GLCC News

Recreational boaters on the Great Lakes are facing unprecendented challenges stemming from efforts to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic and high water issues. With eight states, one province and innumerable local governments, boaters are finding that access to marinas and their services varies by jurisdiction.  The Harbor Reports Committee along with a team of volunteers have spent the last couple of weeks compiling data as to what marinas are open and what basic services are available. Click here to read more.

The National Weather Service is soliciting public comments regarding a proposal to revise their terminology around small craft advisories. The survey only takes a couple of minutes.

One often wonders what they could realistically do to personally help during the current COVID-19 crisis. We've just learned of one such opportunity for us cruising boaters. Sailcrafters, a sail loft in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, has temporarily shifted its business from making sails to making face shields for medical personnel for as long as needed. To find out what you could do to help with this worthwhile effort, even from a distance, click here.

Looking for a way to contribute to your GLCC? Consider becoming a port captain. The harbor reports for each port in the Great Lakes are the mainstay of the Club, and Port Captains maintain the report for their port. Want to learn more? Contact Pam Jackson, Port Captain Coordinator, at pam@dougandpam.com. (Photo by Rear Commodore (Ret.) Brad Somers: Past Commodore Niels Jensen and Port Captain Chester and Ceann Kolascz, 25-year members)

Here's a link to the North Shore Visitor's webpage about the whale sightings on Lake Supeior. It's always fun to follow the reports as they come in during the summer, mainly from along Minnesota's North Shore... and my appologies for posting the link one day later than it should have been. Please see https://northshorevisitor.com/activities/whale-watching/

​The spring edition of Lifeline is hot off the press! That is if you get it in the mail… If not, no worries because as a member, you have access to the online edition right here at your fingertips.

The spring Lifeline helps your fitting out with a ten-point checklist, live webinars are in full-swing, there’s a new Lake Erie event in Geneva Start Park Marina this year, and a new Founders Award log. Please click here to read on.

We're weloming our newly appointed Port Captains for Hamilton Harbour, Ont. (O-48) today! Fairly new-to-GLCC members Rick and Debbie McQuin started sailing about 35 years ago with a short hiatus while their two boys were young. They joined Royal Hamilton Yacht Club (RHYC) 22 years ago when their sons started to race competitively. Deb and Rick started the cruising program at RHYC about 15 years ago and continue to represent the Club as Cruise People who organize the reciprocal cruises with Clubs around Western Lake Ontario. Rick is the cruising representative on the Sailing Committee at RHYC. They look forward to welcoming you to Hamilton, Ont.

02/08/2022 Removed reverences to deleted external links. JM The water levels in the Great Lakes continue to rise.  The forecasted water levels as of Feb. 14, 2020 for all lakes except Lake Ontario is equal to or higher than previous record highs. See the weekly bulletin from the Army Corp of Engineers (note this will change each week) and the monthly forecast.

The rising water levels are naturally causing issue for those near the shore lines.  See this Weather Channel video about rising water levels near Traverse City, MI.  Another video shows the shoreline erosion on Lake Michigan. This graphic from ABC12 in Flint, MI tells the story.  The Army Corp of Engineers has also posted their 2019 Annual Summary.

Today we welcome newly appointed Port Captain Mark Clymer. Here he shares a little about his boating experiences... I have been a year-round resident of Clark Twp. the unit of government covering the Les Cheneaux Islands, Mich. (H-81), and the communities of Cedarville & Hessel, Mich. since 1974. My wife and I now live in a log cabin on McKay Bay, where Kimow II is moored. Please click here to read further.

Looking for a way to contribute to your GLCC?