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Kimberly, James C. / The history of the Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club of Neenah, Wisconsin: an account of yacht racing on Lake Winnebago from 1859 to 1957
(1957)
Chapter 4: The Nodaway Yacht Club is organized, pp. 35-53
Page 35
A The W~daway %(acht Club 4 Is Organized 49N THE spring of 1893, William Z. Stuart of Neenah brought the catyawl Yosida to Lake Winnebago from Toledo, Ohio. It was a small, single-handed craft, with few pretensions, but as the inspiration for the Nodaway Yacht Club it was destined to make yachting history on the lake. Easily handled, seaworthy, and only about sixteen feet long, it completely captivated him and his friends as they sailed it that summer. Before the end of the season the group was seriously discussing the organization of a yacht club, a new kind of club in which every boat would be built to the same specifications, a suggestion first advanced by young Stuart. The aim of a yacht club, as the group saw it, was to promote sailing skill and good seamanship. In a race of identical yachts the best skipper would win; victory would not depend upon the size or build of a boat but upon seamanship. Competition for top honors would be keen, and good skippers would strive constantly to improve their skill. Members would pursue the sport for the sport's sake and the club would prosper. It was an exciting idea. William Z. Stuart, John A. Kimberly, Jr., James C. Kimberly, Edward P. Sherry, James H. Wright, and Lucius K. Henry, all in their twenties, joined together in the enterprise. Some of the group were novices in the sport and some were amateur sailors who had grown up around the lake. The older ones had followed, with more or less interest, Winnebago yacht racing. They knew by reputation the Minnie Graves, Albatross, Myra Belle, and Mer- maid and may even have witnessed the Marguerite's victory over the Minerva. They had also seen outbuilding force spiraling costs and inequalities on local racing, and to them the one sure remedy for the ailing sport was a fleet made up of identical boats. Though general classes for racing craft had been acknowledged 35
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