Page 44 - 2015 Lake St. Clair Guide Magazine

Continued

Well done! Nice boat from page
dock in St. Clair Shores 38 Interest-
ing People on

the Water...

and Dale is on

call 24/7, wife

Cindy agreed

to also live the

lifestyle and

for the last 20

years has been

the head house-

keeper. Between the two, they manage a 50 person staff that ser-

vices 160 members and their families, overseeing every aspect of

the resort from building construction to building beautiful floral

arrangements.

Since you need to take

a ferry across to Harsen’s Island,

then add another 15 minute drive

to the very end of the island, Conin-sdiyteisflothriest
Dale and Cindy have structured
the Club’s daily needs to be as

self-sufficient as possible. Since the Club is not easily accessible,

it is very costly to get deliveries that far out and a lot of things

most companies would send out for hire must be done in-house.

Interestingly, of the staff of 50, around 20 are students.

Most are on internships and live on site. Several are hospitality

majors from Northwood Institute in Midland, MI. Picturing a

Dirty Dancing type atmosphere I asked one of the students if they

all get together often and have bon fires or their own small dance

parties. I was told they all work a lot of hours, and some’s sched-

ules are late into the night… and they are always on call. So like

Does this “party craft” below us, after a hard day’s work they
need a boat registration?
usually just go to their own The Old
Yes it does, and yes it did. You don’t need a registration if room and relax. Club’s own
your boat is only propelled by paddles/oars and is under One of Dale’s many
responsibilities is running the water &
16’ long... this vessel had a trolling motor Club’s own water and sewage sewage
so requires a registration. Love it! plant; the latest system has plant
been in place for almost 20

years. Actually, the Old Club

has been treating their water

longer than anyone on Harsen’s

Island. In the fall, they shut

down the water for the entire

compound and blow out

all the lines. Dale’s house Being self-sufficient also

then reverts back to the way means Dale is the Fire Chief
original Harsen’s Islanders’ with his own truck on-site.
lived, actually some people

on the Island still do this …

they use water right from

the St. Clair River to bathe,

cook, and, brush their teeth.

The day I toured

this gated club, there was a

visiting boat club from

PagPeh4o4to courtesy of Harry Vonschmittou @ the 2014 Raft Off no Continued on Page 54...... use of information contained herein
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