Seawater - like printer's ink - gets in your veins, apparently. At least that's the impression you get if you go back a few years with some "oldtimers" of Stanford sailing.

When it became apparent last year that the Stanford Sailing Association, with 350 members, was one of the biggest student organizations around, we wanted to find out why. It appeared there might be a clue in what had happened to participants in earlier, smaller and more sporadic Stanford sailing ventures.

What we found out was that most of them are stil at it. It seems sailing is something you do all your life. At least it's a sport which doesn't end suddenly with a football knee. Furthermore, it's something you can do with your family, though some blue-water widows might argue that point.

The sport does have its rugged moments. Take that time in 1912 with the Siwash, a 47-foot sloop skippered by Howard Wright Sr., '15, broke the sailing record around Catalina Island. Wright and his Stanford crew did it in 12 hours, 14 minutes.

"We should have gone around in ten," Wright recalls, "but the boys got terribly seasick up by the west end of the Island."

When she wasn't racing and breaking records, Siwash did rushing duty for the Beta house, hauling frosh nuggets to such spots as Pelican Bay on Santa Cruz Island. Use of such methods of course was deplored by the Zetes who found that it interfered with their very successful pipeline from Los Angeles High.

It went so far, as the late Henry Pettingill '18, recalled, that the Betas even employed the steam yacht owned by a Beta father, Edward T. Doheny, for such a junket to Catalina. The Beta rushing practice apparently still existed into the '50s with Failing excursions aboard Walt Elliott's Escapade.

Wearing their red turtleneck jerseys with white S pierced by an Indian arrow, and sailing from San Miguel as far south as San Martin Island off Baja California, the Stanford crew of Siwash included such stalwarts as Hickey McClure, Chick Dawson, Morris Cadwalader, "Canary" Campbell, E. B. Hall, Tom Workman, Fred Johnson, Tillie Shafer, "Snitz" Snider, "Stew" Simpson, Don Ross, Sil Spalding, Sid Higgins and Ted and Dick Coleman.

Wright remembers sailing in a sloop with Morgan Adams and Bradner Lee, two Dekes, from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 46 hours, "pretty good time in those days." Adams, '10, owned Enchantress and also owned a schooner called Radio which he sailed to the South Seas.

An early Stanford skipper who sailed in the first Honolulu Race in 1906 was Eugene "Fritz" Overton, '03. His first boat was a sloop Katrina, followed by a ketch Spindrift and later a schooner Dwyn Wen which he, too, took to the South Seas.

Charles Nordhoff, author of "Mutiny on the Bounty" and Stanford class of '08, cruised California waters in those days in a sloop called Zerapico. Jim Gibson, '06, had a yawl known as Wave and Leroy Edwards, '04, sailed the Nixie. Paul '13 and Sterling '17 Jeffers did extensive racing cruising on Paul's sloop Wasp. Owen P. Churchill '20, was a D.U. who used Stanford men in his crew.

Among these men sailing was a lifetime interest for most. And it was an interest passed on to their sons, too. Siwash is still in the Wright family and both Howard Sr. and Howard Jr. have served as commodore of the Los Angeles Yacht Club. The late Walt Elliott won the Honolulu race in 1941and his son, Dan, was first to finish in 1963.

Blue-water ranks abound with old Stanford Reds. One of the top yachtsmen in the west was the senior Elliott, onetime sailing master on the Goodwill, who was commodore of the Los Angeles Yacht Club and the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, headed the Pacific Coast Yachting Association, and was honorary lifetime commodore of the Southern California Yachting Association.

Others at the Los Angeles Yacht Club helm have included Oliver Field, J. Robert White and Homer Mitchell.

First boat to finish in the 1947 Honolulu Race, the Chubasco, included six Stanford alumni in its crew: Bill Stewart, Ed Valentine, Howard Wright, Stan Natcher, Bill Stewart, Jr., and Charlie Gates.

The late Bill Valentine '31, both an aviator and yachtsman, was known for the thoroughness with which he went into each new interest. A companion recalls Valentine's first try at the Trans-Pacific race:

"He put together a crew new to the race, studied it out himself as to how he would sail the race, selected the gear and outfitted his 63-foot ketch himself.

"His characteristic thoroughness in planning and preparation-paid off in a class victory for Kawamee, considered quite a feat for a new skipper and crew, particularly since that 1955 race was the fastest ever sailed until the 1965 record crossing."

For a sport with all the appearance of free-wheeling freedom, racing requires this kind of organization.

"You need some strong backs, sure," says Dan Elliott '53, who broke the Trans-Pacific record to Tahiti which had stood since 1892, "but you need direction, too. In these long races you can't afford to make a mistake.

"You put 14 men in a 70-foot boat for three weeks and you have to give it some thought."

While Stanford students and alumni were putting to sea as individuals and some with Stanford or part-Stanford crews, the intercollegiate sailing picture at the university remained somewhat spotty for many years. In-fact it is obscure. A search of old Quads reveals little sailing data.

But in the mid-30s, intercollegiate racing actually made the scene. The first competition dates to a Stanford team headed by Donald Douglas Jr.which beat Cal in 1938.

When the competition lapsed the very next year, interested parties at Cal and Stanford became alarmed lest the sport perish altogether. Organization began under the direction of Robert M. Allan '42, whose Sabot is believed to be the first sailboat resident on Lake Lagunita (1938).

The Stanford Sailing Club was founded in 1939, forerunner of the present Stanford Sailing Association. That club included the sailing team of course.

But when the team sought to enter the national championships in 1940, it was turned down by the nautical nabobs of the Ivy League yacht clubs who ran the nationals. So Stanford formed its own Pacific Coast intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association with Cal, San Jose State and Menlo entering the first competition." Allan was elected first commodore and for 15 years served as graduate secretary.

Early action was on a "smelly lagoon" in the East Bay recalled by Carter Barber '44, who recounts a Stanford-Cal race in which several dinghies capsized and "the 'Roughs', with fewer casualties, claimed victory at the end."

"I learned of the impending event," says Barber, "from Jim Denebein, a tall freshman whom I met at the Palo Alto harbor while we were trying to cadge a sail from the local Sea Scouts.

"'Some Cal sailors have challenged us to a dinghy tournament,' he reported. 'They have their own frostbite boats, but we can rent some. All we need is money. Can you help out?'"

"My first solicitations were of members of a wild jazz band which held forth in the Encina basement. All kicked in. The take was $3.27.

"The figure sticks in my mind as do recollections of that sterling group: The cornetist with a crooked grin, who became editor of a national magazine -- Don Allan. The thin pianist with wavy hair who became a scientist electronics executive -- Emery Rogers. The clarinetist with the trombone - playing brother - the Waddell boys. And a drummer in a wheelchair -- John Lucas -- known as a jazz writer and a recording artist.

"Eventually the grand total of $23 was raised. In a decrepit Chevy lent to me by Bill Segerstrom in lieu of a cash donation, I drove up to the evil-smelling lagoon to reserve the dinghies for the Big Red Machine (sailing division).

"The day of the race was windy and chill, the competition was close, and coeds squealed. Just about every boat fouled some other at a mark, and tempers heated. Skipper swore, fists were formed and at least one mainsheet was knotted into a knout for flailing at another boat's crew.

"Our victory claim was unpopular and the tension wasn't fully resolved until we all joined for beer a certified mile down the street from Cal's main gates, where the Cal Commodore regaled us with salty jokes and we made solemn vows to hold further regattas."

Along with small-boat competition, Stanford and Cal also met in ocean racing on San Francisco Bay and here, too, the races could be close. In one match during the early 40s, Cal's 60-foot yawl gave Stanford's 60-foot ketch a 12-minute handicap -- and finished exactly 11 minutes ahead.

Despite the tensions of close competition sportsmanship prevailed. Chuck Kober '45, manager of the U. S. Olympic sailing team, recalls that Glenn Waterhouse, the noted skipper, loaned his PC to the Stanford team for a race against Cal.

"Waterhouse wouldn' t lend his boat without being on board himself," Kober recounts,"but being a professor at Cal at the time, he went to great pains to eliminate himself as a factor during the race.

"He squeezed himself into a terribly uncomfortable position at the foot of the mast, holding himself right on dead center throughout the race.

All through the crews of those years ran a strong Southern California element. Names like Bill Kroener, Dick Hahn, Al Simonds appear on the sailing rosters. A good portion of Stanford's intercollegiate action, then as now, took place during vacations at Newport. Among Stanford sailors to come out of that era are Bill Smith and Jim Nevill.

Unlike the present Association, which is teaching sailing and safety to scores of neophytes, the club in those days was made up largely of students who had done small-boat racing at home. And it could be pretty exclusive.

"To be on the sailing team it was better not to tell anybody about it, says Elliot "When we got up to 13 people we began to wonder who these guys were.

Genuine sailing craft were rare on Lake Lagunita. One of the first to be regularly stationed there was a Dyer dinghy owned by Betty Elliott in 1947.

For a sailor like Howard Wright Jr, who had his own boat at home, his Stanford sailing was done with a Snipe chartered at Palo Alto Harbor. He also kept an outrigger canoe with sailing rig on Lagunita.

The Palo Alto tides made timing critical for sailors like Clark King who had a Snipe at the yacht club there in spring quarter, 1953.

"You were taking a chance if you launched at the wrong time," says King.

"I remember once getting half way out, about a mile down the channel when I was suddenly faced with how to get back.

"Tacking and heeling slightly, I had every sensation of going forward but I was actually going backward. Finally I tied up to a channel marker and waited for the tide to start coming back in."

It was in the late 40s that Stanford boasted some of the world's top sailors. A mass meeting in Encina in 1946 had produced 100 interested persons as the post-war sports era opened at the university. Out of this group came a crack sailing team.

Malin Burnham, a Deke from San Diego, had just won the International Star Championship, youngest ever to do so.

Bob Davis '50, of Los Angeles, had just won the International Snipe Championship.

They were joined by Art Thompson and that team won the Christmas regatta intercollegiates in 1947 and again in 1948.

The competition was equally outstanding in those days. Cal had Lowell North, three-time World Star champion and Bill Ficker, also a world champion.

"They murdered us in one race on San Francisco Bay," says Davis, in fact two of the three Stanford boats tipped over, or were swamped, ending the racing for the day."

There followed for Stanford a two-time U.S. Snipe champion, Clark King and Dan Elliott, junior national Snipe champ, the Snipe being the world's largest one-design racing class with approximately 17,000 skippers. Mike Jager was a Stanford captain during that era.

Yachting summons up visions of a life of ease, but there is considerable hardship involved in a collegiate sailing operation.

"To get to the nationals," says Paul Merrill '55, "we used to go back and pick up cars for dealers. My most vivid memory of the 1951 championships was a rugged ride all the way from the University of Dayton to the coast in the jammed back seat of a Hudson Hornet.

The team challenged perennial sailing power MIT one year and in 1952 entered both the nationals and the Olympic trials.

"We found it touch competing against schools who devote full time to the sport," said Merrill, "Some of them sail every day."

The Indian helmsmen also found that they were inexperienced when the races turned out to be river sailing.

Nucleus of that early '50s team were Merrill and his brother Charles and Kim Munholland -- all KA's -- along with Elliott and King.

During the era there were any number of active Stanford sailors. Henry Grandin Jr., '50, was one. Another was William H. Allen Jr., '55. Barton Beek, MBA '48, Rod Lippold '52, and Lloyd Aubert '53 were others.

Family teams and rivalries have spiced the intercollegiate racing scene. The Merrill boys of the '50s were followed by the Twist brothers of the '60s. Tom Frost '58, was known for his battles against brother Pete when the latter sailed for Occidental against Stanford. Skip Allan of the current Stanford team competes against his brother Scott who heads the USC fleet.

Stanford skippers also have been well-known in other sports. Frost went from sailing to make quite a name in mountain climbing. Fred Miller '50, a Finn class champ, was an outstanding swimmer at Stanford. Bob Allan played on Stanford's great golf teams of the late '30s and early '40s.

A few sailors have turned to cruisers, motor sailors, and other power boats as their chief interest, including engineers like Henry Valentine '37, and Hale Field '44.

For some, sailing has had an influence on their life's work, too. Carter Pyle '53, a sailor and former football star, is a marine architect recognized as a leader in high-speed hull design.

Among those whose work keeps them involved with the ocean, is A. J. Field '45, a longtime sailor who heads Global Marine, Inc. and operates a fleet of sea-going drilling vessels. Oilman Stanwood I. Williams '30, ocean racer and cruiser, organized an offshore drilling company in 1955. Willard Bell '45, still active in ocean racing, extended his Pasadena business interests to the Caribbean, remodeling an old bow-ramp LSM for cargo-carrying to remote Central American shores. And George Waddell '43, one of the first backers of sailing at Stanford, is an admiralty lawyer.

Stanford sailors have been active in every part of the country. Up and down the coast, the Stanford roster extends from Bill Henry in Seattle to Pete Peckham in San Diego, the latter city continuing a long sailing tradition at Stanford in the person of Bruce Wright, captain of today's team.

Around San Francisco Bay, nautical names of note include Stan Natcher, last year's St. Francis Yacht Club commodore, Dean Morrison and Al Simpson.

In the northwest, Kemper Freeman, class of '31, and recent alumni president, is one of the most knowledgeable Stanford sailors.

On the East Coast, a well-known enthusiast is dick McCurdy '31 president of Shell Oil and a trustee of Stanford. Philip Rhinelander, professor of philophy, still keeps boat in Maine where he heads in the summertime.

Robert Huggins, professor of engineering, is a former U.S. National Snipe champion and won the sailing title at the Pan American Games in 1963.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch -- or Farm -- a funny thing has happened on Lake Lagunita. They have boats, now.

A great surge of interest started when Bob Allan and others interested in college sailing arranged for six Flying Juniors to be given to Stanford. Such was the response that the fleet had to be enlarged to 10 of the 14-foot sloops.

On Registration Day, one could be seen parked alongside the fountain in White Memorial Plaza and even then work was being done on the boat between inquiries about sailing and signups of new enthusiasts in the SSA. A hundred joined that day and by mid-spring the number had gone as high as 450 students aiming at recreation, instruction and competition.

"Three hundred of them had never sailed before," says former Commodore Steve Richard, a graduate of land-locked Tucson Hich School.

"We try to teach them seamanship," says Richard, "not just how to sail a boat." Instruction includes safety -- "thinking of what you're doing." During the year 15 regularly salaried instructors and dockmasters serve on the SSA staff.

"How to throw a line to someone is the kind of small procedure which is important for the beginner to learn," says Richard, "and we have some real beginners, including seven faculty children."

The SSA fee is $10 and activity credits may be earned by devoting 30 hours a quarter.

For many, the 30 hours is only a starter. For some it means hard work. Students make their own sails, under direction of Jake van Heeckeran, a graduate student with MIT sailing background.

While the boats were being built, students constructed their own dollies. They drove the piles for the dock. In order to meet the planned opening of the Flying Dutchman "port" on Lake Lagunita, 30 students worked most of the night to rig the boats and to complete the dock, some of them working up to the waist in water for long hours.

So it was only natural that the sailors were anxious to get into action with the new boats. Skip Allan remembers getting the first one out in a terrific wind sweeping Lake Lagunita. He literally "planed" across the lake, riding the bow wave like a motorboat, and making the "crossing" in a matter of seconds.

But in lighter winds, Lagunita is just big enough to accommodate fun and learning and even some competition on a triangular course with 200 yard legs. The San Francisquito Creek waters are kept back in Searsville and Felt Lakes, with filling of Lagunita begun right after the Big Game Bonfire. The sailing season is from mid-January to May, when a species of weed known only to Lake Lagunita starts snagging centerboards.

In June the Stanford fleet moves to Lake Vasona in the hills near Los Gatos. As during the academic year, the entire fleet is maintained by students who drive the 15 miles to Vasona for both sailing and work.

Availability of ten boats so close as Lagunita was described by students as "a fantastic deal".

"Half the house was after us to take 'em down and teach 'em," says Bill Twist, who with brother George and their teammate Carl Boller resided in the DU fraternity.

From the first organization meetings in Professor Higgins' the SSA was blessed with strong leadership. Carter Ford, the first commodore, had come to Stanford Business School from Harvard where he had played a part in a similar sailing renaissance.

"With the benefit of experience it took us one year at Stanford to do what had taken three at Harvard, says Ford, now coach of the Stanford sailing team and advisor to the SSA.

Against a background of this interest and enthusiasm, Stanford's sailing team is enjoying success in intercollegiate racing which ranks it among the nation's best-teams. Bill Twist won the North American intercollegiate singlehanded championship in 1963. George Twist won the Pacific Coast singlehanded title in 1965.

Kim Desenberg, last year's captain, was Division A high-point skipper at the 1966 North American Sailing Championships at Kings Point, N.Y., winning the Allan Trophy, awarded by that earlier Stanford captain, Bob-Allan.

Stanford's team score brought them fourth place in the nationals, won by the U. S. Coast Guard.

The team also traveled last year to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Regatta at Annapolis, an event named for another sailor who attended Stanford. The Indians sailed the naval Academy's 44-foot yawl and finished fifth in a field of 10.

Stanford captured second place at the Sugar Bow1 Regatta in New Orleans last December. Desenberg was awarded the high-point trophy and the Indians won seven of the ten races but failed to win the Sugar crown when they were disqualified from the fourth race for coming too close to the Coast Guard Acacemy cadets on wind-swept Lake Pontchartrain.

When the competition began in 1966 for the new Donald Douglas trophy, Stanford and Long Beach State finished atop the standings in match racing, the cup going to the Vikings for their win over the Indians.

As the team prepared for the 1967 season, Stanford was presented with two 30-foot sailing sloops of the Shields Class, the gift of Cornelius Shields, New York investment banker and internationally-known yachtsman.

According to Commodore Dirck Brinckerhoff, the sleek Shields boats will be used for "ocean" racing on San Francisco Bay, while the Flying Juniors remain on Lagunita and Vasona. In addition, the Stanford sailors use Lido 14s furnished by Cal in some of the competition of the Northern California Yacht Racing Association, which also includes USF, San Francisco State, Laney and UC Santa Cruz.

When racing in Southern California, the team most frequently uses Lehman dinghies and now competes in almost all Southland series of the Pacific Coast Yacht Racing Association, principally at Newport.

Competing in sailing on a national basis involves relatively few of the 800 men in intercollegiate athletics at Stanford.

"But it is achieving recognition for Stanford," says Bob Allan, the team's principal sponsor, "and in the wider scope of sailing-activity at the university, this is a healthy, constructive outlet for a large number of students with carry-over after graduation."

"Sailing can be a tough, physical sport and plenty competitive, but it is also something you can do on a family basis," says Allan. And he should know. He married the girl (Harriet Spicer '43) who used to weigh in the crew and keep the records for Allan's team of the early '40s.

After almost 30 years crusading for intercollegiate competition, Allan still has hopes that sailing will be a conference sport, with standards of eligibility established and letters awarded.

As a member of the U. S. Olympic Sailing Committee, he'd like to see closer tie-in between intercollegiate sailing and the Olympics.

And his dream is to see Lake Lagunita become a year-round facility. Such is the interest that boats can generate. There has to be something about sailing; maybe it's as Dan Elliott says:

"Really it's as much an art as a sport."