Yacht Club Inducts Sue Webster First Woman Commodore
New Officers Elected at 68-Year-Old Club
By Karen Gould

New officers were inducted into the Mackinac Island Yacht Club on Sunday, September 4 and include (from left): Secretary Stephen Schiller, Treasurer David Rowe, Rear Commodore Jack Keck, Jr., Commodore Sue Webster, Vice-Commodore Win Cooper, III, Club Chaplain Rev. Vincent Carroll, Past Commodore Richard Cregar, Past Commodore Bill Platten; Fleet Surgeon Dr. Yvan Silva; executive committee member Rita Sue Cohen, and Past Commodore Bart Huthwaite, Sr.

Commodore Sue Webster sits on the front porch of the Mackinac Island Yacht Club and talks of her ideas for the coming year. Before her is the Mackinac Island harbor, and at her feet, organized in file folders, are her goals and plans.

She is the first woman at the helm of the 68-year-old club, and she brings 30 years of club membership with her. She and her husband, Len, have sailed the Chicago-to-Mackinac and the Port Huron-to-Mackinac races and have worked on many club projects. At her home in Chicago, she is a financial and organization operations consultant.

As commodore, she is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the club and works with club manager Tim McCleery to ensure the club and food service meet member expectations.

She sees a strong advantage to having club members from Detroit, Chicago, Florida, California, and the East Coast and would like to see the directors lead committees and participate in club projects.

“My goal is to work with the board to become actively involved with the club committees,” she said. “I would like to see committees communicating with the executive board on a monthly basis.”

Her special projects will center around getting more members to participate on committees and expand Island sailing races. Her long-term goal is to establish a community sailing school. Eventually she would like the club to have several boats available and a person on staff for instruction.

Mrs. Webster succeeds Bart Huthwaite as commodore and took office during change-of-watch ceremonies Sunday, September 4. Other 2006 club officers include Vice Commodore Winfield “Coop” Cooper III of Fenton, Rear Commodore Jack Keck, Jr. of Grosse Point Woods, Treasurer David Rowe of Flushing, and Secretary Steven Schiller of Chicago.

The former cottage now housing the Mackinac Island Yacht Club was purchased from George Sweeney and is on land leased from the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. The club offers seven rooms for rent by members, and, in keeping with the “Island-feel,” said Mrs. Webster, the rooms do not have televisions or telephones.

“It’s a good place to come to not get distracted and to tune out the rest of the world,” she said.

Thursday evening dinners and Sunday brunches at the club offer an opportunity for members to get together. Club members also can arrange for special parties at the club.

Every fall, members participate in a work weekend to get the cottage ready for winter and to make the May opening run smoothly.

“I’ve painted almost every room over the years,” said Mrs. Webster.

This year’s work weekend is October 15 and 16. The club will be closed for the winter October 17.

The club boasts 300 members and has 94 people on its waiting list. The next person in line to be offered an opening at the limited membership club has been on the list since January 20, 2001.