The History of
Cherokee Lake Sailing Club...
HISTORY
The first organized invitational race
on Cherokee Lake was held in July of 1976. Twelve boats participated with
Tom Kiser and his crew Charles Armstrong taking first place in the Lightning
#74. Following the success of the first race this group of interested sailors
formed the Cherokee Lake Sailing Club. The constitution and bylaws were
drawn up in March 1977.
PURPOSE
The Cherokee Lake Sailing Club's Purpose
is to promote sailing in the lakeway are by education and exchange of information;
by conducting races and other group sailing events; and by promoting fellowship
among people interested in sailing.
MEMBERSHIP
There are 4 different memberships
available:
Single: gives membership privileges to a person 18 yrs of age
or older who is presently an owner or co-owner of a sailboat.
Family: gives membership privileges to all members of an active
members family.
Associate: gives an individual who is interested in sailing
, but is not an owner of a sailboat all rights and privileges of a member
except voting rights may be restricted.
Charter: same as regular, however, charter member purchases
a share in capital growth account and pays 1/2 the annual dues assessed
regular members.
Joining mid year:
For those interested in joining the club after Sept 1st of the year, there is a reduction of dues.
APPLICATION FORM
There is excellent competition if your desire is to race. We challenge each other with starting strategy as we run the line, followed by close tack crossings. We even setup overlaps and call for room at the marks. Down wind legs with spinnakers keeps us on our toes as try to blanket the boats in front of us. The America's Cup this isn't but if you desire the competition it is. If you just want to follow us around the course you can. It is a great way to learn a few of the rules and hopefully you will be able to avoid the Protest Committee. It is preferred that if you've committed a protestable mistake, just do your 720 to exonerate yourself and keep on sailing.
It is difficult at times to perform the basic maintenance on the boats. We do not have the luxury of a full service marina with travel lift. We find other ways of accomplishing our projects. I find that they go a lot easier with help from the other club members. We have a wide assortment of talent when it comes to experiences to share.
A note from the webmaster:
Our local sailing club, CLSC, here in East Tennessee
is a wide assortment of boats and the primary intent is to have fun.
There are activities for all but the primary actives surround racing.
There are many potluck dinners after racing to allow fellowship and less
protested barging the food line and swapping tall tales. One of the
most coveted events is the Chief Randal Turner's evening barbecue cookout.
This event only comes after the Commodore's Cup or Schrader Cup on Saturday
night.
We have many
"social events"
throughout the year. Potluck dinners and the swaping of recepies, overnighters up the lake to German Creek, Panther Park Cove and the ocasional special theme parties.
We organized an extended overnighter to introduce adventuresome individuals to the upper end of the lake. I knew of several coves and hollers from my fishing days, but we don’t take the time to sail all the way there. The upper end of the lake has more navigational challenges, shallows, mud bars, rocks and islands. We provisioned well for the extended cruise being able to prepare meals: fresh veggie shish kabobs, ribeye steaks, with sautéed shrimp, sautéed asparagus and mushrooms, BBQ’d potatoes, scrambled ham and cheese omelets with fresh baked buttermilk biscuits, southwestern hash browns…. Did I mention the grog?........
My favorite race is the
CLSC
Long distance Wyss Race
Long distance Wyss Race. The lake was formed by the TVA by the
installation of a dam on the holston river just north of Jefferson
City. This created a lake about 1.7 miles wide to the north and about 25
miles long to the bridge at 25E. It is possible to travel under the bridge
during the winter time. This is the annual low tide where the lake is about
40 ft lower than the summer. In the summer we have cruised to the Wilson's for supper. Easily reached by car and just a 3 1/2 hr cruise down the lake. Not a navigational issue if you stay in the main channel and restrain yourself from taking short cuts through hard water.
Cherokee lake is large enough
to do a little cruising on. There are lots of coves and islands to
overnight in or on. A common tradition for some of the locals is to setup
camp on an island for the long weekends. I've included a report of an over-nighter
to German
Creek about a 16 mile one way trip. It has it's challenges when it comes
to avoiding shallow spots, especially during our annual low tide season
( 40 ft tide).
We also have had many late fall overnighters this year. The weather has been mild enough for several boats to cruise up to Panther Cove for a brisk overnighter. The first
"FANTASTIC FALL FREEZE FESTIVAL OVERNIGHTER" was a blast to be followed this Friday Nov 4th for another one. Take advantage of the good weather before the winterizing activities!!
Enjoy the cool evenings with a little fire on shore. We were able to roast food over a roaring fire and enjoy an excellent evening ashore in Persimmon Cove. Only catch was a quick deck washing required to remove the muddy footprints that we discovered in the AM. Being on an Island it was only fitting to serve Island Grog.
It was a shame that Ken could only build a wimpy little fire that only lasted to the wee hrs of the AM. In all seriousness it was a great time, great fire(started with only one match err expired flare), great friends and really tooooo bad that others could not make the trip.
They have been at it again. When the first frost has fallen they round up a few brave sailors to venture up the lake for the
"Fantastic Fall Freeze Friendly Frivolity Feast."
This outing has lead to a few questions that were not found in most manuals. How much scope should be let out when the anchor is dropped over the crest of a hill? How large of a anchor works best?
For those sitting in the warm comforts of home, January has produced several days worth taking advantage of. Cool, yes, but a beautiful day to have the whole lake to yourselves.
The summer has had a few fantastic opportunities to get and overnight. Mariah and Silver Swan were able to get out for a cruise to the upper reaches of the lake only thwarted by the bridge at 25E. We made a 3 dayer of it, with great eats for every meal. The hi temps of the day stimulated excessive ice melting and afternoon dips in the lake. We were fortunate to have may weather warnings from the land stations (Dee and Anne) to warn us of the severe weather in the area. The only weather that we experienced was a few rain drops followed by a great sunset. The lake temp is good for swimming and scrubbing the waterline. I checked out the dock at German Creek only to find out that they have extended the dock north to within 20 ft of the bridge. You would think that that would be enough to get around, but there is the hi-voltage line that sticks out from the bridge by 10ft.
The fall racing venue has had some of the best weather to date. 5 to 12 knots with light clouds and bright blue skies. We have had great turnout for the races and the best hospitality for the cookouts at Don and De’s lake house. An advantage of their hospitality is their water taxi service for the cookouts and if you overnight in their cove, you just might get an invite to breakfast.
Committee boat Vic decided that the weather was not conducive for racing due to the possibility of breaking equipment. However we decided to sail and went out when the remnants of IKE blew through, 19 to 35+ knots of heavy air. A great day to get out the little storm jib and iron the wrinkles out of it with a reef in the main. The lake was kicked up with white caps and chop to hobby horse the boat and throw spray all the way back to the cockpit. It was blue water sailing in our back yard. Ken had his legs out on the side and a grin from ear to ear. With 6+ knots of hull speed, we practiced heavy air tacking as we approached each shore. If you want to see how well everything is stowed, this was a good day to drag the rails in the water and pound to weather.
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