Share your 5-lakes cruising history

By Bill Rohde, Admiral Bayfield Award Committee Chair

The time is right to start preparing your application for the Great Lakes Cruising Club’s highest cruising recognition: the Admiral Bayfield Award.

For those not be familiar with the Admiral Bayfield Award, it recognizes those club members who have recreationally cruised at least 5,000 nautical miles across all five Great Lakes on their own boat or vessels under their command.

For details regarding award requirements, reference: https://www.glcclub.com/admiral-bayfield-award.

In summary, award recipients must meet specific requirements for cruising each Great Lake (e.g. numbers of ports or harbors visited, distance cruised, etc.), and within each lake been underway to a new port or anchorage for a minimum of seven days, calling at a minimum of three ports or anchorages.

While it is possible to satisfy all award requirements in one cruising year, most applicants choose to explore the lakes over two or more years of extensive cruising.

Award applications must be documented for submission and review by the GLCC Admiral Bayfield Award Committee, a team of experienced Great Lakes cruisers, each themselves recipients of the Admiral Bayfield Award. Upon the committee’s review and recommendation, the GLCC Board of Directors grants the award, including a handsome commemorative wall plaque and special GLCC Admiral Bayfield burgee.

Over the life of the club, only 82 members have achieved the exclusive rank of Admiral Bayfield Award recipient. You can be the next. To achieve that distinction, start (or finish?) your award submission this coming cruising season. Welcome to the most exclusive ranks of Great Lakes cruisers.