Despite the popular perception, a yacht club isn’t just for the super-wealthy to lounge around on the deck of a large boat.
Rob Fowler of the Privateer Yacht Club says that impression isn’t exactly accurate.
Almost every weekend, members of the club gather on Lake Chickamauga to race various styles of sailing boats and learn more about wind-powered boating.
“It’s like any competitive sport,” he said. “It’s a challenge against your competitors and a challenge against the course and the conditions.”
Mr. Fowler, who joined the club as a teenager in 1972, said his group is working to overcome the image that sailing is only for the wealthy and show it is an exciting sport that can be taken up by pretty much anyone.
“We’ve toyed with changing the name to Privateer Sailing Club because of the stigma of ‘yachting,’ ” Mr. Fowler said. “People of all walks of life and all income brackets do it, and it doesn’t take a lot of income to get involved.”
Mr. Fowler says that anyone interested in taking up sailing or just learning more about the sport should come to the Hixson club to learn more about the sport and perhaps take a ride as a passenger on another club member’s boat.
Once you try sailing, Mr. Fowler said, the attraction will become evident.
“It’s just a lot of fun to do,” he said. “You don’t have to go buy gas to sail around the lake. There’s nothing better than going out and letting the wind move you around.”