A Rich History
The Neenah Yacht Club was organized in 1864 and merged with the Nodaway Yacht Club in 1905 to become the Neenah Nodaway Yacht Club (NNYC). Like many early yacht clubs in the United States, no formal sailing education was offered.  Fathers learned to sail and taught their brothers and sons, etc.  The Fox Valley Sailing School (FVSS)—an entity that is entirely independent of the Neenah Nodaway Yacht Club—was organized in 1958. So for nearly a century, no official sailing education was offered; or nearly so.

In 1926, the Neenah-Nodaway Junior program was started when the club acquired three dinghies. These boats were to be used for boys who had no boats of their own. As is typical of sailing schools, racing became an instrument for additional instruction and improvement. The boys recruited for this program came from what was then known as the Boys' Brigade.

Can you answer this question:

• How many other yacht clubs in the U.S. are actually older than NNYC?
  

The answer to this question and many more are answered in James C. Kimberly's book The History of the The Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club of Neenah, Wisconsin: An Account of Yacht Racing on Lake Winnebago from 1859 to 1957, which was published in 1957.  No, this book is not available on Amazon.com but the Fox Valley Sailing School would be happy to help you acquire a copy for yourself.  Just send us an email with your contact info.

The Fox Valley Sailing School owes its existence to a few generous sailors and members of NNYC in the 1950s who saw the need for organized sailing instruction in our community.  This was not too long after the end of World War II, when the Fox Valley saw an increased interest in junior sailing and racing. 

Called by various names through the years, such as "Neenah Nodaway Sailing School", for example, the sailing school was created and nurtured by John Galloway beginning in 1958. The Breakfast Optimists Club of Neenah—of which John was a founding member—was responsible for making the initial donation of boats, leading to the creation of our own Opti fleet.

The sailing school became better organized and served as a stimulus for junior sailing during the 1970s.  Karrie Galloway served as sailing master during the development of the broadened program in 1970 and 1971.  She was followed by Janet Apple in 1972 and 1973 and Adrienne Dick in subsequent years.  FVSS began to include adult instruction as well.  In 1979, the school was incorporated as Fox Valley Sailing School as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

During the 1970s, pre-(sailing)season classroom sessions were conducted at the Neenah YMCA by Bud Dick, Gus Larson, Joel Ungrodt, Dieter Kutscha and Owen Felton.  Occasionally, guest speakers such as Buddy Melges, Peter Barrett and Bruce Goldsmith were brought in.  The school continued to grow, reaching an enrollment of over 120 by 1980 and maintaining approximately that level through 1984.  The school eventually developed its own fleet of X-boats as a result of donations by NNYC members.

Today
Over the years, sailing school classes have been held in various locations. One popular place has been Neenah Harbor at Riverside Park. Our adult sailing classes continue to be held there.

The Kids' and Teen Program eventually moved to Doty Park, just across the harbor from Riverside Park, and stayed there for many years.  In 2003, the sailing school board experimented with holding the youth classes at Rec Park since that's where Thursday Night Youth Racing was being held (and still is).  Rec Park in Neenah is now the permanent home for our Kids' and Teen Program.

FVSS now offers four 2-week camps for Kids' & Teens at the basic and advanced sailing levels, and three challenge levels of sailing instruction for adults.  We are becoming very good at matching the offerings of the sailing school with the needs and desires of the community.

Challenges
As the years go by, we find that our greatest challenges are consistently:

• Finding volunteers to help run our programs
• Raising the capital to stay ahead of boat and property replacement and/or maintenance needs