Header Photo: Flying Scots at Deep Creek Lake

I took a family mini-vacation to Deep Creek Lake this summer. No sailing, some hiking, and we rented a motorboat and joined everyone else buzzing around the lake. Back in the 1950's, Sandy Douglas relocated his boat-building concern from the shores of Ohio to this long skinny lake in Western Maryland. I have no idea what prompted him to do it, though, back then, the lake was more pristine and woodsy compared to today, with the hordes of Baltimore and Washington, DC urbanites unwinding in the condos and pontoon boats and jetskis.

Deep Creek Lake is the birthplace of the Flying Scot class, one of the truly national small sailboat classes in the U.S. Nineteen feet long with flat stable sections and somewhat tubby look, the Flying Scot continues to be built in Sandy Douglas's factory in Oakland Maryland. This was a photo I took of the Flying Scot anchorage at the Yacht Club on the southern end of Deep Creek Lake.