GORE BAY—The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) selected the North Channel and Gore Bay for its first cruise of a fresh water venue.
Lyn Comfort, a member of the NYYC and organizer of this voyage, told fellow members, “this is the first time the club has ever taken a cruise in a freshwater location, so you are all pioneers.” The club enjoyed a scrumptious fish dinner hosted by the Gore Bay Rotary Club last Friday evening.
Mr. Comfort told the Recorder, “we have never been to this area before. This is the first time the New York Yacht Club has visited and will be sailing in a fresh water venue.” He explained the NYYC was first formed in 1844 and the club has between 3,200 and 3,500 members worldwide, including Canada.
“We are chartering 11 yachts from the Canadian Yacht Charters here in Gore Bay for nine days,” said Mr. Comfort, adding that part of the itinerary is a trip to Bear Drop Harbour, Benjamin Islands, Baie Fine and Killarney.
“We have about 50 people on hand for our trip,” said Mr. Comfort. “We have a cruising committee within the club and we have held these ‘Cruise in Company’ type trips for our members in various locations, such as Maine, the Caribbean and probably San Francisco next year. We look at it as a great way for members to get together and get to know each other. We try to select areas to visit that members might not normally travel to on their own.”
“I know personally I’ve been waiting 40 years since I first sailed the Great Lakes and heard about the North Channel to visit,” said Mr. Comfort. “This year we were finally able to make it happen.”
Chip Loomis is a past commodore of the NYYC (in 1996). “My idea originally was that the club could be missing out on some great cruising areas like the North Channel. So we started the cruise committee to get more members involved.”
“Our Cruise in Company trips have provided a mixture of charter and sailboating, as far as Sicily, Italy, the Vancouver area, the Galapagos Islands, Alaska, Greenland, Antarctica, and for the first time, this year we are cruising the North Channel. It’s a lot of fun,” said Mr. Loomis.
“I haven’t been up here at all, it’s my first visit,” said Mr. Loomis. “One of our members cruised this area a couple of summers ago and helped plan the itinerary for this trip. Ken (Blodgett) and CYC have been great in accommodating us. We started to talk to Ken about this trip over a year ago and everything has worked out great. What a beautiful place to visit.”
Mr. Blodgett welcomed the members of the NYYC to Gore Bay and the North Channel, after the Rotary hosted dinner.
