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Commodore’s Message – Spring 2014
Please feel free to view our website and hopefully you are encouraged to visit and involve yourself in a great pastime on the waters of our world’s greatest and most Superior lake.
In October 2013, I, Mike Canadeo was elected as the new Commodore succeeding Jason Moody, who performed exceedingly well for the past 3 years. Jason left the yacht club a better place with many accomplishments. One being the facilities and equipment upgrades and the second was co-hosting the Ensign Nationals with Ensign Fleet 35. Both very time consuming activities that brought great credit upon the yacht club and our city.
Eric (Zeb) Seaborg, Vice Commodore; Ken Blood, Secretary; and Stuart Baker, Treasurer were elected to complete their officer positions. Al Strandlie, John Harris, and Bob Frak are Members-at-Large on the Board as well as Jason Moody our Immediate Past Commodore. Feel free to contact any one of us if your have questions or concerns.
The mission of the Marquette Yacht Club is to provide a social boating experience for yacht club members, their families, and guests. Our yacht club is home port to Ensign Fleet 35 and the Marquette Junior Yacht Club in addition to the NMU sailing and NMU rowing clubs. The yacht club is primarily populated with sail boat enthusiasts, but we are a boating club and not exclusively a sailing club. We welcome all lovers of boating.
Since October, 2013 the yacht club has initiated some changes. Specifically, the Committee Chairs were appointed. They have been working hard all winter to guarantee the membership will have the means to have a safe and entertaining sailing season for Summer 2014. The Program Committee is headed by Bill Pyle. The committee has worked to provide added Open Class races in addition to the Wednesday Night Race Series sponsored by Ensign Fleet 35. The Open Class races will be handled a little differently this year to encourage more participation. The Membership Committee is chaired by Hannah Lewis and they are busy working to sustain the membership and increase our numbers. Our House Committee is headed by Bob Frak. House handles the buildings, grounds, and equipment and assures our facilities are safe and well maintained. Mike Twohey and his Dock Committee work hard to keep our docks safe for us and our boats. The leadership and committee members are excited for you to see the improvements they have worked hard to offer.
I invite you to review our 2014 Calendar to become informed of the events that the yacht club offers so that you may participate. Examples of interesting activities, in addition to 10 open class races, include sailing safety seminars, Friday night movies, full moon cruises, and, as one member said it so well, “it’s a great place to see and be seen, because of all the nice people who show up.” The yacht club is loaded with sailing experience and it’s a great place to meet sailors and learn more about the fun of sailing. We hope to see everyone involved and enjoying their days on the water and at the yacht club.
Mike Canadeo, Commodore
Dock Committee
2013 Ensign Nationals Final Results
Small Club on a Big Lake
A small group of boating enthusiasts with a vision to create a place for like-minded residents to gather formed the Marquette Yacht Club in the spring of 1978. They were able to procure a lease from the Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad for a piece of land in Marquette’s Lower Harbor with a readymade clubhouse – a former scale house that had been used to weigh coal that was stockpiled just north of the club in an area that has now become a city park. The club was a gathering point for power boaters who would cruise Lake Superior together and home to a fleet of Pearson Ensigns that became part of the Ensign Class Association as Fleet No. 35. There are currently about 60 members in the Marquette Yacht Club with either full, associate, or race member status.
In 2001, the club purchased the property that the Marquette Yacht Club occupied outright. Since that time, we have upgraded the dock and plans are on the drawing board to make further improvements that include adding dock space and building a new clubhouse to replace the scale house that has served us so well for all of these years
Boating is very much a seasonal activity in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and many of the activities center on getting the club up and running in the spring and arranging to launch members’ boats. A Memorial Day Pot Luck picnic is the “official” season opening event. Ensign Fleet No. 35 hosts a well-attended Wednesday night race series from late May to mid September. There are currently 20 Ensigns in Marquette and 14 of them actively race. The Fourth of July Holiday is always a big event at the club that culminates with a boat parade and a wonderful fireworks display over the Lower Harbor. In 2007, for the first time in its history, the Marquette Yacht Club sponsored the Marquette Junior Yacht Club Sailing School. Classes were held for two weeks in August (just to make sure that all of the ice was gone from the lake), and were attended by 30 students between the ages of 8 and 16. By all accounts, it was a big hit and we are making plans to expand the program in the coming year.
Before you know it, the fall colors begin to show and it is time to reverse the whole process. By late October, most of the boats are ashore. The Marquette Yacht Club Annual Banquet is held on the fourth Thursday in October, giving members one more chance to gather together to present awards for their accomplishments or mishaps on the water, elect officers, and start making plans to begin the whole process over again in the spring.
Directions to the Marquette Yacht Club
Marquette Yacht Club Membership
Member Handbook
Dues Notice / Membership Statement
Boat Storage Agreements
If you plan to take advantage of the club grounds for storage of your boat over the winter months or during the summer season, please familiarize yourself with these agreement terms.
Dockage Rules and Agreement
For those of you presently or potentially docking with us at Marquette Yacht Club’s luxurious harbor accommodations, the links below will deliver to you documents that detail the terms of your dockage agreement.
Marquette Junior Yacht Club
Learn to sail !
