Dan Lyons, 1936-2007

Our old sailing friend, and father of long-time Midwest Sailing and Portage Yacht Club staffer Rick Lyons, has left this world.

Dan was a very capable sailor, whether in his Sunfish or, later, the Interlake. Quiet and affable, he was a fixture in racing on Portage Lake for some 35 years. Dan, Rick and I won a Flying Scot North Americans in, what, 1973(?) at Riverside YC in Connecticut. I think it was the first and maybe last time Dan raced on salt water! Dan was as good a crew as he was a helmsman.

Here is a nice write-up about Dan that I found (thanks to Google) on the PYC website, written by Rick last year.

The obit forwarded yesterday by sister Ruth:

Daniel Tibbals Lyons, 70, of Pinckney died Wednesday, March 7, 2007. He was born March 28, 1936 in Toledo, Ohio, the son of James and Belva Lyons. He was the owner of Ashley Auto Service in Ann Arbor and a long-time sailor at Portage Yacht Club. He was preceded in death by his parents and wife, Carole Freeman Lyons. He is survived by his son, Rick (Cheryl) Lyons; his daughter, Laura Rodenbeck; his step-daughter, Atessa Khazaeli; his mother-in-law, Opal Freeman; his sister, JoAnn (Larry) Shaw; his aunt, Annabelle Ehnis; five grandchildren, several cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. A memorial service will be held at Shalom Lutheran Church (1740 East M-36, Pinckney, MI 48169) on Thursday, March 22 at 2 p.m. Family will receive visitors at the church on Thursday from noon until the time of service. Those who wish may direct memorial contributions to the American Heart Association.

Our condolences to the entire family, especially Rick and his sister Laura with whom the Ehman kids literally grew up at Portage Lake.

YP

Peter Huston (pronounced liked the Americans say "Houston", as in the city) is often referenced here on the EFB, and is a frequent contributor to the widely-read Scuttlebutt (North America) sailing newsletter.

A bit of a gadfly, but one of the keenest observers of the passing sailing scene, Peter has been a good friend since our USYRU days in the 80s. He is a native of cold, snowy Buffalo where he once again resides, though when we met years ago he was running the sailing program at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach, CA. Thanks to Peter, we once raced together from Newport to Ensenada with America's Most Trusted Man.

When I gave a talk at Portage YC a few weeks back on the America's Cup, "YP" (as in "Young Peter," since he was among the youngest, to say nothing of one of the most outspoken, delegates to USYRU in those days) drove over to Ann Arbor for the night, getting the long distance award. He wrote this nice piece on the talk for a Great Lakes sailing newsletter....


America's Cup News, by Peter Huston: "Don, Thought you might like this report for the newsletter on the BMW Oracle Racing presentation I attended this weekend. Peter

BMW Oracle Racing Yacht Club presentation: This past weekend, I was the guest of Tom Ehman, who is the Chairman of the Executive Committee for the BMW Oracle Racing Team, the Golden Gate YC's entry into the coming America's Cup, at special presentation of the plans for the Cup next spring in Valencia, Spain. Tom spoke at the Portage Yacht Club, located on Portage Lake which is just west of Ann Arbor, MI.

The presentation centered around "What's New for 32" - meaning the improvements in the structure of the event so that is more understandable and interesting for the audience. Most of these changes have been well reported by the general sailing press over the past few years, and particular on the BMW Oracle blog. Simply put, the earlier regattas, called "ACTS", were vastly more accessible to the general public as they traveled throughout Europe. The ACC rule has been tightened up so that the boats are going to be more even in speed, hence the racing will be closer than ever. It is likely that one of the "Big Three" - Emirates Team New Zealand, BMW Oracle, or Luna Rosa will win the Louis Vuitton Cup and hence the right to sail in the America's Cup against the defender Alinghi, but it is also likely that these teams will lose occassional races to the up and coming teams. In any event, the racing will be more interesting than ever.

While some lament the good old days of a simpler time in the Cup, the fact is that the changes in the event, which are model after Formula One auto racing, are just another example of a natural progression and growth in the sport. The America's Cup gives the sport a great deal - a large percentage of technical advancements in the sport start in the America's Cup because this is where the R&D money is available to test new technology. I remember seeing the first 3DL sails in the '92 Cup.

But more than the technology development is the global media attention the Cup gives to the sport. Many people wonder how to "grow the sport" - we need to look no further than the America's Cup, and related events. Tom spoke of his trip last weekend to Malaysia for the Monsoon Cup, which by his estimate (and he's been involved in 8 prior Cups and countless other major championships, including the Olympics) had the largest TV audience ever, with a global TV footprint of 1.6 Billion (yes, Billion) homes, which was accomplished through Sail.tv. Not all homes of course tuned in, but no sailing event has ever had that sort of reach.

The America's Cup validates the sport of sailing as a desirable sponsor opportunity. While I have no real specific information, I think it is safe to assume that BMW is not partnering with Oracle Racing because they hope to eventually sell Larry Ellison an M6. BMW and Allianz know that their significant investments in Oracle Racing pay meaningful global marketing dividends. And one must consider that it is not just the money that is at stake for these companies - their very brand reputation is at stake. They have analyzed every sport, and picked sailing for a primary association.

Now a word about Portage YC in terms similar to our geography. This lake is no bigger than Abino Bay if it were to become a closed circle around its current radius. It is located in farm country much like Silver Lake. It is full of families that have had multiple associations with locally indigenous classes like the Interlake and Flying Scot, with the occasional Sunfish and Laser thrown in for good measure, just as we have Lighting's and now J-22's. Some of the people we race against in Lighting's, like George Fisher, race at Portage YC in Interlakes. The quality and depth of competition is similar. Indeed, Tom Ehman has won the US Sailing Championships of Champions twice.

The level of commitment to bettering the sport is evident when you look around the room during Tom's presentation and see the likes of US Sailing stalwarts Clark Chapin and Past President Bill Martin. Little Portage YC, located on a lake that is probably more a wide spot in the creek than anything else, is the type of place that makes our sport what it is. The sense of family support, long and deep roots, a casual and comfortable graciousness, a common sense approach to major accomplishments - these are the values that the likes of BMW and Allianz have elected to support when they partnered with Oracle Racing. These are the same things that all clubs have to offer to their sailing communities.

There are several excellent websites that report on the America's Cup, but for my five minutes in the morning while drinking my wakeup coffee, the one that I have come to count on for interesting information - and because it is the site of the only US based team is the BMW Oracle blog, which you can access here http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/

One team will claim the Cup around July 1 next summer. But the whole sport is going to be the big winner because of what is 'new for 32'."



650-acre (2.6 sq km) Portage Lake, between Dexter and Pinckney, Michigan, 14 miles northwest of Ann Arbor, home of the Portage Yacht Club.



TFE and YP at Portage YC after my AC talk there Saturday evening 9 December. Self-portrait on the ubiqitous Palm Treo 680. Not a great phone cam, but passable -- even in poor lighting at night.

To Hell and Back

Those of you in Michigan will especially appreciate this piece by Bill Chapin, whose parents and grandparents are long-time members of Portage Yacht Club where we all grew up. Bill graduated with, I believe, a journalism degree from Northwestern and now writes for the Port Huron (Michigan) Times Herald. This column appeared in September after the PYC Hot-to-Trot Regatta. A tip of the sombrero to Bill's dad, Clark Chapin, for sending us this....


The Name Says it All -- Visiting Port Huron Not Like Going to Hell

Originally published Friday, September 22, 2006

Last weekend, for the first time, I went to Hell.

The small lake where my father has raced sailboats since the 1960s is just five minutes up the road from Hell in Livingston County's Putnam Township. I've been going to the lake my entire life, but I'd never made the trip down -- appropriately enough -- Darwin Road to Hell.

On Saturday, some fellow sailors decided we needed to take the out-of-state visitors to the Dam Site Inn, one of three buildings in Hell. The unincorporated community of about 250 people doesn't have much to offer other than the biker bar, a general store, an ice cream parlor and a canoe livery.

For being in the middle of nowhere, the Dam Site Inn was damn crowded. The pizza was damn spicy and the band played some damn good John Mellencamp tunes.

Hell started out as swampy stop along the trail between Lansing and Dexter. In the 1830s, a New York farmer named George Reeves established a mill and general store along the creek.

According to the community's not-quite-official Web site, www.hell2u.com, the name became official on Oct. 13, 1841. Legend has it a representative from the state asked Reeves the name of his little town, and he replied, "Call it Hell for all I care!"

On my way to the bar, I called my girlfriend in Port Huron to tell her my plans for the evening.

"You have fun doing whatever you're doing tonight," I said.

"And you go to Hell," she said.

See? That gag never gets old -- which is the point. The town has made an industry out of Hell-themed kitsch. People go out of their way to get their taxes postmarked at the general store.

Perhaps this is what Port Huron is lacking. Thousands of people pass our city every day to cross the Blue Water Bridge, but most of them never exit the freeway to buy a T-shirt. "I've been to Port Huron and back" just doesn't have the same zing as Hell's version.

Other towns have changed their names to scare up some tourism. Residents of Hot Springs, N.M., in 1950 voted to change the town's name to Truth or Consequences after the NBC game show. Halfway, Ore., is now Half.com, Ore., having sold its name to an Internet company. There's Monkey's Eyebrow, Ariz.; Spuds, Fla.; Krypton, Ky.; Novelty, Mo.; Happyland, Okla.; and Oatmeal, Texas.

Surely Port Huron can come up with something equally oddball. We can't go halfway (or half.com, for that matter) on this. It's got to be something so bizarre no one could possibly pass by without getting out of the car to get a picture taken next to the "welcome" sign.

Is Bad Axe already taken? It is?

Hmmmm. Well, send me your ideas.

What I'm digging: I'm going to pull a Mitch Albom and write about something that happened after my deadline as if I had actually been there. Heirs' final show on Thursday at Military Street Music Café was amazing. Tears were shed as the band members gave a big thank you to all their fans. Great show, guys.

Contact Bill Chapin at (810) 989-0741 or bchapin@gannett.com.