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| History of USLYC
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The Upper Saranac Lake Yacht Club was formed in 1899. It was duly registered with its burgee of choice with Lloyds Registry of International Yacht Clubs. The original burgee is shown below. It was one of the earliest North American Yacht Clubs thus registered. There has been an assortment of single class sailboats racing on the lake for over a century.
 During the 60s and 70s, the Yacht Club became more than just a boating club: lake residents mostly from the north end reincarnated the Yacht Club, leasing from the Bissell family a corner of the old Music Camp, “Deerwood,” which was the original site of the first Blagden Camp built in the early 1900s. The Yacht Club was created to run family oriented, community activities. The USYC, raised funds to build a simple club cabin that also housed a pair of counselors to staff a wide variety of activities. Younger sports oriented couples were hired over the years, sometimes from lake families, sometimes not. Each year parent committees were deeply involved in virtually every aspect of each week of activities. Sailing races were enthusiastic, and there were lots of ping-pong and arts & crafts activities organized. Hiking, water skiing, canoeing, and competitions of all kinds were also organized. Picnics and overnight camping trips by canoe and foot were frequent.
With the turning of generations and the pace of todays working world, this community hub died out in the late 70s, officially coming to a close in 1982. Sailing still held the registered Yacht Club together, however, as there are often weekend races. These have occurred mostly at the South end of the Lake.
In 2006, members of the Upper Saranac Lake Foundation spearheaded a movement to revitalize the Lake community in the face of the changing schedules of the 21st century. A series of open forums were held with a diverse range of Lake residents; this exchanging of ideas birthed the creation of the a wholly new Upper Saranac Lake Yacht Club: USLYC. Although somewhat of a falsity, as there has only ever been one Yacht Club on the Lake, this “2nd” Yacht Club has been constructed with the intention of providing a flexible, modern hub of community activities, much like the USYC of the 70s. Geared to reach ALL corners of the lake, the USLYC, as it is now called, is a virtual Yacht Club. By providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, events and schedules online, Lake residents are provided with a way to keep engaging in the Lake community. Hopefully, this forum will be able to bring together both ends of the Lake. The summer of 2007 will be the debut of the USLYC.
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