A brief history of the Detroit Model Yacht Club
By:Wick Smith
As the local boat builder and long time member of the Detroit Model Yacht Club, I have a unique view of the classes we sail. Over the years many classes have been sailed here with varying degrees of success. The DMYC was founded in 1979 on two classes, the Marblehead and the EC-12. These two classes sailed here for many years. In 1984 we held the EC-12 National Championship. It was a great regatta with 18 boats participating. In 1985 the club was introduced to the One Meter. Within two years, more O-M's were built and sailing then the other two classes combined. O-M's were easy to build and hit a price point that people were willing to pay. Their popularity continued strong and in 1987 the DMYC held the O-M Nationals. The One Meter was the introductory boat for most new members at that time. It was easier to transport then the Marblehead or the EC-12 and less expensive.
The underlying problem with increasing the membership in those years was the ability of the club to build new boats for people that either did not have the ability or the desire to build one for themselves. Most of the time we needed to find a used boat to fit their needs. Another problem, and a bigger one, were those new members that thought they could build their own boat and could not. These new members got frustrated fast and would soon drop out of the club. The people who purchased used boats put a strain on the few members that were willing to build boats every year. All this added up to a bottleneck in increasing the membership. In the first 12 years of this organization we were only able to keep up with attrition.
They say change is good. I say correct change is good. The club as a whole had more changes in the 90's then ever before. It also had good people running the club. We recognized the need for an introductory boat for new members. A kit that required little or no input from the membership was needed.
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