More History

MYC is interested in any information relevant to it's history .

If you have information and would like to share it please contact us.

Welcome to our web site  

We are located on Massabesic Lake in Auburn, NH, 03032, Rt 28 bypass

Massabesic Lake is the water supply for Manchester NH, and surrounding towns. It is still very much in its natural state, without many camps or homes on it. It is perfect for sailing.

We follow Manchester Water Works rules under the Clean Waters Act. env-ws 386:47. Posted Rules Link

There is no swimming or wading allowed. We can have motors on our boats if we choose. Some members choose not to. (cleaner running types preferred).

After browsing our web site, if you still have questions, please contact us. Or make arrangements for a visit to see our club and meet our members.

Commodore

Eric Feldborg

About Us
Massabesic Yacht Club has been in existence since 1938. It was founded to encourage and promote the sport of sailing and the art of seamanship.

We are located in the town of Auburn on Rt 28 Bypass about a half mile from the traffic circle.

Our club was founded in 1938 and incorporated May 20 1941 as the Massabesic Yacht Club of Manchester NH.

The club has a regular membership for those who are interested in day sailing, as well as a racing memberships. Associate memberships are also available.

MYC History

Founders

1938

Andrew Motowylak, Ed Babin

Russ Coggins, Stoddard Chase

Archived News Articles

Reprinted with permission from the UNION LEADER CORP. & New Hampshire Sunday News

The New Hampshire Sunday News
August 10, 1947
Massabesic Yachting Is A Family Affair

Mom, Dad, Kiddies Go Big For Sport; Babins Set Pattern

Sailing is a family sport. Ask Reg Babin. Back in '35, Reg and brother Eddie became interested in getting away from motors and seeing what they could do on wind power alone.

Eddie built a small boat himself, and then in the winter of '38-39, the two Babins with a few others who were interested set up a workshop and that winter turned out half a dozen sailboats. The boats were all of the Sun class, built from plans found in a mechanics' magazine.

That was the beginning, and from those winter sessions grew the Massabesic Yacht Club. Then there were only the original half dozen; now there are upwards of forty, not counting enthusiastic wives and children.

And there lies the family angle. Reg's wife, Sully, puts it this way; "Our only problem is baby-sitters. A wife either likes sailing, or she stays at home weekends. Reg taught me to sail, and I like it. Mike (now four years old) has already sailed with us--we put a life preserver on him. He even came in second in a race with his Dad once this summer. And beat his Mom in doing it. But Nancy is only a year and a half, and when it comes to racing she has to be left on shore. So, since no one has yet built a pen out at the lake, we have to find someone to stay with the children on Sunday afternoons."

Romantic Angle

Not a few of the club members met their wives through sailing, or made sailors of them in short order, and now the younger set is coming along and sailing with their parents.

Last year, Reg Babin was Commodore of the Massabesic Yacht Club, and this year he is a member of the race committee. An employee of the public service company, Reg's sailing is pretty much limited to weekends and evenings. Of course, that's during the summer months. But during the winter, the combination garage and workshop in the Babin backyard is always active.

The Sun class, though by far the major portion of the boats owned by members of the Massabesic Yacht Club, is not too widely popular in other sailing centers, and Reg, like some other members of the club, is planning another boat, one of a nationwide standard class.

He already has the plans for the new boat, a Lightning. Somewhat larger and considerably faster than the Sun, the Lightning plans are controlled by a national organization, and every boat built from the plans must conform exactly to the specifications before it can be sailed in races. Even trimmings are specified, so that in a race no one has an advantage from incorporating changes in his boat's design.

Skill Alone Counts

The net result is that class racing depends upon individual sailing skill--the man who builds his boat is on an equal footing with the man who buys one, and the fraternity of racing enthusiasts draws no distinctions.

For Reg Babin, though, half the fun of sailing is in building his boats. Since the day when his brother Eddie (no longer a member of the club) built the first Sun, incorporating a few modifications of the plans which eventually turned out to be essentially the same changes may by the Southern California group which has the largest fleet of Suns in the country, Reg has had his hand in a number of building jobs. And that first Sun is still sailing, despite being wrecked in the hurricane. It's still sailing, and still winning races.

Helps Others

But Reg Babin keeps no boat building secrets. When it comes to giving a lift to someone who is building his first boat, Babin, like all the rest of the club, is quick to offer his assistance. In a race, though, its no holds barred.

Grandson of a lighthouse tender at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Reg comes by his interest in sailing naturally; wife Sully dates her sailing experience from the time her husband first found the pleasure in skimming the lakes under wind power. Like so many of the club members, the West Side couple find their major relaxation in afternoons and evenings on Massabesic, when a light breeze, or a heavy breeze for that matter, fills the sails and carries them over the lake.

The New Hampshire Sunday News
August 31, 1947

Russ Coggins, a foreman with the telephone company at Manchester, comes by his interest in sailing naturally. His grandfather was a cook aboard a steamer sailing the Maine coast. A Native of Malden Mass, he is a graduate of the University of Maine, with a degree in electrical engineering.

In the winter if 1938 he built the "Nip". He, Reg Babin, Eddie Babin, and Stoddard Chase were the original four Sunray builders. That winter, starting in late January, they spent their spare moments working on four boats.

The cellar in which they built the boats was cold, and during the first part of those evenings they would light a wood stove and try to keep moving and keep warm. They remember that the room was always full of smoke until about the time they were ready to leave. Then the smoke would clear away and the room would reach a comfortable temperature.

Through that winter and spring, they worked on four boats, and finally, in July, the first of the fleet of Sunrays were launched on Massabesic. Coggins says that the boat cost him between $135 and $150, of which expense about $35 went for the sails. The boat is 15 feet long and five feet in the beam, and one of the major expense items in its construction was hundreds of brass screws. Metal fittings, a Stika spruce mast (Stika spruce is straight grain, free of knots, and very light) and sails were the main items, and sailors never count the time they spend working on their boats as expense. Their time belongs to them, and it's a labor of love. Russ Coggins has always liked boats. Like many another youngster, he was fascinated by boats. He built models but he never had sailed until the Nip was launched at Massabesic. Now, sailing is his major recreation.

Twice Commodore of the Yacht Club, Russ is known among club members for his clear interpretation of the rules of sailing. Not just a rule book sailor though, he has several times won trophies in the series races sponsored by the club. Mrs. Coggins, Peg, frequently crews for her husband in the races, and two of their three sons, Peter, 14 and David, 11 (Bruce is only five and still a little too young for racing) sail regularly. Russ says the initial cost of a sailboat is the main thing. Though a boat similar to his Nip would cost perhaps $250 or more to build today, sailboats will last, with good care, for twenty years or more, barring accident. Good care consists only of seeing that the boat is sanded and painted every year. Sometimes a little caulking is necessary too, but Coggins figures that upkeep of the boat costs him no more than $10 a year. And, of course, the time he spends working on it. Even under present conditions, it isn't necessary to spend more than a hundred dollars to build a sailboat. Three tiny "Moths" are being built this summer by club members for about that amount. They're small, but they are still real sailboats.

Commodores