EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third of seven profiles we're running this week to highlight this year's Midland Sports Hall of Fame inductees. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the induction ceremony scheduled for this month has been postponed until September of 2022. However, the Town of Midland has declared September to be Sports Hall of Fame Month.
Today, we profile the Midland Bay Sailing Club, an inductee in the historic venues category.
Although founded in 1967 by a group of local sailing enthusiasts, the Midland Bay Sailing Club (MBSC) did not exist as a physical venue until 1974 when the land where it is now situated was leased to the club through the Midland Board of Parks Management.
Recognizing the value that a sailing club would bring to the community, the original lease was set at $1 per year. This also took into consideration the substantial investment MBSC members would need to make in order to meet the obligation of establishing a viable community-based facility.
Located at the west end of Midland Bay to the south of Bay Port Marina and on the northwest side of the channel next to Pete Pettersen Park, the original site was a patch of wild marshland. Before anything could be built on the property, the land had to be reclaimed.
The initial development was daunting.
The land was swampy and it was a challenge for the club to get its roughly 100 members to agree to contribute the capital necessary to begin development. Most of the members were local, but without the participation of non-resident members, funding and maintaining the building and property improvements, and ensuring future growth, would have been impossible. As it was, the club lost close to half of its membership in the face of the need for everyone to contribute to the capital needs.
After the original assessment of members, and some borrowing that was personally guaranteed by a group of members, the process of turning an uninhabitable expanse of wetland into a shoreside sailing facility began. By 1975, construction started on the breakwall, a clubhouse was erected and the development was well under way. Then, as now, the volunteer labour of members was critical.
One condition of the club’s lease was that improvements to the property would make possible a public launching ramp to be built by the town on the adjoining Pete Pettersen Park. The channel from the ramp to Midland Bay would be through the lagoon that the Club was dredging for docks, and the sailing club would maintain it. Construction of the lagoon and channel took several years and club records reflect that the town built the launching ramp around 1980.
The Midland Bay Sailing Club accommodates a range of sailing craft, from dinghies and small keelboats in the dry-sail area to larger keelboats in the slips and is also home to a first-class sailing school.
Membership, two-thirds of which is reserved for residents that live within a 32-kilometre radius, is enjoyed by those passionate about sailing, whether it be racing or cruising or both. Today, with more than 160 members, the MSBC takes its well-deserved place as a historical venue in the Midland Sports Hall of Fame.
