New Rear Commodores tap into years of boating and GLCC experience
By Vice Commodore Craig Shantz
It is with great pleasure that the Club welcomes two new Rear Commodores to the GLCC Board:
• Nelson Stone is the new Rear Commodore for Lake Superior (Region 10).
• Dee McClure is the new Rear Commodore for Lake Michigan Northeast/Lake Huron Northwest (Region 39).
Nelson Stone:
Nelson Stone is likely well known to many GLCC members. He and his wife, Marilyn, joined the GLCC in 1999. He became Port Captain of Silver Bay, MN (S-186) in 2007 and Chaplain in 2018. He is perhaps best known as the auctioneer extraordinaire at the annual Rendezvous Bilge Auction. With all proceeds going to the Great Lakes Foundation, the GLCC’s 501(c)(3) charity, Nelson has, in his own unique and highly masterful way, as he says, “volunteers money out of everyone’s pocket” while keeping attendees entertained with his stories and booming and engaging voice.
Nelson has been sailing on Lake Superior for 52 years, currently aboard S/V Annie B. Stone (named after his paternal grandmother), a 35’ Wauquiez Pretorian sailboat.
Nelson’s favorite cruising grounds are the north shore of Lake Superior, especially enjoying wilderness type boating, but he can also be found in the Apostle Islands and Isle Royale from time to time.
Nelson is a bit of a renaissance man who has ventured far and near. He is a retired pastor and college professor. He holds a USCG 50GT Masters license. He has sailed in the Greek Islands. His diverse interests include working on a dive boat or SCUBA diving in Florida in the winter, playing the bagpipes, and enjoying communicating with others as a ham radio operator (KA0WTZ) and can often be found on the SD evening net.
Be on the lookout for information on a flotilla Nelson is spearheading following next year’s Rendezvous in Lake Superior. Nelson and Marilyn will be venturing again to the north shore of Lake Superior and would love to introduce other GLCC members to the splendor of that area.
Dee McClure:
Dee has been active in the Great Lakes Cruising Club since joining in 2015. She is Port Captain for Suttons Bay, MI (M-11) and co-chaired the 2022 Annual Rendezvous in Mackinaw City, MI.
In 2024, she was appointed Director, awarded the William J. Kivell Memorial Award and joined the Lifeline Committee.
Dee grew up on sailboats, sailing everything from the family’s first 13’ Mayflower (orange Styrofoam car topping sailboat), to racing PHRF and one-designs on the East Coast before graduating to larger cruising sailboats, the last one a 38’ Island Packet on the Great Lakes.
A passionate, and accomplished sailor, often solo sailing with “deckhand pups” Bailey and Boomer. Dee recently moved to a motorboat, appropriately named M/V Seaquel, which has expanded her cruising area significantly. She gets her sailing “fix” as volunteer crew and relief First Mate on the large educational schooner school ships the Inland Seas Education Association run in the area.
Dee holds a USCG 50GT Master license for the Great Lakes, is an ASA Instructor, and Vessel Safety Examiner for the US Power Squadron. In the winter, she is involved in the myriad (and seemingly never-ending) maintenance work on the Inland Seas’ two school ships. Dee is very knowledgeable in an array of boating skills. You’re just as likely to find her in the engine compartment as at the helm or navigation table.
Dee enjoys meeting fellow boaters who are as passionate about boating and the Great Lakes as she is. Obviously, the GLCC was a perfect match for her. She is already starting to research and plan events for 2026 for Region 39.