Club’s 60th anniversary rendezvous celebrated this week
LITTLE CURRENT—It is back to the future for the Great Lakes Cruising Club’s (GLCC) 60th anniversary Rendezvous. The GLCC’s popular gathering began here on Manitoulin Island, in the Port of Little Current, and it has been going strong ever since.
“This means a lot to Little Current,” said Debby Turner, who co-chaired the Rendezvous with her husband Jib. “We’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Great Lakes Cruising Club Rendezvous.”
Ms. Turner explained that the first one was held in 1965. “It was held here as a two-day event just to honour my husband Jib Turner’s grandfather, Grant Turner, for all the work he did when they founded the club in 1934.”
Grant Turner, she explained, managed to pull some important strings when it came to improving boating in the North Channel and Georgian Bay. “He was able to call the Prime Minister at that time and get hydrographic services to help chart these waters,” she said, “because the waters were totally uncharted at that time. As a result of all that, the GLCC has this wealth of knowledge thanks to their ‘harbour log reports’ as they’re called, and that’s just one reason to join the club.”
“We have 62 boats and 135 people are visiting us, some by car and some by boat, and they come from all over.” Most of the club members leave their boats in one of the ports on the Great Lakes, noted Ms. Turner. “Some of them have retired from boating,” she said of those coming by car, “but they still belong to the club and they’re enjoying meeting old friends, making new friends and meeting new members.”
That was the impetus for Chuck and his wife, who drove up from Ohio to take part in the gathering. “Our boat is up for sale right now,” he said. The couple started out with a 28-foot vessel when they got married (bought by Chuck) and then, as is the wont of sailors just about everywhere, they upped it to a 30-foot (bought by Chuck’s wife) and then purchased their latest boat together. Now it is time to put down the anchor permanently, albeit reluctantly. “My wife is celebrating an important birthday soon,” he said. ‘It begins with eight.”
Ms. Turner was speaking to The Expositor on Sunday, July 13 during the ‘Harbourmaster’s Welcome Barbecue’ (sponsored by the Little Current Business Improvement Area) at the Rendezvous Pavilion on the Little Current waterfront. Ms. Turner explained that “Today, we have the Wiikwemkoong drummers and dancers performing and letting everybody see what our culture is all about and how we have it up here.”
As part of the evening’s proceedings, Wiikwemkoong Tourism’s Jack Rivers provided a whirlwind tour of the history of the region, from the earliest Indigenous communities to the present day, as seen through an Indigenous lens.
“I had to condense a three-hour presentation into 45 minutes,” laughed Mr. Rivers, “it was not easy—I hope they manage to take it back home with them and maybe look into the history more.” A significant portion of his presentation on the history of the Three Fires Confederacy tribes included the regions that many of the GLCC hail from—such as Traverse City, Michigan.
It may have been a “condensed” version (even the three-hour version has to skip over a lot to fit into that timeframe, noted Mr. Rivers), but judging from the rapt attention exhibited from his listeners, his talk was very well received.
The bulk of the GLCC members at the Rendezvous are from the US state of Michigan, judging from the show of hands requested by Mr. Rivers, others hail from all points across Ontario and the upper states, but at least one couple hailed from Florida and another from Maine.
Over the course of the next few days, the GLCC members will be taking in an amazing number of excursions set up by Ms. Turner and her team. The Sunday evening presentations included drumming and dance demonstrations as well as Mr. River’s history presentation. Little Current’s own Cole Hughson provided musical entertainment for the evening.
On Monday (the official ‘arrival day’), following a continental breakfast, the ships in the Rendezvous got together for an aerial photograph and the “morning cannon/land acknowledgment” and the singing of both country’s national anthems.
What would a boating event on Manitoulin be without the dulcet tones of the LCYC Cruisers Net with Roy Eaton (Ch 71) sweeping out across the waters? Then there is something for just about everyone. A book club and knitting club sets up at the West Pavilion at 9 am (the directors of the club will be meeting in the Artisans’ Centre in the municipal building, followed by a full board meeting at 11 am and Port Captains meeting at noon).
The afternoon has a host events on tap as well, with Pico sailboat races down at Low Island Park, featuring a friendly “Lakes vs Lakes” competition hosted by the Little Current Yacht Club. A tour of the bridge will be escorted by members of the Manitoulin Sea Cadet Corps.
An unveiling of the Rendezvous Plaque will take place at 5 pm.
The evening will host the Commodore’s Reception, with dinner by Hershel’s and a cash bar by Manitoulin Brewing Company along with musical entertainment courtesy of Barry Hamilton.
Tuesday’s agenda is fully packed with excursions to the archaeological site in Sheguiandah and to Lavender Fields. After lunch it’s off to Nic Harfield’s vineyards at noon, followed by a talk given by author and retired journalist Mike Strobel, who will reprise his talk on the heartbreaking tragedy of The Rhu.
Wednesday, a cornhole challenge takes place at Low Island’s soccer fields and an introduction to pickleball will fill out the morning and some of the afternoon. Following the “Bilge Auction,” a shuttle will take the boaters up to the NEMI Recreation Centre for cocktail hour at 6 pm, followed by the piped in entry of the “Commodore and Bridge” escorted by the Manitoulin Sea Cadets as everyone settles in for the Commodore’s Awards Dinner and Dance.
Thursday, there will be a blessing of the fleet, with Fleet Chaplin Nelson Stone, assisted by Aundeck Omni Kaning elder Craig Abotossaway and the Bass Creek Drummers, who will send the GLCC members off with a travelling song and a prayer.
Of course, all events are subject to weather, but there are also a host of individual recreational opportunities such as horseback riding, hiking at the Cup and Saucer Trail, skateboarding and a pump track, tennis courts, museum tours and charter fishing.
“We can arrange transport for those who need it,” assured Ms. Turner.
