GLCC News

     Winter is fast approaching – along with everyone’s normal Christmas holiday shopping plans! Is your giving list complete? Please remember to visit the GLCC Ship Store for GLCC holiday gift ideas. Several new items have been added this past year that may match up perfectly with what you have on your list.      Support The Great Lakes Foundation – You can make an impact while you shop for Black Friday deals. Simply shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/36-3843113 and AmazonSmile will donate to Great Lakes Foundation, at no cost to you.

     Steve Reinecke is our newly appointed Port Captain for Bad River, Ont. (GB-46). He lives in Strathroy, Ont., and is married to a wonderful woman for the past 30 years. He has 2 great children, Trevor, 22 and Emily, 26. Steve is a Clinical Scientist and currently works for a company out of Houston, Tex., in the Disinfection and Healthcare IT Industry. He travels extensively for work.      Steve has been a GLCC member for 12 years and has served as an Assistant Port Captain, Port Captain, Board Member and Rear Commodore. He has also previously chaired the Admissions/Membership Committee. Please click here to read more!

As a GLCC member, you can be sure that you and your family will be welcomed anywhere you cruise on the Great Lakes. Our membership is divided up between Rear Commodores that support Port Captains and help members within regions. If you look at the illustration, you will see, based on where your boat rests, which region you would belong to. The election of Rear Commodores at the Annual General Membership Meeting on Oct. 24, 2020 now supports the realignment of the Great Lakes Region that was approved by the Board of Directors at the July 18, 2020 meeting. As a member, if you knew which region you belonged to before, it may have changed. For more details, please click here.

NOAA will stop providing paper charts by 2025. That said, there's some exciting news on the horizon offering the option of custom printable charts which you'll be able to print yourself or potentially purchase through marine chart suppliers who will print them for you. For more information and a link to a highly informative webinar on this capability, click here.

Today we welcome our newly appointed Port Captain for the Trent Severn Waterway, Ont. (W-6), Charlie Ellins. Charlie has been Boating from the time of his first family boat in the 1950s including considerable time on the TSW. He skippered the family cruiser from Trenton to Orillia at age 15 with his mom and two sisters. He joined the Canadian Power Squadron in 1968 and now has 51 merit marks [Life Member]. Charlie has been Commodore of the Lake Simcoe Yacht Club in 1978-1979 when there were over 200 members. Please click here to read more!

04/27/2023 Corrected link to Harbor report. JM

While the world is still figuring things out, Lifeline remains a constant! Good thing, because it gives us something more for which to be thankful. GLCC’s fall Lifeline is a beacon for us boaters. As we close our season, we look forward to events that will happen in person (2020 Lake Erie Regional Dinner) and via Zoom platform (GLCC & GLF Annual General Membership Meetings — where we say farewell to our beloved Commodore, Rich Barzyk and welcome incoming Commodore, Dan Cline, as well as new and returning Board members). Read how the GLCCSchool webinar registrations were booming this summer, a detailed boaters log that utilizes the harbor reports for a seaworthy venture, and a narrative on joining the GLCC. Click here to read on.

04/27/2023 Corrected link to harbor report. JM

     Let’s give a warm welcome to newly appointed Port Captain Thom Serafine for Monroe Harbor - Chicago, Ill. (M-37)! Thom grew up near the shore of Lake Ontario in Webster, N.Y., and later moved to Chicago, Ill., where he learned to sail as an adult. He has been sailing out of Belmont Harbor for over ten years and has done a bare boat charter in the British Virgin Islands with friends. In 2014, he bought SV Inspiration, a 1988 Pearson 31 MK2. After getting her seaworthy, he sailed her to Chicago (M-36) from Sturgeon Bay, Wis. (M-72.5). Please click here to read on!

Have you been in the Great Lakes waters? Then you have probably noticed the warmer temperatures, notably this July. Great Lakes water temperatures have reached record highs. Jason Samenow of The Washington Post suggests that global warming is playing its role in increasing ecological imbalances such as blue-green algae and possible harm to marine life due to water temperatures changing so drastically. The Washington Post has put together a cohesive article that includes data and links that expound on this phenomenon. Click here to read it.