955 had been a crucial and decisive year for us. Despite all happenings, the members finally decided to stay at Carter. We had passed all trials successively, in fact, they had made us stronger than before. We knew now what we wanted. Strangely enough, the following years passed without any great incidents but with increased planning.
1956: The Denver Sailing Club, Inc.
The winter discussions centered around finding a club burgee (thanks to Polly Beam we found it), the purchase of a 15’ aluminum dinghy, the charging of an appropriate initiation fee for new members. In the end the members did break down and purchased two additional perpetual trophies. 1956 saw us holding an open meeting with displays, talks and films to interest new members. The dock was enlarged, for the first time application blanks for new members were used and the new revised by-laws were adapted. On the 25th of July, at 3:15 p.m. we were duly incorporated with the State of Colorado.
1957-58: First lease with Larimer County and Plans for the Clubhouse
In the year 1957, it was decided that the Commodore shall appoint the committee chairmen instead of then being elected at the annual meeting. We joined the N. A. Y. R. U.[4] and accepted the lease from Larimer County for the club site.[5] A letter from J.M. Howard dated 8-17-57 provided a hand-written drawing of the club site and confirmation of the lease.
Caption: J. Morris Howell, Larimer County Recreational Board representative, wrote this to the DSC: I am enclosing a rough drawing of your club site: it starts at 70 ft north of the shaft house and extends 300 ft in a northerly direction. It is 300 ft deep at south end and then north 170 ft then bends around to point 370 ft north of shaft house. It contains approx.. 1.5 acres. There should be stakes for you to follow unless someone has moved them.
Helmut Young drew up the plans for the club house. These were accepted, except for the size and other minor details. This, of course, raised the estimate of the cost. We were grateful for the paving of the road up to the first dam. We opened a bank account, held a second open meeting and displayed two boats at the First Colorado Sports and Travel Show.
Five-year memberships were offered to finance the grading of the club site plus the cost of the culverts. Finally, we went over to the stinkpots and bought an old motor for our dinghy to facilitate the placing of the racing markers and to speed up the delivery of the late sailors to their respective boats.
1959: The Building Fund
Activities and plans increased as we continued to grow. The year 1959 saw the following:
Change of by-laws.
Dues raised to $12.00 for single and $15.00 for family (without one protest).
Collecting money for just about everything: meetings, refreshments, dinners, etc. for the benefit of the building fund.
Issuance of $25 interest bearing bonds. All assets of the club reserved as first lien for the security of those bonds., and repayment after two years of issuance to 20% of
subscribers, the names to be drawn by lot.
Start of ordering Christmas Cards through Emmy Koehler for the building fund and later for the redeeming of the bonds.
Pro-rationing of dues for new members after June 1.
Establishing associate membership for former members.
First John Biddle Lecture with profits to us.
Second display at Boat and Travel Show.
First Invitational Regatta on July 4/5.
Foundation of clubhouse poured, but due to too much wet weather not much else was accomplished.
Another incident from the record book reads as follows:
Gusty winds seem again to prevail this summer. However, the crown and glory of all winds we experienced was on Jun 26, a Saturday, when the wnd, without let up, roared for close to 15 hours at a strength of at least 50 mi. Actually, there were often two winds from two different direction, which naturally, played havoc with the boats. Quite a few were turned over by one wind and righted again by the other. By Sunday morning all boats, except the keel boats, were over or on shore or had drifted away. We had many casualties; and if there ever was a working party it was on the following day. By late afternoon, everything was as much in order as it could be.
1960: Adolph Coors Cup Invitational Regatta
What pleasure and what luxury to find the road over the dams paved with the promise to complete the job next year. The building was started and the shell completed, also insulation installed. The second John Biddle lecture netted us quite a sum and placed us first in sales among the local sailing groups. A Christmas party and a Surprise party in February, the latter with marvelous folk dancing, were held at Jefferson County Bank Bldg. Fire and hazard insurance for the clubhouse.
Second Invitational Regatta, known now as the Adolph Coors Cup Invitational Regatta, as the Coors Brewery Co. had donated a large trophy for this purpose.[6] Ed Kaiser of the Rocky Mtn. Sailing Association was the first winner.
Donation of another dinghy by a departing member, R. Long.
For the first time, a simple supper was provided at the Labor Day Regatta (at nominal cost).
Another great storm levelled 11 boats on August 11, but the keel boats or those carrying outriggers were not afflicted. It may not look nautical, but it provides a sound, unworried sleep during a storm.
Never forget!
And so the first seven year cycle with its tribulations and trials have come to an end. There is a great future in store for this club if all members will realize that it is One for All and All for One. Each one has to pay its share with money and work; then, and only then you will enjoy to the fullest the sailing with other like-minded friends.
For Otto and me, it has been a pleasure to work for the development of this club, but the material acquisition and growth in membership alone is not what counts.
Never forget that every one of you holds the future of this organization
in his hands—that cooperation and responsibility are the watch words
and that it is the spirit which makes the dreams come true.[7]
Otto and Emmy Koehler
October, 1960
Caption: This is the only picture of Otto and Emmy Koehler found in the history. They moved to southern California in the 1960’s and were honored with a Denver Sailing Club Life-Time Membership in 1965. A plaque honoring their contribution was placed in the clubhouse in 1997.
Sources:
Howell, J. Morris, (1957). Private written correspondence with R.D. McKeirnan, Denver Sailing Club regarding club site on Carter Lake.
Koehler, Emmy, (1960). The First Seven-Year Cycle of the Denver Sailing Club.
- Section headings were not in the original history from Emmy Koehler, but are added here to clarify organization. Emmy’s wording and punctuation are unedited and original. ↑
- This picture is displayed near the main park area at Sloan’s Lake, Denver, Colorado. Its source is the Denver Public Library Western History Collection. ↑
- A medicinal product called “Carter’s Little Liver Pill “was sold in the early 1900’s. ↑
- The North American Yacht Racing Union (NAYRU) was the original name of US Sailing. ↑
- This was a verbal lease until 1961 when Bill Keiser facilitated the first written lease. The lease was in development for several years as it had to be reviewed and approved by the National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Water Conservatory District and finally Larimer County Parks. ↑
- The Adolf Coors Cup stood 3 feet tall and was stolen from the clubhouse over the winter around 1969. Records in this time period are fragmented, but in 1968 the Invitational was called the Adolph Coors Cup. In 1970 it was renamed to the DSC Annual Invitational Regatta. No pictures of the Adolph Coors Cup have been found. ↑
- This quote from Otto and Emmy Koehler has become a slogan for the CLSC. It is posted on a plaque on the clubhouse north wall. ↑