Spud Cup caps sailing season

SANDPOINT — Now that Lake Pend Oreille has settled into a slate gray hue for winter, it feels like ages ago when it was a deep, jade green and sailboats speckled the waters with crescent billows of white.

The big race of the season for the Sandpoint Sailing Association is known as the Spud Cup, an event won this year by Fred Park and his crew of Tom Hukle, Gray Davis and Chris Coggan aboard Parks boat, the “Phantom.”

Celebrating its 15th year of competition on the north end of the big lake, the race draws sailors from all parts of the Northwest — Seattle, Portland, Montana and Canada alike.

The Spud Cup is held on Labor Day weekend and has developed the reputation of being as entertaining as it is challenging, according to Keith Sheckler, past-commodore of the association.

“We get some world-class sailors for this race,” he said, listing 2005 Spud Cup winner Keith Whittemore of Seattle as one of the better-known competitors. “After the trophy was presented, he came up to me and said, ‘This is the most fun I’ve ever had.’ That was quite a compliment coming from him.”

Which might be something of an understatement, since Whittemore has long been known as one of the top trophy winners in J-24 class races around the world. That makes the 2013 win all the sweeter for Park and his crew, who, like all previous trophy winners, found a special satisfaction in hoisting up the Spud Cup in the spirit of victory. Not because the trophy is anything special to look at. To the contrary, winners are enamored with it for its abject plainness.

“This is the most ugly trophy one could ever be proud to receive,” explained current Sandpoint Sailing Association commodore Barb Perusse.

The cup’s legacy began when an early association member found a potato-shaped ceramic serving dish at a yard sale and brought it back to the membership for consideration.

“He said, ‘Let’s use this as the trophy,’” Sheckler recalled. “Peter Mico and Spud’s Restaurant were the race sponsors at the time and we were all Idaho spuds, so it just became the Spud Cup.”

The race comes near the end of the association’s Memorial Day through late-September sailing season, but it is only the capstone of a busy four months of events. On every Thursday evening during that time, the group invites interested individuals and families to get out on the water in hopes of bringing new blood into the ranks of local sailors.

“It’s wide open and it’s inexpensive to join the group,” said Perusse. “Anybody can come out and do this.

“We want to get kids involved as the crew for the summer as a way to recruit young people,” she added.

The image of sailing evokes the kind of upscale cache that might crowd out the average person. Not so, said these past and present commodores, who mentioned that annual individual memberships are only $35, with family memberships costing $60 per year.

Making the sport even more affordable is the association’s “holder’s program,” which makes seven, club-owned teaching boats available to members at no cost.

The thing that gets most people to notice sailing seems to be the economy, according to Sheckler.

“It’s unfortunate that it takes that to make it happen, but when gas is high and the economy is down, interest in sailing peaks,” he said. “It’s understandable, though — I probably spend $3-$4 for gas in a whole year for my boat.”

Sheckler added that skiers often gravitate to the sport as a warm season compliment to their winter pursuits.

“Basically, both sports are just you, a piece of equipment and the forces of nature,” he said. “Another correlation is that they both have the ability to be peaceful and relaxing, but they also can be fast, challenging and exciting and put your heart in your throat.”

The Sandpoint Sailing Association was formed in 1997 when the Lake Pend Oreille Yacht Club moved to Bayview “and left the Sandpoint people by the wayside,” Sheckler said. Back then, the group had about 10 memberships.

“We now have well over 100 people in the club,” Perusse said. “But those meetings were kind of lonely in the beginning.”

One trigger for club growth has been the association’s focus on teaching sailing to anyone interested in learning the ropes. Although Sheckler previously offered lessons when he owned and operated the Windbag Marina at Sandpoint City Beach, the association now uses the combined experience of its membership to build on that outreach program.

“We have one group that sails on the ‘Stinger’ that calls themselves the Senior Stingers,” said Perusse. “There’s probably 250 years of sailing experience on that boat alone. We invite anyone to come down on a Thursday night during sailing season and get on a boat — you don’t have to be a member to go sailing with us.”

After each evening on the water, the members gather socially for a barbecue, where they meet interested newcomers and answer questions about the sport. But it’s the magnificent sight that comes from standing on shore and watching all those sails gliding across the water that best captures the imagination.

“If you think it looks good from the shore, you should see it from a boat,” Sheckler said.

“But I have to say, it’s more fun to see it from the front of a race than from the back,” Perusse added.

For more information on the Sandpoint Sailing Association, call (208) 290-2457 or visit them on line at: www.sandpointsailing.com