A Brief History
In 1974 at the Captain’s Quarters Race, Leonard Kik and Steve Cruce conceived the idea of forming an association of sailors who skippered cruising-type sailboats. The association’s sailing plan was to fill a need which was not being served by the other two existing local sailing clubs which catered primarily to racing interests.
In 1975 the idea of a cruising club was rekindled and a preliminary organizational meeting was held at The Prospector restaurant in Prospect, Kentucky. In attendance were Don Barker, Steve Cruce, Leonard Kik, Terry Kirkpatrick, Ron Offutt, and Pen Watts.
The first of several formal meetings was held in January of 1976 at Mario’s restaurant on Lexington Road in St. Matthews. The membership selected Cruising Club of Louisville to be the name of the sailing association. The first elected officers were:
- Steve Cruce: Commodore
- Ron Offutt:Vice-Commodore
- Martha Plamp:Secretary
- Pen Watts: Treasurer
- Milton Smith: Member-at-Large
Some of the other 1976 members were: Leonard Kik, John Plamp, Allan and Joan Ware, Don Barker, Callie Smith, and Charlie and Shirley Hamm.
The bylaws were written by Milton Smith and adopted in 1976 by the membership. There were 57 members listed in the 1976 roster and the largest vessel was 30 feet.
The Club’s burgee was designed by Past Commodore Leonard Kik. The burgee is designed using a “C” to appear as a flying or set spinnaker.
Additional activities and sea stories, etc., are incorporated in Don Barker’s article “CCL – The Early Days” in the Cruising Club of Louisville newsletter dated May 1984.
Over the years the club evolved to become both a cruising, racing and daysailing club. Recognizing this evolution, the club changed its name to Derby City Sailing Club in 2013 and the burgee was modified by flopping the design so that the “C” became “D” to reflect the new name.
