Four canoes, one used Flying Scot, and a family still at it.

Dale and Carol Aho open for business with four Wenonah canoes, one used Flying Scot, and a rental office in a converted fish house. First-season revenue: $2,140. Carol keeps the ledger; Carol still has the ledger.

First two Club 420s arrive, bought at a Duluth youth-program auction. The teaching program begins with six students, two of whom are now members in their forties.

The original dock — built from tamarack Dale cut himself — goes in. Pieces of it survive in the current north dock, which members point out to guests with genuine reverence.

The July 4th blowdown storm flattens forty trees on the point but spares every boat. The cleanup becomes the first volunteer work weekend, now a thrice-yearly institution.

Youth Sailing Camp launches. The perpetual trophy — a mounted walleye named Gerald, donated by the Britt bait shop — is awarded at the first Gerald Cup regatta and has been fought over every summer since.

The first Capri 22, North Wind, arrives, and the keelboat program with it. Sunset cruises immediately become the most-booked item on the calendar and have never given the title back.

The Kivimäki family donates two Hobie 16s and a well-traveled MC Scow. Wednesday-night racing gets faster — by Sand Lake standards, which is to say the spray and trash talk both improve.

The rating ladder is formalized after two decades of Dale keeping it in his head. Members are grudgingly persuaded that a laminated card beats "Dale knows I'm good for it."

Matt Niemi — a student in the early summer sailing program — returns as Waterfront Director. The fleet reaches the size it will carry into the next chapter.

The south launch is rebuilt for beach catamarans and the office gets its first new phone system in twenty years. Carol keeps the paper message pad.