October 2014 BEACON

From the Editor… Autumn is upon us now, and for NCYC the members all came together the last two weekends to clean up and close up the Clubhouse and Island for it’s long winters nap. The fall work weekends were well attended by our members, again willing to lend a helping hand to ready the Club for the winter season. Some large repair and renovation projects were set well underway, to prepare us for the spring reopening. Thank you to all the members who turned out to help! I read some interesting news posted by the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory on spring water levels recently; “This time of year is normally the season when Great Lakes lake levels begin to fall. Lakes Michigan-Huron, and Lake Superior have continued to rise, even up to now. When we look at the current rise in levels on Lake Michigan-Huron versus the normal fall, we may have just gained almost six inches. In other words, if all of the rest of fall and winter go exactly normal, Lake Michigan-Huron will start next season's water rise six inches higher than last spring. And that's if everything is normal. Lake Michigan-Huron is heading toward its peak water level in this month of October. If Lake Michigan-Huron peaks this month, it will be only the fifth time in the last 155 years the high water mark is in this fall month“ (Mark Torregrossa, Mlive.com Chief Meteorologist). The rise is due to the widespread heavy rain received in early October throughout Michigan. That's a quick way to bring higher water levels to the Great Lakes – we’ll take it! Please look inside for the up and coming such as; The Calendar of Events, First Mates Appreciation Dinner, and NCYC Ski/Snowmobile Weekend. Brent Malik Director, Publications “if your ship hasn’t come in, swim out to it…”