Sunday Regatta At Barton Boat Club
Sunday Regatta At Barton Boat Club
Barton Boat Club members cluster on the dock to rig their sailboats prior to an afternoon's sport. The Club has been in existence since 1936. At first composed almost exclusively of Barton Hills residents, it now is made up of about half townspeople and has become more and more a sailing club and less a social group. The club rents a boathouse (not shown) from the Barton Hills Improvement Association. The house provides winter storage space for the 18 boats owned by members.
The Barton Boat Club fleet gets under way, moving out toward the starting line of the race course that circles Barton Pond. No fair-weather sailors, these sportsmen pursue the thrills of scudding before the wind far into the winter until freezing weather forces them to quit for the year. A few of the hardier members have adopted ice-boating as a cold-weather substitute for sailing and thus have year-around sport.
A stiff northwest breeze whipping across Barton Pond made for anything but smooth sailing when this picture was taken, but Boat Club members Donald B. and William H. Trowe, of 931 Oakdale Rd., set their canvas and took off across the choppy waters.
When the Barton Boat Club decided last winter to adopt a uniform sailboat design, Malcolm Brown went to work in his basement shop at 1910 Hill St. to provide the new vessels. One hull (above right) is nearly complete, and Brown (left) is busy on another. The boats, called sloop-rigged Rhodes Bantams, are 14 feet long, wide of beam, and carry a large amount of sail for their size. They are considered fast and smooth sailing craft by enthusiasts, who believe they will prove ideal for the gusty, variable winds at Barton Pond. The Club hopes to have six in the water next season.
L. Clifford Dickason, of 1013 Rose Ave., rides the rail of his sailing craft as he comes about on Barton Pond, where Boat Club members congregate every Sunday from April through November to race their boats. A club grand championship is decided at the end of each season.