Popular VHF broadcast for North Channel visitors
LITTLE CURRENT—For the past two decades, Roy Eaton and the Little Current Yacht Club’s Cruiser’s Net have been connecting boaters in the North Channel and helping to enhance the community to the benefit of the Port of Little Current and businesses across Manitoulin Island through the popular VHF radio program broadcast from the Anchor Inn.
This season the program recorded call-ins from 4,159 boaters on a variety of vessels, large and small.
The Expositor caught up with Mr. Eaton as he was finishing up the season to chat about the past 20 years and what has kept him and his supporters going strong for so long.
Mr. Eaton related how, more than 20 years ago, he and his wife Margaret travelled to the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas where he discovered there was a VHF radio program that serviced boaters called The Cruisers’ Net.
Upon returning home and taking part in the creation of the Little Current Yacht Club, Mr. Eaton regaled the group looking to set up a yacht club in Little Current about his experiences in the Bahamas.
“We really didn’t have anything to offer at that time,” noted Mr. Eaton. Of course, since then the LCYC has instituted youth and adult sailing programs, hosted a plethora of local and international races, held its popular WD-40 for the Mind lecture series at the Anchor Inn in Little Current and many gatherings aimed at fostering links among the boating community in the North Channel. “But we were just starting out back then.”
LCYC Commodore Bruce O’Hare, then proprietor of The Anchor Inn along with his wife Kelly, recalls, “Roy was telling us all about this Cruiser’s Net thing, but to be perfectly honest, I really didn’t understand what he was talking about.”
Mr. O’Hare and his wife wound up taking a trip to the Abacos themselves the next year and he got the opportunity to experience the Cruiser’s Net for himself—and he was sold.
“When we came back the Anchor Inn bought all the stuff, radios and antenna, to set up the Little Current Yacht Club Cruiser’s Net,” he said. “But it was really Roy who did all the heavy lifting. Since then, the Anchor upgraded the equipment with better radios and antennas when needed.” The Anchor Inn also provided a venue for the daily summer broadcasts and LCYC Cruiser’s Net gatherings (albeit for a very short period the broadcasts took place at Mr. Eaton’s North Channel home due to a temporary technical glitch).
Mr. O’Hare said that once they got underway, the LCYC Cruiser’s Net broadcasts soon took on a life of their own.
Denise Lytle, current owner of the Anchor Inn along with her husband Chris has continued that tradition of support for the program when they took over the hotel and restaurant a few years ago.
“Roy is amazing,” said Ms. Lytle. “We were happy to continue to host him and the LCYC Cruiser’s Net when we bought the hotel and restaurant. We’ve had to move him around occasionally, but he has always been so graceful and grateful for everything. The LCYC Cruiser’s Net is a great asset to us and the entire Island community.”
It is a sentiment shared by Mr. O’Hare, who was equally effusive in his praise for Mr. Eaton and his volunteer efforts. “He has been a big asset to the Port of Little Current,” he said. “As a dedicated volunteer the boating community owes him a lot.”
For the uninitiated, the LCYC Cruiser’s Net broadcasts on VHF Channel 71, reporting each morning during July and August. Among the subjects relayed by Mr. Eaton are the marine weather, world and local news, sports and community events, but one of the most important aspects is providing connections between boaters.
“Boaters are among the most community-minded people you will find anywhere in the world,” said Mr. Eaton. “When someone calls in and are in need of assistance with anything, it is only a matter of a few seconds before a nearby boater has come to help.”
From medical emergencies to simply a request from family members for the boaters to call home those connections can be an important lifeline.
The boating community does not stop there. Mr. Eaton cites recent campaigns that raised a whopping $10,000 for a children’s hospital and another at the same amount for a young girl battling cancer. “To be part of that is something really special,” he said.
These days, Mr. Eaton does a dual broadcast.
“In the beginning we were just on VHF radio,” he said, “but now I also broadcast online.”
Thanks to efforts by the North Channel Marine Tourism Council and the local marina and other business communities, Mr. Eaton also gives out “boater bags.” The bags are made of resilient material suitable for a life onboard a vessel and feature the names of the sponsoring businesses on their sides.
Among Mr. Eaton’s volunteer efforts (especially since the onset of the pandemic) is the solicitation of business brochures, maps and other items donated to the cause. That is no small job. “I gave out 230 bags this year,” said Mr. Eaton.
As to what has kept him going all these many years, the radio host barely hesitated to draw breath. “I enjoy it,” he said. “I enjoy helping boaters to help boaters and meeting people.”
Mr. Eaton’s morning sessions are usually accompanied by a (sometimes quite substantial) number of boaters who drop by in person to his broadcast booth (actually a commandeered meeting room) at the Anchor Inn. It can be a bit of a challenge to hear what is being broadcast over the radio by the boaters calling in and despite the large number of folks often in the room, it would not be untoward to hear a pin drop.
Mr. Eaton also often interviews boaters and some non-boaters who drop in. Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles being one of the more recent. Those interviews can be found by searching for LCYC Cruisers Net on Facebook.
The LCYC Cruiser’s Net host admits that he had given some consideration to hanging up his microphone as the 20th anniversary loomed on the horizon. But after consideration (and serious consultation with his wife Margaret) he has decided to keep on “as long as my health holds out.”
Those Islanders who are not “boaters” per say may not have been previously aware of just how much Island businesses have benefited from Mr. Eaton’s efforts over the past two decades—but those benefits have been substantial.
