It is proper and fitting that the history of a club like Crescent be replete with races won and lost and champions crowned. Nevertheless, such an organization would be a poor one indeed if in between the ear-splitting race starts and finishes, members contributed nothing.

To that end, it is the purpose of the writer to pay credit to those who show their dedication to Crescent, not only by winning laurels on the triangles, but by diligently laboring and serving the ends of our adept and valiant skippers and crews.

Heading this group in 1959 were Club Flag Officers: Commodore E.G. Poxon, Jr.; Vice Commodore Frank Taylor and Rear Commodore Dr. Robert D. Glaesner.

As the members emerged from a dull winter marked only by the New Year’s party and regular meetings, it’s big annual social event the Commodores Ball was held May 9th at the Whittier Hotel.

April 18th, a resounding turn-out of members marked workday. Another harbinger of a busy season was the starting of activity on the preparation for the Lightning Internationals to be held in August.

It was evident that Crescent members are moving ahead economically too. The membership, static for years at about 175, has become so affluent that cars now fill the parking lot. Two-car families are commonplace and three-car units cause only a slight raising of eyebrows.

Our Regatta date was shuffled this year with good reason - to clear the date for the Lightning Internationals in Mid-August. The alternate date July 4th was auspicious and we celebrated it with our usual fine weather and a large D.R.Y.A. fleet of some 180 yachts hit the starting line in more than a score of classes.

The shadow of coming events began on July 12 and 13 when 20 Thistles raced for the District Championship and Jerry Jenkins took first, Doug Wake took second and Herb Mainwaring took third. In fact Crescent took the first seven places. About that time our International Champion Hank Cawthra sailed his Lightning to victory in the Sears Quarter Finals. In the District Lightning Championships, Al Allardyce, Chuck Grant and Dave Fairchild won places as starters in the President’s Cup Races. In the Internationals and President’s Cup Races held in a period covering August 19-21 inclusive, our twice crowned International Champion Cawthra ran into poor luck and disqualified himself in one race, which in itself removes a skipper from contention in such a hotly contested event. Until that occurrence, he was once again a top contender. Upwards of a hundred boats sailed in the Internationals and President’s Cup events, each group starting five races.

Early in the fall, Jerry Jenkins with Jim Baude crewing won the Thistle Nationals and undaunted by his earlier loss, Hank Cawthra won the Kentall Series. With Nan Millies at the helm and Judy Poxon and Carol Cawthra crewing, the girls came home champions of the D.R.Y.A. in that Junior event. Fall workday was held on October 17th and on the 20th at a special meeting, the membership authorized a $24.00 assessment against each senior resident member. The funds to be used for re-routing the power supply and replacing the water line.

On October 16, 1959 the membership was saddened at the death of retired Bosun William Andrews who had served the club for several years.

Our former Commodore Ted Barbier serves the Inter-Lake Yachting Association as Vice Commodore in this year and Past Commodore Art Rautenberg is Vice Commodore of the Detroit River Yachting Association. In his annual report, Commodore Poxon did a fine resume of club activities for 1959 saying, "We remodeled our galley, again shored up our club house, built a new gin pole, ran two sizable regattas, shot hundreds of starts for club races, sent cruising families to Metropolitan Beach, Georgian Bay and the Caribbean, lost one champion and gained another."

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