So sang Gordon Lightfoot. It is true the Great Lakes are blessed, each lake has islands and bays beckoning the boater. Some are quite compact, while others sprawling, but in all cases they offer places to anchor and explore. Lake Ontario has it own island area, the Bay of Q
GLCC News
As we continue our journey through the Great Lakes via vintage Harbor Reports, it’s time to visit the gateway to Lake Ontario and the Southern Terminus of the Welland Canal, Port Colborne. The old report E-25 Port Colborne was a mere 4 pages long. We now have three reports to cover th
Long time GLCC member Angele Passe's article on escaping to Lake Superior by sailboat was featured in the July 25th Minneapolis Star Tribune. Angele and her husband Jim will also present their "Sharing the Helm" seminar at the upcoming GLCC Annual Meeting in Milwaukee. Don't miss it!
If you're headed to Lake Ontario there are two canals to get you there. This month's look back is about the Welland canal. As is always the case with these vintage reports, it is interesting and informative. Note the old photos, they speak well of the long history of the canal.&
With the Rendezvous next month in Leamington, Ont.
The June anniversary issue has information about the GLCCSchool summer session webinar offerings, cruising in Lake Erie (also helpful to our Leamington Rendezvous visitors), up-and-coming GLCC events, GLF update, boating safety, a wave of new members, and reports about our previously held events. Information & registration forms for upcoming events are available via the Events page.
With the unseasonable winter's ice cover and slow melt, this year's Memorial weekend proved to be memorable to say the least. The two accompanying photos show how Lake Superior cruisers enjoyed the holiday. The left photo is from Bayfield Wisconsin Yacht Club member Carl Olding; the right from GLCC member Bob Hansen. Lake Superior boats typically launch starting the first week of May, but not this year. Some Marinas are still iced in.
GLCCSchool weather instructor Mark Thornton recently put together a handy "Marine Weather Dashboard" on his weather forecasting web site. The new dashboard provides an easy to use consolidated window into a wealth of Great Lakes weather information. To check it out click Great Lakes Marine Weather, and then simply click on any lake name or weather product tile for additional detail.
This month we continue our journey Southward through the Great Lakes. We are stopping at a busy commercial harbor on the western side of the Bruce Peninsula.
If you’ll be traveling to the Leamington Rendezvous this summer from a port above Lake Erie you’d be well advised to read harbor report D-0 for information on traversing the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River.There you’ll find details of not only the 25 ports and anchorages along the way but also critical advice on applicable charts, currents, ferry crossings, unique aids to navigation, speed restrictions, international border issues and more.Be sure to also read the harbor reports of some of the more significant individual ports in the area to learn of special treatment of GLCC members, such as in Port Huron and Sarnia.Then, of course, there’s the newly updated report on Leamington itself, where all the fun begins on 13 July.
Having left the North Channel, this month we find ourselves in Tobermory. The 1951 report for the gateway to lower Georgian Bay is rather sparse, it does, however, get you there. We are blessed with a much fuller picture of the town and its amenities in the Club's current edition
04/27/2023 Corrected link. JM It won't be long before mariners and the boating public will have a wider choice of options and special services when they purchase NOAA paper nautical charts, thanks to NOAA's expanded "print-on-demand" chart production and distribution system, Coast Survey officials announced April 4, 2014. Coast Survey recently certified new print-on-demand chart printing agents, and gave them the flexibility to offer different color palettes, various papers, a cleaner margin, and a range of services.
I’m often asked, if I been to the North Channel. I say yes, and the next question is have I been to Baie Fine? Again, I answer in the affirmative. Even non-boaters are intrigued by the place. It’s been said the rocks don’t move. The trick is: to know where they are. The information in 1949 was a little sketchy, but thanks to hundreds, maybe thousands, of cruises by our members things are a little clearer now. The rocks and the Pool are still there, but our report makes it a little safer to venture in. Enjoy the look back in time to the Club’s 1949 report (Click here), and then check out the current report, NC-83, for the latest.
Time lapse satellite imagery shows the Great Lakes icing over in one of the coldest winters in memory.
Have you ever had the time or the bird's eye view of a lake as it freezes? We all know it's been unusually cold this season. Click here to see what's been happening in our Great Lakes and read the article by Bryan Walsh from the Science & Space section in TIME's web magazine.
This anniversary issue has updated program information about the 2014 Rendezvous at Leamington, ON; many other summer events; updates from winter gatherings; boating information you can use in preparation for summer cruising; as well as boat show reports. Information & registration forms for upcoming events are available via the Events page. Click HERE to read the latest issue of the Lifeline.
We are pleased to introduce to you one of GLCC's newest Port Captains, Ed Mahoney for Rocky River, OH (E-11). Here's a brief introduction to get you acquainted! Click here to read on.
Her Diamond, a 1991 Freedom 38 sailed by recent members Bob and Sheila Allenick, is the featured boat in the January, 2014 issue of Good Old Boat. Currently they cruise the Great Lakes but hope
In this month’s installment of our look back in time, we’ll view not an expansion of facilities or services, but, sadly, the loss of a well known and once thriving facility.
Are you looking for a diversion from your winter wonderland? The Cleveland Mid-America Boat Show is sure to keep the boating season in mind and prepare you for the good times ahead. It will take place at the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio on January 16-20, 2014.
Thanks to a handful of our wonderful volunteers, GLCC will have a booth where attendees can learn about our friendly club and a chance to partake in all the fun things that we’re about. Mark Gagyi, Jim Erhman & Rich Barzyk will present an intriguing boating seminar entitled, Great Ports on a Great Lake. We really hope to see you there! Please visit the Mid-America Boat Show website here for more information on this once a year event!
In this month's installment of our look back to the 1950’s, we visit the Western gateway to the North Channel. Cruisers from the lower Lakes, would mostly likely pass this way as they proceed to their favorite cruising grounds, and it is telling. The Great Lakes Cruising Club has, sur
The year is 1952 and the Mackinac Bridge is still in the talking stages. GLCC members, who passed through the Straits of Mackinac on their way to the North Channel and beyond, had a very different view. En route, they probably visited one or more of these locations.
Click HERE to read Great Lakes marine weather expert Mark Thornton's recently published review and analysis of Hurricane Sandy’s destruction of two Cleveland, Ohio, marinas. (Note - Mark recently joined the GLCCSchool faculty and will be teaching a class on Great Lakes thunderstorms this winter - see GLCCSchool for class details)
The All NEW GLCCSchool is now open for business with additional faculty members, a refreshed and expanded curriculum, a totally new web site and more. For more information click here or click directly to the new https://www.GLCCSchool.com to take a look.
6/2/2020 Updated artcle about magzine. JM
5/28/2020 Update link to magazine. Note that Good Old Boat is offing their latest issues free at this time. JM
The crew at Good Old Boat magazine created a brand-new digital subscription offering. To spread the word they’re offering free introductory issues.
Lake Superior's water level has increased rapidly the last few months. Now Lake Superior will outflow more water into Lake Michigan-Huron. Read Mark Torregrossa for MLive.com's article HERE.
Asian Carp, the invasive species known for leaping out of the water when motorboats pass, have reportedly moved upstream another 100 miles on the Illinois this year. According to an August 19th Prairie Rivers Network press release, they were recently found spawning within 62 miles of Lake Michigan and just 25 miles from an electric barrier intended as the final line of defense for the Great Lakes. For more information click here.
Event reports from the 2013 Rendezvous at Charlevoix, Detroit-Saginaw Bay Regional Dinner Meeting at GPYC, and the Lake Erie Re
For many GLCC members and others making offshore passages, Herb Hilgenberg and his free daily "Southbound II" SSB weather broadcast had become an integral part of the their crew. After over 25 years of service to the cruising community, Hilgenberg, age 76, recently retired. While similar services remain available to offshore sailors (for example, GLCCSchool weather instructor Chris Parker's Marine Weather Center), Herb's Ontario-based North Atlantic forecasting and routing services will clearly be missed. We thank Herb for his years of service, and wish him the best in his well-deserved retirement.
What factors are influencing the recent decline in Great Lakes water levels? Changes in precipitation? Warming lake temperatures? Increased outflows? Evaporation? Will these trends continue or reverse? Click here to read an interesting July 27th Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article examining the factors affecting our Great Lakes.
May 18, 2020: Page updated to reflect correct broken links and reflect Safety at Sea course status as of COVID-19 - W Rohde.
The Cruising Club of America has put together an outstanding checklist for skippers to use whenever new crew or guests are invited aboard. Click here to take a look, and think about using it every time you leave the dock with new crew or guests this summer.
The Friends of the Fort Gratiot Light will sponsor SandFest, the first Master and Professional/Advanced Amateur Sand Sculpting competition in Michigan.
Two leading boating education organizations with a history of making boating education easy and affordable, have teamed up to offer a fully interactive online seminar for those First Mates who may find themselves needing to take command of the family boat. Partner in Command, from the US Power Squadrons (USPS), in partnership with the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety, aims to acquaint the First Mate with basic skills he or she may need in an emergency. For details about this class click HERE. GLCC members should click USPS Discount for GLCC member registration discount instructions. Click USPS/BoatUS Info for information about the USPS and the BoatUS Foundation.
The June 2013 issue of Lifeline includes a review of the GLCCSchool year, many descriptive articles regarding upcoming GLCC events, the 2013 Spring Break summary, and the conclusion of the second installment of Secretary Phil and Althea Doolittle’s cruising log. Information & registration forms for upcoming events are available via the Events page.
Click HERE to read the latest issue of the Lifeline.