one of the many bays on Barkley or Kentucky Lakes.

In the winter months, boating and scuba diving in the Florida Keys is their favorite destination. Although an avid power boater, Butch sails from time to time, whenever anyone will let him crew.

As Professor of Computer Drafting Technology for Kaskaskia College careerobligations result in much of the fall to spring spent in the classroom. Boating has been a part of our lives since 1986 with many hours of travel and skiing. As more leisure time became available, we began to visit the marinas, resorts and boat shows. Our conversation moved from ski boats to yachts. Barkley and Kentucky Lakes had long been favor boating locations. We could anchor in a cove, walk the shoreline or cruise the waterways. We found good food, good accommodations and good friends.

Our friend, Tom Pape, gave some great leads and provided a positive insight about Green Turtle Bay Resort. The day we boarded the former “Special Lady” our interest grew the most and the 1986 Carver 4207 Aft Cabin was ours. Convenience of the pier was the primary consideration, but we quickly found that the friendly nature of the people at Kentucky and Barkley Lakes as well as Green Turtle Bay Resort bring are what truly make the trips, the cost and the boating season worthy of our precious relaxation time. We have found that which we were seeking.
 

Duane Statler - Rear Commodore Rene' and I reside on pier 10 with our 1st mates Kramer and Cosmo on a 310 Sundancer, "Satisfaction".  We moved to GTB in March of 2007 from Lake of the Ozarks. I inherited my love of the water from my father who built our first boat, a 24' cruiser, in 1968.  Later on he purchased a ski boat and a house boat. Rene' and I started with our own boat, a  Sea Ray Sundeck 240 in 2003.  We spent the summer weekends traveling to various lakes from Dale Hollow to Table Rock and many in between seeing the natural beauty in the Midwest.  In 2005 we upgraded to our current cruiser so we could spend more weekends at the lake.    Stuart "Stu" Schwalm - Fleet Captain, Long Range Crusing Stu and Marcia have been boating since 1976 when he brought home life jackets and announced that the family was going to buy a sail boat.  Today, 32 years later, Stu and Marcia no longer sail.  As Stu says, “We don’t have one good knee between the two of us”, therefore, it’s now a power boat.  Retiring in 2005 as a systems improvement (LEAN, ISO, 6Sigma) manager at General Dynamics Land Systems, Stu started the search for “their” perfect power boat.  Two years and 10,000 miles of travel the search took them to Hamilton, ON, to purchase the Canadian built, “Silver Lady”, and a lady she is!  She is a custom built, 35 foot, diesel powered, all-aluminum fast trawler.  Launched at GTB in May 2007, she found a permanent home on pier 4 amongst those beautiful sailboats.  Stu and Marcia now live in West Virginia. They come to their boat year-round several weeks at a time, going home to recoup/recover. They discovered GTB and CYC via a search on the internet.  After sailing for years on the Great Lakes, they thought it was time to encounter smoother waters, i.e., on top of the water, not under it. GTB was originally to be jumping off point for a Great Loop adventure; however, now pier 4 will be home port as Stu and Marcia are comfortable exploring the rivers, bays and coves.     Long time members of the United States Power Squadron, they are now members of the Kanawah River Power Squadron in Charleston, WV.  Always looking to improve his piloting skills, Stu is currently enrolled in a series of advanced navigation courses.  For Stu and Marcia, GTB and CYC brings friendship of true boaters.  They enjoy meeting not only GTB members but also transients.   They have made lasting friends with several “Loopers”.  All these people have spoken highly of GTB and CYC for the friendliness of the members and staff and the first class facilities.  In short, Stu and Marcia are glad to be apart of the GTB/CYC family.   Kim Hall - Fleet Captain, Short Range Cruising     Eddie Beeny - Fleet Captain, Commonwealth Cup Regatta John Pinney - Fleet Captain, Sunfish Sailing Fleet   Ann Donnelly - Recording Secretary     Pat Jones - Treasurer

and humanities teacher in both Jefferson and Marshall Counties in Kentucky.  During the 35 years she and her husband have lived in the lakes area of western Kentucky, along with their children Alyn and Ashley, they navigated the lakes and the rivers of the area in boats ranging from ancient fishing boats to houseboats and cruisers, most often named Teacher’s Pet.  When Bob passed away in 2007, Sharon chose to remain in western Kentucky close to the beloved lakes and friends the family made while boating. 

She has served as chairman of the Fine Arts Departments in the high schools in which she taught, most recently in Marshall County, which borders Kentucky Lake.  She has also served on state and local committees involving the arts, both in education and within the community.  She has directed school and community theatre productions, and has been active in local community theatre.  Her training includes degrees and studies within the areas of Art, Ancient History and Writing.

More recently, she is a writer for a gardening website, occasionally for the Nauti News, and is currently involved in writing a book about the native medicinal plants of Kentucky.

As an artist, she does several commissioned paintings as time allows, and spends much of her free time in her flower gardens, photographing, painting, and researching every bud and bloom.  Other hobbies include quilting, restoration of historic handmade furniture and fabrics, and photographical studies of the lakes and surrounding plant and wildlife.  She is also director of the Courtroom Gallery, an art gallery which shows the work of community artists.  It is located on the second floor of the historic courthouse located on the square in downtown Benton, KY.

Alyn and Ashley grew up and moved away, but both continue to live near the water in Florida and in northern Illinois.  They never forgot their roots, nor the boating friends who influenced their lives.  Sharon now has a 4 year old grandson, Ethan, who is not only made in her image, but is also the love of her life and an avid boater.  She is looking forward to creating a scrapbook that will hold all the stories and photos that make up the history of the Commonwealth Yacht Club.  More importantly, she looks forward to continuing friendships through the club.

Mark’s dream of sailing became a reality when six years ago he sold his large canvas company, relocated his home to Grand Rivers and started a small, family-owned canvas and boat graphics company which he runs with his wife, Susan and their son, Caleb.  Mark quickly discovered that when you live this close to the lake, you really need to own a boat and purchased his sailboat, a 30’ S2 9.2.  Mark sails his red-hulled sailboat, Varangian, with Susan.  When not working in his shop, you can usually locate Mark and Susan on their boat and, if not there, hanging out at the CYC (the two stools located at the left-sided end of the bar).

In 1999, Mark’s company designed the sea anchors used by Tori Murden, to help in her successful quest to become the first woman and the first American to row unsupported across the Atlantic in the SECTOR NO LIMITS sponsored American Pearl.  Mark has also made canvas for the famous African Queen and the River Rat.

Mark is a member of the Kentucky Lakes Sailing Club (KLSC) and also crews on a 35.5 Hunter during the KLSC racing season.  Mark is also Vice President of the Grand Rivers Chamber of Commerce and has been an essential member of the Grand River’s Hunter’s Moon Festival Committee for the past 3 years.

Pat and his wife Patty have enjoyed boating since they were teenagers.  They taught their daughter, Tara to ski at age seven and hope to enjoy many years introducing their granddaughter Ella and son-in-law Scott to the boating life.  Pat decided to buy a house boat so he could have his family and friends visit and enjoy all the beautiful surroundings at Green Turtle Bay.

Since Pat and Patty are both retired they spend their time between GTB and Springfield, Illinois.

Pat’s background was in the Environmental field with the State of Illinois.  It is his hope to use this knowledge to increase environmental awareness.

During our first summer here we traded in our run-about for a 24 ft. Suncruiser pontoon, named Hunky Dory.  When I went to rent our covered boat slip on Pier 9C, Bill Gary IV asked if we would be interested in joining the Yacht Club.  I laughed, and said "With a pontoon boat?"  He said "Sure!".  We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to meet other people with the same love of the water as us and have been grateful for that decision ever since. 

We have made many wonderful  new friends and thoroughly enjoy our time spent at CYC as well as time spent boating on the lakes.  Cecile has been in the broadcast industry for the past 26 years.  She has been employed for the past 8 years as a broadcast equipment salesperson for Broadcasters General Store located in Ocala, FL, and works from her home office.
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her discovery of the area lakes.  Bev quickly moved to mono-hulls with a Hunter 23.5 and then to a Hunter 30 where she spent her weekends. Bev has sailed on the Lake Michigan, the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and also sailed in Puerto Cervo, Sardinia , where she met several of the crew from Alingi in 2000. What a thrill!

In 2002, Bev married her best friend, Harry Reed, a fellow sailor who has also sailed for a number of years.  Harry introduced  Bev, who previously loved cruising, to racing on Kentucky Lake and she was never the same.  They have since raced and cruised a number of boats.  Harry took first place in the 2006 Club Series JAM B Fleet on his Cal 27 and Bev took second place in the JAM A Fleet on her Hunter 33.  Last year, they decided to size up and bought their Hunter 54, Windblown.  You can find Bev &/or Harry at any point in time, working on one of their boats.  They still have a Cal 27, J/22, Cal 20, Holder 20, J/27 and three Sunfish, in addition to the others.  The Holder 20 was the boat they accidentally sunk on March 1, 2006, and didn’t know if they were going to drown, freeze, or go over KY Dam.  After a good bit of hypothermia, Bev screamed and got some attention.  Not that Bev ever needs attention or anything!  10 days later, Bev & Harry recuperated, repaired the boat, and took it to Harbor Island , TN and placed 3^rd.  Yep, they love sailing! Bev and Harry have also been extremely active in the promotion of the Commonwealth Cup.

While Bev’s passion is sailing, she also has a love of her business, commercial insurance.  She has been in the insurance industry for 24 years and has been employed by Western Rivers Insurance since 2005 as a commercial lines agent.  In addition, Bev teaches several continuing education insurance courses for Professional Insurance Agents of Kentucky.  She is a former member of Insurance Women of Marshall County and Insurance Women of Chattanooga.  She holds her Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designation as well as her Certified Insurance Counselor and Certified Insurance Service Representative designations.  She holds a bachelor degree from Murray State University in Organizational Communication.

Bev has also been very instrumental in several non-profit and civic organizations.  She is a former secretary and a director of Kentucky Lake Sailing Club and served on the board of directors for 2 years. She previously also held the position of Scribe for three years, handling the communication tasks and newsletter in the club as well.  Bev previously served as a co-chair on the Paducah Rotary Antique Quilt Show Promotions Committee, where she was a member of the club from 2005 to 2008.  Formerly, she id currently a member of the Murray Rotary Club,  where she served currently is a Paul Harris Fellow, Chairman of the Murray Rotary Ham Breakfast committee, and previously served as Chairman of the Christmas Parade Committee, Chairman of the Soap Box Derby for 2 years, and Co-Chairman of the Membership Committee and Attendance Committees.  Bev is also previously served on the 2007-08 United Way of Paducah and McCracken County Campaign Cabinet.

A proud grandmother of three, Peyton, 11, Hailey, 9, and Weylin, 4, Bev also loves to ride horses and shares a love of living in the country with Harry.