Story by Carol Pappas
Submitted photos
Nearly every weekend of the year, the waters below Birmingham Sailing Club seem to roil with activity from serious competitors in different classes, like Flying Scots and Thistles, to better their standings on a national point system accumulated over the entire year.
“Every race counts,” said David Reich. “A finish in every race counts. That’s the reason it’s more competitive.”
Birmingham Sailing Club members continue to make their names known in the standings. Sally Morris just finished second in the Dallas Flying Scots Women’s North American Championship.
It’s hard to imagine that the vast expanse of water – the widest opening on Logan Martin Lake at a mile – was once a skinny river surrounded by farmland and thick forest 60 years ago.
Sam Caldwell, a thistler from Birmingham, used to take his boat to Lake Guntersville. In 1962, when Alabama Power Company planned to dam up the Coosa River near Birmingham to harness energy for hydroelectric power, Caldwell had a plan of his own.
With an Alabama Power map in hand, he scoured woods, pastureland and hillsides until he found just the right spot. In 1962, he and fellow thistler, Herb Hagler, signed an option on land near where Logan Martin Dam would be built. By December of that year, the purchase was complete “thanks to the help of fifteen foolhardy souls willing to pay initiation fees to a sailing club with no water,” according to the club’s history. Few knew anything about sailing but bought into the vision.
David Reich’s father was among the charter members, and he helps carry on the vision and the legacy today. “Those are the deepest ramps on the lake,” he said, motioning toward the dock and slips. “They were poured before the lake was here.”
Today, 46 sailing events a year are held there on weekends. Membership stands at 150. It offers adult learn to sail classes, junior sailing and fleet racing in Flying Scot, Thistle and Keelboat.
There are Sunday afternoon races throughout the year and one-day regattas once a month during spring and summer months, as well as invitational regattas that bring in entries from all around the Southeast.
Its nine acres on a knoll overlooking the lake also features a clubhouse, fixed and floating docks, parking, paved launching ramps and a lake swimming area.
Planned is an expanded patio and cooking terrace with a clubhouse entrance, named for Reich’s father, Harry C. Reich.
The elder Reich was “charter member, past commodore, visionary, competitor and sportsman,” according to the architectural rendering description. The Harry C. Reich Memorial Project is aimed at improving the use and appearance of the BSC facility and “enhance the entire BSC membership and guest experience.”
It’s just one more vision on that storied horizon.
