About CSC

About The Columbia Sailing Club, located on Lake Murray, is organized as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of South Carolina, and is committed to providing educational and training programs to the community on all aspects of sail boating. Club activities include sailboat races, regattas, race management training, youth sail camps, boating safety, first aid and a host of other activities that promote the sport of sail boating. Lake Murray is a man-made lake of 78 square miles with 520 miles of shoreline, a length of 41 miles and an advertised width of 14 miles The lake is contained by a large earthen dam which was the largest in North America at the time it was built in the1920s. The Club's facilities include a well-protected marina, 4 launching ramps, a gin pole, and other sailing-related amenities. The marina, shown below, has 100 berths for sailboats from 22 to 33 feet in length. Land parking slips accommodate an additional 100 boats. Google Earth Satellite image taken October 2, 2010 during the Outback Regatta.	View Larger Map
The Beginning The first sailing club on Lake Murray was established in the 1930’s, but dissolved when the winds of war blew across the world. Its commodore in 1936 was George V. Sumner, who later became the founder of the Columbia Sailing Club. It was Sumner’s lake home, “Hickory Dock” which became the focal point for Lake Murray sailing in later years. Two doors away lived Robert H. Webster, another sailing enthusiast, and between the two the nucleus of CSC began to emerge. Other sailors, including Ben Knowlton, moored their sailboats in the Sumner/Webster cove. Knowlton, a New Englander, sailed year round in his Hampton. The founding of the Columbia Sailing Club occurred on the back porch of Martin Jones Sr.’s home at 630 Pickens Street on July 17, 1957. R. H. “Bob” Webster was elected chairman, and charter member.
George V. Sumner	R. H. "Bob" Webster

The First Regatta Charlie Craig offered his lake home as headquarters for the club’s first major regatta on Labor Day weekend. Twenty-five boats participated in what became a laborious drifter. For that reason, CSC’s annual regatta was shifted to May in hopes of more favorable breezes. Some 19 members paid dues of $5 per quarter. There were no initiation fees. Zan Heyward, Jr. was the chairman of the 1958 regatta and arranged with CSC member Alex Croswell to use his cottage and ramp for the event. While only four out of town sailors had participated in the 1957 races, several more turned up for the May regatta and word of CSC’s hospitality began to spread. The Croswell home, only two points up the lake from the present CSC site, stood duty again as regatta headquarters in May, 1959. The single ramp proved insufficient to meet the demands of the crowd. Skippers showed up from Savannah, Charleston and Augusta, but one day of rainy weather and red clay mud tracked on the Croswell carpet somewhat marred the weekend. However, media coverage was superb and the Columbia Record printed a two-page spread. Sailboat racing had arrived at Lake Murray.
The Property Bob Webster and his daughter, Sally, happened one day to sail by a piece of land near the dam that appeared to be an island. Bob inquired into the property at S C E & G and found that it did not exist on their maps. It had been intended as fill for the construction of the dam, but was left alone when workers ran into hefty boulders. Webster paid the power company one dollar for a lease of the land to CSC for the “erection of a temporary judging shelter for sailboat races.” It was on this tenuous lease that the club functioned until the spring of 1977. With great optimism—especially since the lease contained a provision through which S C E & G could call for its land back, in original condition, upon 30 day notice—CSC put in a crude road, cleared land and built a small clubhouse which was designed by member Reid Hearn and fabricated by a Savannah firm. It arrived on a flatbed truck. Each member was assessed $100 to help with costs and a bank loan was personally secured by the flag officers because the bank was uncertain about lending money to an entity called a “sailing club.” It was generally accepted that the old lease would one day have to be replaced with a more business-like arrangement, and in April, 1977 the big step was taken. CSC bought the land. Each member was assessed $100 and 20 life memberships were sold for $1,200 each. The remainder of the purchase price was financed.
	"Not long after I heard the news of the land deal from Webster, I was eager to see the site. He told me where it was and how to get to it. No road had been cut so my family and I slogged through the brush and over the borrow pits to examine what was to be the Columbia Sailing Club. My wife, Barbara, took the picture with our new Poloroid camera. One of us managed to get a fingerprint on the photo, which accounts for the strange look of a clump of brush to our left. Barbara stood down on the shoreline to get the shot. Webster struck the deal in the autumn of '58, if I recall correctly. These photos were probably taken in December '58 or January of '59." ~ John Wrisley 11 Feb. 2009
The Midlands Regatta The 1960 Midlands Regatta was held on our leased property in May and occurred in May every year, with the exception of 1962 and 1972, when they took place in August. We were the hosts of the South Atlantic Yacht Racing Association (SAYRA) Championships in those years. The Midlands Regatta is now conducted in the fall and includes the infamous Midlands Regatta Oyster Roast.

To be continued...