CALLING ALL

OLD GOATS MEMBERS!

By Ray Adams (pictured)

Bayview Mackinac Old Goats Chairman

The Society of Mackinac Island Goats, Bayview Yacht Club Detroit Chapter is looking for all members to check in and make sure your mailing address, phone numbers, and email are correct. We are trying to update and correct any errors in our master list.  We want to be able to better inform Old Goat Members of upcoming events. With over 500 members, it is more of a challenge to pass on information so we are asking your help.
 
An Old Goat is someone who has participated in 25 or more BYC Port Huron to Mackinac Races.  There are now nine sailors who have completed 50 or more Bayview Mackinac Races who are called Grand Rams. There are presently 31 Double Old Goats.  These sailors have completed 25 Bayview and Chicago Mackinac Races.  If your status has changed in any of these categories, please let us know.

If you or someone you know has had a change in personal information or would like an application for membership, please contact the Bayview Office at 313-822-1853 or on line at:  www.byc.com 

This year our Old Goats Roast was on Wednesday, May 8th.  The sailors Roasted this year were:

An Old Goat is a sailor who has sailed twenty five or more Bayview Port Huron to Mackinac Races. Racing sailors count their Mackinac Races like some people count birthdays and anniversaries. Ask any real sailor how many Mackinac Races they have sailed, an immediate an accurate response will be forthcoming. Competing in and finishing 25 races to Mackinac Island is a significant accomplishment and Old Goats are honored to be listed among other sailors that have attained this status.

Since the first Mackinac Race in 1925, Bayview Yacht Club has hosted this spectacular annual fresh water event which has attracted intrepid sailors from around the globe. The first fleet of only nine boats were battered by strong winds and only three finished. Today we host more than two hundred fifty racing yachts for the annual trek from Port Huron to Mackinac Island. Whether sailing the traditional Shore Course or the longer Cove Island or South Hampton Course, it is an exciting and challenging adventure and sailors must face every conceivable type of challenge mother nature can present. From big waves and high wind to black flies and intolerable heat, the sailors press on to finish yet another Mackinac Race.

The SOCIETY OF MACKINAC ISLAND OLD GOATS was formed in the 1950's by Bayview sailors who by then had sailed twenty five races. Names like Bobbie Roadstrum, George E. Van, Commodores Bill Nagel, Stan Puddiford and Trent McMath, Ted Coggin and Bobbie Bryant had all sailed Mackinac Races in the 1920's and were inspired when the Chicago Yacht Club created its prestigious Island Goat Sailing Society. The Chicago Race was first sailed in 1889, but had a short hiatus during the war years. Bayview’s race, has run continuously pursuant to a letter from the Office of the President of the United States during WW II approving and encouraging the continuation of the event, notwithstanding the world conflict. The term “Goat” is of unknown origin, although it has been suggested that a sailor arriving on Mackinac Island after several days at sea might carried the aroma of an old goat *.

In 1998 Bayview Yacht Club Society of Mackinac Island Old Goats created a new classification marking an important milestone attained by only a few Bayview Mackinac Race sailors. The society recognizes, with special honors, sailors who have sailed FIFTY OR MORE Port Huron to Mackinac Races. This honor and designation makes such sailors GRAND RAMS. Since the yacht BERINDA first crossed the finish line on the Straits in Mackinac on July 25, 1925 more than four hundred sailors have become Old Goats, but as of 2010 only nine intrepid soles have sailed 50 regattas and they are as follows:


Charles Bayer
Rick Grow
George Hendrie
Fred Kreger
Gerry Leone
John Nadeau, Sr.
Ken Rasmussen
Lee Smith
George E. Van, Sr.*

Having sailed fifty or more Mackinac Races requires more than one hundred twenty days on the water and some
fourteen thousand miles of sailing. They have likely endured more then one hundred thunder storms and
suffered through five hundred or more watch changes.

In 2004, in cooperation with the Chicago Yacht Club, those tenacious sailors that have sailed twenty five or
more of BOTH the Bayview Port Huron to Mackinac Race and the Chicago Yacht Club Mackinac Race
have been honored as DOUBLE OLD GOATS.

These distinguished sailors have become members of both the Island Goats Sailing Society under the auspicious of the
Chicago Yacht Club and the Bayview Yacht Club Society of Mackinac Island Old Goats. The list of honorees of earning
DOUBLE GOAT status is as follows:


William D. Alcott

Tom Anderson
John D. Boyle*
Lawrence R. Brink*
Al Declercq
Michael J. Feldman
George S. Hendrie, Jr.
Marc Hollerbach
Richard Jennings
Mark G. Jurcak
Fred W. Kreger
Perry Lewis
Louis H. Lindeman
E. Earl Lyden
William C. Martin

Gene T. McCarthy

George B. McCroskey Jr.

Michael A. McDonald

Andy McCormack
Nils L. Muench*
John L. Nedeau, Sr.
Samuel P. Nedeau
Robert K. Nutter

J. Stuart Pettitt

Mark W. Pinney Sr.
Peter W. Reichelsdorfer
Paul G. Snow
George M. Uznis
George E. Van*
William R. Wagner
Robert J. Wiesen



Membership in the Bayview yacht Club Society of Mackinac Island Old Goats is attained by the submission of a

membership application which is available on Bayview’s website. A listing of the completed races is required.

For additional information or to order an Old Goat blazer patch or other Bayview Old Goat logo clothing,

please contact the Bayview office or the chairman.

The Society of Mackinac Island Old Goats

Founded to honor those distinguished sailors who have completed 25 Bayview Mackinac races.  New and existing Members
are honored each year at the Mackinac awards ceremony and at the annual Old Goats Roast at Bayview.

Society of Grand Rams

The Society of Grand Rams was founded to honor those distinguished sailors who have completed 50 Bayview Mackinac races.

Double Goat Honor Roll

The Double Goat Honor Roll commemorates sailors who have completed a minimum of 25 Bayview Mackinac and 25 Chicago Mackinac Races, thereby gaining membership into both the Society of Mackinac Island Old Goats, Detroit and the Island Goats Sailing Society, Chicago.

STRAITS OF MACKINAC SOCIETY

Old Fort" Designation