With winter fast approaching in the Great Lakes, we’ve all probably had “wild” thoughts of selling the house and moving to a full-time exploration on our boats - oh the adventures we’ll have and the people we’ll meet! But what type of cruising are you really thinking about and are suited for? GLCC member Dick Stevenson walks us through the realities of cruising “as a lifestyle”.
GLCC News
Charlie and Esther Graves are the new Port Captains at Toledo Beach, Mich. (E.21.8). Esther and I live in the Toledo, Ohio area. We have both boated since we were young, on the lakes and rivers of upstate New York. We have had several different boats over the years – both power and sail. We dock our Bayliner 4388 at Safe Harbor Toledo Beach in La Salle, Mich.
John P. Siwicki is the new Port Captain for Lexington, Mich. (H-54), and Deputy Port Captain for Port Sanilac, Mich. (H-55). His hometown and berth site is Port Sanilac. He joined the GLCC in 2023. He owns a 1988 Catalina 30 MK II that he doesn’t use nearly as often as he’d like. As a Certified Professional Yacht Broker, his busy season is the boating season.
Port Clinton, Ohio (E-20): Denny Schurdell has been a life-long teacher. He is retired as a visual arts teacher, K-12 and college. He coached for many years in wrestling, cross country and soccer. Denny has degrees from Kent State University, La Verne College, and Cleveland State University. He belongs to the Sandusky Yacht Club, and is a former member of Bay Point Yacht Club and Harbor Bay Yacht Club. He is a founder of the former Catalina sailboat association-LECOA (Lake Erie Catalina Owners Association).
I bet you didn’t know the GLCC has a YouTube channel. We’ve had one for several years but it hasn’t been very active. Until now. Kelly Hillman and Rear Commodore Rob Hillman have reinvigorated our channel with fresh new videos mainly aimed at providing a sneak peek into upcoming classes in the GLCC School. They intend to keep making and posting new videos throughout the season to keep members and non-members up to date on items of interest to our club and upcoming GLCC School classes and activities.
We have big news in this winter Lifeline! From FREE webinars for members, summer activities well into the planning stages and all the boat show info. It’s a very exciting time to be a GLCC member. Rochester, N.Y. (O-6), is our featured harbor, and it has lots of interesting attributes.
Fall is coming but GLCC's Summer was a summary of adventures around the Great Lakes as GLCC’s numerous events were quite lively and entertaining. Inside the covers of this fall’s Lifeline, are full reports of all that happened, what’s happening and what’s coming up!
The historic St. Clair Inn, in St. Clair, Michigan, is the site for this year’s Annual Membership Meeting Oct. 27–28. But a famous shipwreck is the star. The boutique hotel on the St. Clair River is within sight of Ontario. It has recently been renovated. Its new look is built in many ways on stories of the past, when bootleggers around the area made the short trip from Canada to the US.
Ahoy GLCC Region 35 members! Plans for an informal Lake Ontario Rally at the Trent Port Marina (O-34) the weekend of August 11–13th are moving forward! There is no registration fee but please let me know by August 5th if you are planning to attend and will join us for dinner at Tomasso's Italian Grille on Saturday evening so we can make reservations.
You are in for a treat. We are trying something new. For the first time, the Lake Superior Rally will be held at Houghton-Hancock, Mich. (S-200) on the spectacular Keweenaw Peninsula, Mich. (S-199). This location was only recently made possible by a major harbor improvement project of Houghton’s City Dock.