“What do I think of Lake Winnebago and Oshkosh for the permanent Racing home of the association? . . . we tried all other lakes . . . and finally came back to our first love, old Winnebago. We yachtsmen go away with very tender spots in our hearts for Oshkosh.”
Henry L. Herz, Chicago, 1903

Regattas

Lake Winnebago is a sailor’s delight. For over a century, the 137,000 acre lake has served as a sailing focal point for yachtsman from throughout the Midwest. The first formal race on the lake was held at Oshkosh in 1860. Ever since, sailors on Lake Winnebago have experienced the thrill of competition and the exhilaration of wind and water.

The sheer size of the lake is its primary asset. A good race depends on a properly laid out course, with each leg of the race course triangle long enough to allow boats to gather speed and maneuver for position. Lake Winnebago has steady winds, something often lacking on smaller bodies of water. These two factors make Lake Winnebago an ideal location for racing.

Given the natural blessings of the big lake, it is not hard to understand why Oshkosh became a favorite gathering place for sailors of the Inland Lakes Yachting Association (ILYA). During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, regattas brought together boats and crews from yacht clubs in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa to compete for coveted silver cups and the chance to be the top sailor. The museum’s collection holds many fine examples of these trophies, including the incredibly beautiful Northwestern Regatta Association Trophy (OPM #5512), on view in the Wetlands & Waterways exhibit. This trophy was commissioned by Edgar Sawyer in 1907 at a cost of $1,000, which is about $25,000 in today’s dollars. The trophy was designed by Albert Southwick of Tiffany Studios of New York.

Regattas were much more than just races — they were social and community events. Balls, picnics and elaborate parties coincided with the annual regatta. “Brilliant in the fullest sense of the word was the ball given Thursday evening in the clubhouse by the Oshkosh Yacht Club,” proclaimed an article in the Northwestern. “It was a great social event . . . The electric cars [street cars] continued to operate through the city until 12 o’clock. . . .” For working class residents, regattas were a time to pack a picnic lunch and sit on the shore to observe the festivities. In today’s language, we might call that “people watching.”

In the 19th and early 20th centuries sailing was for the wealthy, but everyone enjoyed the festivities at some level. For the non-sailing public, warm summer afternoons were perfect for watching the boats compete from the shore in North [Menominee] Park. For others, children especially, it was exciting to watch as the long wooden boats were unloaded from their special railroad flatcars and brought down to the lake. It was a thrilling sight to watch as yards and yards of brilliant white canvas were raised on a towering mast of varnished wood. Many people just enjoyed the beauty of the sleek boats and their white sails set against a summer sky.

THE BOATS

“Here is the home of the fastest small yacht, the racing scow . . .”
Winfield M. Thompson, Collier’s Outdoor America

Until the late 1890s, racing sailboats on Lake Winnebago were designed and built like all sailboats, using a V- or U-shaped hull. These traditional wooden boats were stable but not very fast, and, they handled poorly. But during the late 1890s, sailors on Lake Winnebago began experimenting with a unique design that used an exceptionally shallow hull. Its slang name was “floating sidewalk” or “skimming dish,” but its real name was “scow.”

James H. Jones of Oshkosh is the person credited for creating the new hull design. Jones’ new boat was christened Argo and his scow design revolutionized competitive sailing. The hull was 35.5 feet long and 7.5 feet wide and only drew 5.5 inches of water.  Argo carried an incredible 494 yards of sail and she skimmed over the water like a dream.  As soon as she was launched, Argo made all other boats obsolete.  To read more about Argo, click here.

Stability in the new scow design was achieved by using a centerboard with a draft of six feet. In the next few years, speed records were set by the speedy, quick handling scows. The scow Glyndwr covered a nautical mile in 4 minutes and 11 seconds, or 14.5 knots — an unheard of speed.

Oshkosh quickly became the center of boat building operations in Wisconsin. Oshkosh’s many lumber mills provided the raw materials and Scandinavian and German immigrants provided the skilled labor required to build such delicate boats. The shop of Jones and LaBorde along the Fox River was the busiest, for they made scows in several different classes. The Northwestern reported in 1902, “So busy will the builders be that they have considerably enlarged their shop at the river front.” The boats built by Jones and LaBorde proved fast and exceptionally well made. In 1901 their scow Milwaukee proved itself a winner, as did the Tecumseh the following year. A new scow cost about $600 in 1901, or about $15,000 in today’s dollars.

Sailing continues to be enjoyed today, but boats are now made from fiberglass and other man-made materials and the sails are no longer made from canvas. However, modern boats still utilize the basic scow design made famous by Oshkosh boat builders over a century ago.

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