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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Wind disciples


Evening sailboat races are scheduled on some weekdays at Lake Coeur d'Alene. 
 (File/ / The Spokesman-Review)
Rich Landers Outdoors editor

Soaring fuel prices have made 2005 one of the best years to have a sailboat since the harnessing of steam power.

Yet with all the development booming around Lake Coeur d’Alene, the tidy Panhandle Yacht Club is the lone sailboat-only facility on the lake.

Tucked into the northeastern corner between Squaw Bay Resort and Arrow Point, the PYC is a North Idaho twist to sailing clubs that have roots in pomp and high society.

“We have all types of people here, but we don’t wear blue blazers and whites,” said Rich Krogh, club commodore. “We have great members and families who come in as work parties a few times a year to fix things up and keep expenses low so guys like me can be here and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.”

All of the club marina’s 112 slips are privately owned, but there’s always some turnover and many are for lease, he said.

Some of the original members, a few of whom mortgaged their homes to found the club in 1978, are beginning to pass away, he said.

“We’ve built a small memorial garden where we honor them and other members,” said Bill Trout, club treasurer. “We owe them a debt of gratitude.”

At a recent open house, and with another planned for July 10 from noon to 5 p.m., Trout, a retired Air Force pilot who lives near Medical Lake, is eager to show visitors the facility. From the grassy secluded parking area, you walk past the year-round residence of the harbormaster and modern shower and laundry facilities, all with minimal disturbance to the natural setting.

Down the path is a huge covered deck with freezers, barbecues and other amenities club members routinely enjoy casually or for club functions such as the annual Father’s Day barbecue.

At the water, there’s a small sandy swimming beach, a haul-out for boat maintenance, a mast crane service that’s offered no other place on the lake and facilities for pumping holding tanks.

But it’s the marina full of boats that makes Trout beam, especially as you approach his 30-foot Olson 911, a boat prized for speed and comfort.

“It’s our cabin on the lake,” he said, stepping down from the deck into quarters filled with music from the Bose 5000 sound system complete with subwoofer.

“Getting the boat was an accident, actually. I already had a smaller boat and wanted to upgrade to a larger slip, but the owner wanted to sell the boat, too. It’s amazing what a few extra feet in length means in usable space inside a sailboat. My wife loves to camp out here now. We have a refrigerator, shower, natural gas stove, oven and all the conveniences of home.

“Now I just have to learn how to sail it fast,” he joked. “Just because you have a fancy gun doesn’t mean you can shoot it.”

Some club members join informal summer evening races, while most just sail for fun.

“Truth is,” Trout said, “Anytime there’s more than one sailboat headed down the lake, one of them is racing.”

“Coeur d’Alene is a great sailing lake,” said Krogh, countering criticism that the North Idaho gem is often short on steady winds. “Because of the practice we get with the shifty winds and light air, we can often out-sail guys who sail regularly at lakes with steady winds.”

“There’s no better way to learn how to sail than to enter some of the fun races,” Trout said. “You work to get everything out of whatever wind you have.”

The ratio of powerboats to sailboats on Lake Coeur d’Alene is about 25 to 1, Krogh estimated. “It works out fine,” said Trout. “We especially like to be out when the wind is up, and that’s when most powerboats take a break.”

“But no matter what the weather’s like, the club is a community for sail boaters — a refuge,” Krogh said, noting that many of the members are originally from states where the politics and expense of getting into a yacht club has been prohibitive.

Using a sailboat as a cabin on the lake has many advantages, Krogh said: “Cost is one of them. Our most recent member was able to buy a slip for $15,000. Our membership dues are $850 a year and our association fee is $350. In California you’d pay 10 times that much, that is, if you could find a spot at all. And it’s way cheaper than lakefront property.”

Said Trout, “The best part is that our ‘cabins’ are moveable. A lot of members take off a Friday and we don’t see them again until Sunday. Kootenai County does a great job with mooring facilities.

“On Memorial Day Weekend we had 13 boats for our trip to Harrison, where we tied up three boats deep at the docks for the night. You had to walk over the boats to get to shore. It was like a wonderful sailboat ghetto.”

Trout said he’d never been sailing until 10 years ago when he looked into the sport after he retired from the Air Force. “It’s an easy sport to get into, and the club makes it easier,” he said, noting that club members are generous with their expertise.

“We’re working-class people, with a lot of blue-collar people, and we all enjoy each other through sailing,” he said as he poked through an electrical kit he was taking down the dock to help a neighbor start her boat.

Krogh had already been sailing for years before he moved from San Diego to the Coeur d’Alene area 28 years ago.

“I got bit hard by the sailing bug in college,” he said. “Even if gas were free, I’d still be a sailor, if nothing else, just for the quiet.”