INSIDE:

Smooth Sailing

Jewish yacht club celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Clockwise from top left:
Commodore Arnold
Lantor and his wife,
Beverly, aboard
their powerboat,
Rags 2 Riches.

Former Commodore
Eve Kommel remembers
when women weren't
allowed as GLYC
club members.

The club offers a
tranquil harbor.

CORY HAMILTON

Special to the Jewish News

hen Scottish emigre
Dugald Cameron asked
in a nearly impenetra-
ble brogue about join-
ing Great Lakes Yacht Club back in
1974, admissions director Eve
Kommel thought it was a practical
joke. When she told Cameron the
club was pritharily Jewish, he deliv-
ered the unintended punch line: "Do
I have to convert?"
Great Lakes Yacht Club (GLYC)
was founded in 1952 by a small,
devoted group of sailors who were
barred from membership elsewhere
because of being Jewish. Originally
located just east of Waterworks Park
on the Detroit River, GLYC relocated
to its current Jefferson Avenue site in
1954. Members constructed a club-
house with money borrowed from 17
members of the Jewish community.
Built in part on excavation fill from
the Chrysler Freeway, GLYC became a
hidden oasis in St. Clair Shores, locat-
ed at the south end of Lake St. Clair's
"Nautical Mile," on Jefferson, between

Community
Calendar

86

Mazel
Toy!

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Nine and 10'/2 Mile roads.
"Two years ago, the club grounds
were completely renovated, including
the park area," said current GLYC
Commodore Arnold Lantor (a title
equivalent to president).
"New docks were installed the entire
length of the channel, and new water,
electric and phone services were con-
nected to each well. New lighting was
installed along the docks and the
club's heavy equipment was
improved," he said.
This year, as the club celebrates its
50th anniversary, GLYC boasts 170
members and 125 wells (spaces) for
sailboats and powerboats up to 60 feet
long — placing GLYC among metro
Detroit's medium-sized yacht clubs. It
also is one of the most well respected
yacht clubs in the region, a pleasant
development considering that GLYC
was turned down repeatedly for mem-
bership in the Detroit River Yachting
Association (but accepted in 1962,
nine years after filing its first applica-
tion).
The growth of GLYC is a result of
members who feel that competitive
and recreational boating pertains more

9/ 6
2002

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