Commodore Richlak announces that member Mel Wallbank has been named the 2008 recipient of the GLCC's Award of Merit.
As a resident of Port Huron, Mel shouldered a major responsibility for the February move of the Club headquarters from Chicago to Port Huron. Thanks to his hands-on approach, hard work, and attention to detail, the office move was seamless and accomplished almost overnight.
Mel is a well-known North-Channel cruiser aboard his 51-foot sailboat Bliss, along with his wife, Mariette Labrosse.
I have spent most of my life around boats, canoes, runabouts, and have been sailing for 40-plus years. The early years were in racing boats, both dinghies and small-to-midsized keelboats.
For the last 8-10 years I have become a crusing sailor. I started sailing in a dinghy in the Midland area on Georgian Bay. Then I joined the Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club, then Queen City Yacht Club and raced on Lake Ontario.
My wife Kathy and I have been boating since 1979 (we're 25 year GLCC members), and loved North Channel cruising so much that we moved to Lexington, on Lake Huron, as our year around residence in 1995. We presently keep our 29-foot Tiara, called Michigander at Oldford's Marina in Lexington.
Max has always had an affinity for the water. Maybe that is because he was born in a Gulf-of-Mexico coastal town in Texas. Trips and vacations almost always have drawn him to the water, boats, and beaches. As a kid, his dad had a little runabout that he would take out to give his friends thrill rides. Little did he know that one day he would become a "sailboater."
I was born and educated in England, spent my working career in the petro-chemical business in the UK, US, and Canada, the last 30 years with Imperial Oil and Exxon. Married with two adult daughters. My wife, Wendy, and I are both retired and now live in Thornbury about 300m from the harbour.
Beach Hall has replaced the legendary Harry Whiteley as Port Captain for Rogers City—the closest Lake Huron city to the North Channel entry at Mississagi Strait.
At its December meeting, the GLCC Board appointed Port Captain Roland Aubé of Elliot Lake, Ontario, as Canadian Judge Advocate for the club. The position of Canadian Judge Advocate was established at the Club's annual meeting in Chicago, to complement the existing U.S. Judge Advocate position. The Judge Advocates are the officers who act as legal advisors to the Board of Directors. Roland will join John Regan of Chicago who is the club's U.S. Judge Advocate.
Here's an overview of the state of the Great Lakes, by an easterner (feature writer for the Christian Science Monitor). An interesting read...