Everett Eugene "Gene" Davidson
Born: December 24, 1927 Died: October 27, 2022
It’s not often a late-comer to the sport of sailing and sailboat racing has wide and deep impact. However, Gene Davidson was just exactly that kind of individual. Earliest reports of his racing are from 1969 at age 42. His skill developed, however, leading him to race on Pentwater Lake, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and the Atlantic Ocean. He also cruised the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas.
In 1969 Gene sailed the Chicago to Mackinac race aboard Ginik II. He kept an extensive log of the experience, detailing the exhilaration, boredom, weather shifts from boiling hot sun to bone chilling cold to wet to dry conditions of the 333-mile fresh water race.
Already sailing, sometime in the early 1970’s, Reverend Leonard Weesies told Gene he wanted to build a summer church camp for youth to enjoy the outdoors and learn to sail. They visited a 200 acre site near Big Rapids, Michigan, and bought it. Gene had just started a business in Holland, Michigan, but told the Reverend he would design the camp and get the volunteers to build it. Today, Cran Hill Ranch on Hillsview Lake is a very popular summer church camp thanks to Gene’s selfless efforts.
Gene raced aboard Kurt Hansen’s vessel for several years in the 1970’s in the Southern Ocean Racing Conference on the Atlantic Ocean. Kurt and his wife, Doris, owned the Whitby Boat Works in Whitby, Ontario. As Gene approached the age of 50 he planned to do extensive cruising and designed what he thought was the ideal 42 foot cruising boat. He asked Kurt to build his design, but Kurt replied that he only built boats for racing. Well, Gene prevailed and the result became the Whitby 42. Ted Brewer was engaged to give the design a marine architect’s certification. Some two hundred and fifty Whitby 42’s were built and many remain in active service.
Gene took delivery of Whitby 42 Hull #2, Felicity, and embarked on a 5-year cruise to England, Europe and the Caribbean. This adventure covered 44,000 miles on the sea. Felicity returned to Macatawa Bay Yacht Club in 1980. The crew of Felicity changed with each leg of the voyage, but Gene was the skipper for the whole trip.
He sailed in the Trans-Superior Race from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Duluth, Minnesota.
In 1986 Gene and Barb established a home on Bass Lake, near Pentwater, Michigan. They became very active members of the Pentwater Yacht Club, including Gene serving a term as Commodore in 2003. Gene and Barb founded the Pentwater Yacht Club Junior Sailing Program. Being so committed to teaching the young to sail, they donated funds to build an addition on the yacht club building and it was designated “The Junior Sailing Room.”
The Pentwater Junior Sailing Program became so popular that Gene sought to expand the program from the yacht club to become a Community program, opening the program to all youth in the community. Gene rallied friends to acquire property, gathered volunteers to build a pavilion which has space to store the boats, sails, and foils for the program sailboats. He also was instrumental in acquiring a fleet of Optimist prams and Sunfish sailboats to establish the Pentwater Junior Sailing School. In 2000 Sunfish Fleet 218 was Chartered and continues today. The Pentwater Junior Sailing School is still viable today with its classes filling up every summer. Scholarships are available to any Pentwater Public School student to attend at no cost. Young adults with demonstrated advanced sailing skills are hired annually to provide instruction to the youth.
Not confined to water-borne challenges, Gene started and completed the 2200 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
He and his wife Barb traveled extensively for a number of years in a motor home.
Next, Gene and Barb built the Artisan Learning Center in Pentwater, after Gene beat Stage 4 melanoma. This is a shop where people partake in wood working, metal working, painting, pottery, stained glass, weaving, and on and on. Examples of completed projects include the bar at the Macatawa Bay Yacht Club and the bar at the Pentwater Yacht club using repurposed wood from the former Pentwater Yacht Club Junior Sailing Room. The wooden canoe built by Gene hangs from the ceiling of the new Pentwater Yacht Club dining room.
In 2002 while dreaming and planning the Artisan Center, Gene suffered a stroke while sea-trialing a new 165-foot sailing yacht with a friend in the Mediterranean Sea. This left him with a frustrating inability to speak normally.
Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation is honored to induct Everett Eugene “Gene” Davidson into the Lake Michigan Sailing Hall of Fame.
June 4, 2026
Everett Eugene “Gene” Davidson was nominated by the Board of Directors of Pentwater Yacht Club.