History of Cowan Lake Sailing Association
The first sailboat on Cowan Lake was a sailing canoe in 1950 as soon as the lake was full, helmed by Dick Shepherd.
Three different groups were involved in the founding of CLSA, the Cincinnati Sailing Club, and the University of Cincinnati Sailing Club, and the Cincinnati Corinthian Yacht Club, which later became the “Afterguard.”
The Cincinnati Sailing Club sailed on the Ohio River in the 1940’s and early 1950’s. At one time there were 15 members and 12 Lightning sailboats at Henry’s Harbor, just east of Coney Island amusement park. An early photograph includes at least 5 who became founding members of CLSA, including Truman Young whose sons Jim and Bill still sail at Cowan Regatta’s
In 1948 Jack Siekmann fostered the idea of a University of Cincinnati Sailing Club and it was founded in 1949. Their first boat was a Dyer Dhow which was sailed out of Henry’s Harbor on the Ohio River
In 1951 there were organizational meetings to form a Cincinnati Chapter of the Afterguard, a national organization of Collegiate sailing alumni. Some were Charter Members of the University of Cincinnati Sailing Club, however, many were not and were simply interested in the sport so they abandoned the idea of the Afterguard and formed the Cincinnati Corinthian Yacht Club. Oliver “Bart” Bardes was elected Commodore and six members built Penguin Dinghys from kits, using the shop at his Bardes Foundry. In March 1951, Dick Shepherd wrote the Division of Parks requesting docking for sailboats with the plan to build a sailing club house on adjoining land. Bart Bardes planned to build cottages around the shore, both for himself and for sale. This was abandoned when Cowan became a Park with no private homes on the shore. Instead many of the members of the Corinthian Yacht Club were involved in founding Cowan Lake Sailing Association in 1954 and the Cincinnati Corinthian Yacht Club was dissolved. My wife Connie has known Priscilla, widow of Bart, for many years and verified the above. Priscilla sailed with Bart and said she was so glad when he changed from the little Penguin Dinghy to a Lightning so she could enjoy sailing. Bill and Jim Young provided information about the Cincinnati Sailing Club including a picture of the members.
The first organized racing of sailboats on Cowan Lake was on the 4th of July 1953. In 1954, Cowan Lake Sailing Association was organized with 36 boat owning members and a race schedule was established.
In 1954, the Afterguard was organized as a member of the Inter-Collegiate Yacht Racing Association of North America. The April 1955 minutes call for volunteers to crew for racing at the Cowan Lake Sailing Association. The Afterguard also “manned the crash boat,” provided sailing and racing instruction to the new Cowan Lake Sailing Association, race committee and protest hearings. The second Commodore of the Afterguard was Mark Schoenberger who later was Commodore of CLSA. Mark led the Afterguard to purchase Snipe 579 built in 1935 for $40 and it was named SHOBRIETY. In the August 1956 minutes of the Afterguard it was mentioned that the boat was improving as it took two weeks to sink. The Afterguard organized intercollegiate racing at Cowan between UC and Xavier sailing clubs. Beginning in 1955 there was an annual regatta between the Afterguard, Cowan Lake Sailing Association, The University of Cincinnati and Xavier Sailing Clubs. Even though the Afterguard had been part of the founding of CLSA and a member for 10 years, there was a squabble over the fee to CLSA for membership of a multiple member group. They considered moving to the Cowan Lake State Park moorings but the Afterguard moved back to the river in 1965.
The club insignia and burgee with a ‘C’ in the form of jib, and the ‘L’ to form a mast and boom on a dark blue background was drawn by Dr. John Perkins and adopted in 1955
The triangular docks, originally called delta docks, were designed by Al Lloyd in 1955. They were intended to use a steel 2 inch pipe for support but the Park asked for all wood. There were no lifts and the boats were tied to a single stern mooring on a buoy. The drawing for the required mooring showed two bowlines to the shore separated by about 3 feet at the shore end. For easy boarding, the mooring line away from the dock was set free and the boat could then be pulled over to the delta dock.