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.

While the Great Lakes Cruising Club was founded at the Chicago Yacht Club in 1934, it always looked to the north as the rationale for its existence.  No place has exemplified that northerly gaze more that the cruising capitol of the North Channel, Little Current.  This month’s 1948 Harbor Report is a mere 3 pages and is nowhere near as extensive as our current report NC-17.  Please click Here to view the vintage report, and then go to NC-17 for the fully updated modern report.

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 to head to bigger waters down the East Coast and Caribbean when they retire.  If you have a subscription to GOB be sure to check out the article or pick up a copy.  They plan to be at the Leamington Rendezvous where they will be glad to show her off.

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. In Clapperton Harbour (NC-21.5) today stands the ruins of what was one of the North Channel’s mainstays -- the Harbour Island Yacht and Fishing Club. Our old Harbor Report on Clapperton Island is full of nostalgia and memories. The segment on communications is just one wonderful example of the changes we’ve witnessed.

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, surely, come a long way, but so has Detour.  It wasn’t lost on the State of Michigan how important this channel is to not only to freighter traffic, but small boat traffic.  The upgraded marina is a far cry from the marina of 1950.

Come one, come all,

We know you’ll have a ball!

It will be here before you know it, “The 2014 Great Lakes Cruising Club Annual Rendezvous.” This year (2014) is the 80th anniversary of the club and is being held at the Leamington Municipal Marina, Leamington, Ontario, July 12th–16th, 2014. Click here for more information about this event.

For the printed (PDF versions), the Harbor Report name has now be right justified instead of left justified at the top of the first page.  This makes it easier, when put in a binder, to see the Harbor Report name.  For those of you who download an electronic version of the Harbor Report, please remember to look right when scanning for the report name.  This was done at the request of Lou Bruska, Port Pilot & Log Book Committee Chair.