Long Distance Race 

September 19, 2020

 
Bayview Yacht Club is dedicating its 2020 Long Distance Race is memory of William (“Bill”) D. Alcott who sadly passed on February 3, 2020, at the age of 83. He had been winning a battle against cancer for 14 years when it finally overtook him. Bill enjoyed life to its fullest, even during the final years of his life.

Bill was a very active sailor owning a total of twelve sailboats, seven of his boats were known famously as “Equation”.  Bill won more than his fair share of races over the years in various bodies of water. The important part of this was that he was a great competitor, wonderful owner, a team player and an engaging shipmate. Winning was important to him but more than that, Bill’s biggest focus was on keeping it FUN!  He was more than a champion at this. There were countless times over the years that the groups Bill surrounded himself with would be having so much fun that everyone in the vicinity would be sucked into the fun vortex. Win or lose, the denominator in Bill’s Equation was that “The Team” came first. He loved the gang and treated the crew like family.

Bill enjoyed the comradery of racing up the lakes to Mackinac Island having competed in 47 Bayview Mackinac and 35 Chicago Mackinac races having tallied up 7 combined overall wins.  He really loved sailing in the Caribbean the most and had an epic 15 year run down in the islands and a great number of BYC members have stories to back that claim up

Bill joined Bayview in 1980 and in 1996, was awarded Bayview Yacht Club’s R.W. Jeffrey Memorial Trophy for Man of the Year having won both the Key West Race Week and the Southern Ocean Racing Conference Overall in the same year with his R/P 50 foot Equation.

The guy in the green jacket and khaki shorts was unmistakably known and respected by countless people whether on the East Coast, Florida, Caribbean or around his home waters and ports of the great lakes. Known for how he competed, for how he treated his fellow yachtsmen on and off the water.

We all miss Bill’s infectious smile; his hearty full body laugh and his generosity of spirit that he so often extended to everyone near and far.