The history of the Wawasee Yacht Club is told with a healthy dose of humor and nostalgia, reflecting both its competitive spirit and the close-knit community that has defined it over the years.

Founding and Revival
A group of young men from Fort Wayne, after sharing skiing adventures and bonding over their love of sailing, decided to revive the club. They set up headquarters on the front porch of Bishop’s Boat House, and received significant support from Eli Lilly—a longtime sailor and friend of Bishop—who saw this revival as a nod to the original club.

In response to the club’s rapid growth and the practical need for better facilities, members rallied together in 1938 to purchase the clubhouse on the calmer west side of the lake.

Early Racing and Class Transitions
Racing was the heart of the club from the start. The club was initially built around the Snipe class, a popular and easily home-built design that even hosted the Snipe National Championship in 1938. In the early 1940s, despite challenges brought on by wartime shortages, the National One-Design class also found a foothold at WYC.

By the late 1940s, many sailors shifted to the Lightning class. When the Snipe class faded away by the mid-1950s, the club reverted to focusing solely on Lightnings—a change that marked a new chapter in its racing legacy.

Merging with Wawasee Boating Association

For decades, the clubhouse remained largely unchanged until a later merger with the Wawasee Boating Association in the mid-1990s brought about further evolution. This brought the E-Scow Class to WYC and the need for renovations to expand the Yacht Club Facility.