Welcome

The Great Mates is a 501 (c) 3 organization whose mission is to enrich the lives of our members, the yachting community and the community at large by supporting charitable organizations, awarding scholarships and sponsoring events of general interest.

Upcoming Events

The Great Mates meet monthly from September through May.

Upcoming Schedule

Friday, September 16 at 12:30 pm – Fashion ShowThis show will be presented by Darci Boutique of Sarasota.  Please join us to see the fabulous clothes this boutique offers.  The models will be BYC and Great Mates members.  Lunch will be served at this event.

Wednesday, October 19 at 12:20 pm – Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Susan Harrigan, wife of Channel 7 Chief Meteorologist Bob Harrigan will speak about her charity, My Breast Friends 941.  This charity provides direct services of meals, housecleaning, childcare, rides to treatment, peer support, inspiration and more to people dealing with cancer treatment.

 Make your reservations for an upcoming Event!

email:  receptionist@bradentonyachtclub.com

Call:  941-722-5936

 

Scholarships

The Great Mates Scholarship Purpose Statement

The Great Mates will award scholarships to high school seniors residing in Manatee County pursuing a degree at any accredited two-year or four-year college or university or vocational institution.  Scholarship recipients are required to attend full-time (minimum 12 credit hours per semester) enrolled for two semesters per year and to utilize the award during the upcoming academic year beginning September.

My name is Ali Breslav Goldberg and I am honored to be serving as the
2023 – 2024 Great Mates Scholarship Director. I am pleased to announce
that the 2024 scholarship applications are available for download below.
The postmark deadline for the scholarship application is February 15,
2024.
If you have any questions regarding the application, please email me at
gm.scholarship.director@gmail.com.

2024.Great.Mates.Scholarship.App

2024.BYC.Emp.Scholarship

Book Club

As we enter our 10th year, the Great Mates Book Club has read over 100 titles from inception. We continue to have exciting, stimulating and fascinating discussions the 2nd Tuesday of every month and all are welcome to join us! Reservations are never necessary and guests are always encouraged to attend!

Book Club ( During Social Distancing Book Club will be held via Zoom). Contact Debra Iaboni for details.
  • Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway – Commodore Bill Wheeler to lead – January 14, 2020
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood – Newell Yaple to lead – February 11, 2020
  • Stormy Weather, by Carl Hiaasen -Ann Wolpers to lead – March 10, 2020
  • Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens – Pat Baker to lead – April 14, 2020
  • Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov – George Kern to lead – May 12, 2020
  • The Huntress, by Kate Quinn – Sarah Arneson to lead – June 9, 2020
  • Educated – by Tara Westover – Deb Iaboni to lead – July 14, 2020
  • Nickle Boys, by Colson Whitehead – Newell Yaple to lead – August 11, 2020
  • Beneath a Scarlet Sky, by Mark Sullivan – Jack Gorman to lead – September 9*, 2020 (*this is the WEDNESDAY after Labor Day as the club will be closed on Tuesday the 8th)
  • Light a Distant Fire, by Lucia St. Clair Robson – Leslie Trettau to lead – (this author may be willing to Skype with us to lead the group) – October 13, 2020
  • Belong to Me, by Marisa de los Santos – Jo Ann Meilner to lead – November 10, 2020
  • A Man Called Ove, by Frederick Backman – Leslie Trettau to lead – December 8, 2020

GREAT MATES BOOK CLUB read thru JULY 2020

  • The Art of Racing in the Rain – Garth Stein (November 2010)
  • The Help – Kathryn Stockett (December 2010)
  • One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd – Jim Fergus (January 2011)
  • Water For Elephants – Sara Gruen (February 2011)
  • Bitter Legacy – H. Terrell Griffin (March 2011)
  • A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini (April 2011)
  • Mistress of the Art of Death – Ariana Franklin (May 2011)
  • Sarah’s Key – Tatiana de Rosnay (June 2011)
  • The Red Tent – Anita Diamant (July 2011)
  • The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society – Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (August 2011)
  • Cutting For Stone – Abraham Verghese (September 2011)
  • Ahab’s Wife – Sener Jeter Naslund (October 2011)
  • The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield (November 2011)
  • Shantarum – Gregory David Roberts (December 2011)
  • Henry’s Sisters – Cathy Lamb (January 2012)
  • The Shack – William P. Young (February 2012)
  • The Invisible Bridge – Julie Orringer (March 2012)
  • Little Bee – Chris Cleave (April 2012)
  • The Call of the Wild – Jack London (May 2012)
  • A Prisoner of Birth – Jeffrey Archer (June 2012)
  • Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford (July 2012)
  • East of Eden – John Steinbeck (August 2012)
  • The Dressmaker – Kate Alcott (September 2012)
  • The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes (October 2012)
  • The Paris Wife – Paula McLain (November 2012)
  • In The Garden of Beasts – Erik Larson (December 2012)
  • Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson (January 2013)
  • Skeletons on the Zahara: A true Story of Survival – Dean King (February 2013)
  • The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach (March 2013)
  • Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn (April 2013)
  • She’s Come Undone – Wally Lamb (May 2013)
  • Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand (June 2013)
  • The Kitchen House – Laura Grisson (July 2013)
  • The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards (August 2013)
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver (September 2013)
  • Swerve – Stephen Greenblatt (October 2013)
  • The Motion of the Ocean… – Janna Esarey (November 2013)
  • The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (December 2013)
  • The Buddha in the Attic – Julie Otsuka (January 2014)
  • The Art of Hearing Heartbeats – Jan-Phillip Sendker (February 2014)
  • Wind, Sand & Stars / The Petite Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupry (March 2014)
  • Me Before You – Jojo Moyes (April 2014)
  • Replay – Ken Grimwood (May 2014)
  • Zealout – Reza Aslan (June 2014)
  • The Aviator’s Wife – Melanie Benjamin (July 2014)
  • Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff – Chris Moore (August 2014)
  • A Farwell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway (September 2014)
  • The Roundhouse – Louise Erdrich (October 2014)
  • Hidden Wives – Clare Avery (November 2014)
  • The Shadow Queen – Rebecca Dean (December 2014)
  • The Dovekeepers – Alice Hoffman (January 2015)
  • The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd (February 2015)
  • Crunch & Des – Philip Wylie (March 2015)
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith (April 2015)
  • The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck (May 2015)
  • Shadow Country – Peter Matthiessen (June 2015)
  • The Shipping News – Annie Proulx (July 2015)
  • West With the Night – Beryl Markham (August 2015)
  • The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern (October 2015)
  • 11/22/63 – Stephen King (November 2015)
  • Orphan Train – Christina Baker Kline (December 2015)
  • At the Water’s Edge – Sara Gruen (January 2016)
  • Circle of Friends – Maeve Binchy (February 2016)
  • Crossing the Borders of Time – Leslie Maitland (March 2016)
  • The Kennedy Detail – Gerald Blaine (April 2016)
  • Dead Wake – Eric Larson (May 2016)
  • The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger (June 2016)
  • The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton (July 2016)
  • Circling the Sun – Paula Mclain (August 2016)
  • The World Gone By – Dennis Lehane (September 2016)
  • Everything I Never Told You – Celeste Ng (October 2016)
  • After You – Jojo Moyes (November 2016)
  • The Snow Leopard – Peter Matthiessen (December 2016)
  • Such Mad Fun – Robin Cutler (January 2017)
  • Euphoria – Lily King (February 2017)
  • The Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown (March 2017) – 5 stars
  • Lust for Life – Irving Stone (April 2017)
  • Night – Elie Wiesel (May 2017) – 4.5 stars
  • Stoner – John Williams (June 2017) – 4 stars
  • The Deep Blue Good By – John D. McDonald (July 2017) – 4.5 stars
  • The Sympathizer – Viet Than Nguyen (August 2017) – 4.5 stars
  • Fates and Furies – Laura Groff (September 2017) – 4 stars
  • The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah (October 2017) – 5 stars
  • The Light Between the Oceans – M.L. Stedman (November 2017) – 4.5 stars
  • To Kill A Mockingbird/Go Set A Watchman – Harper Lee (December 2017) – 5/4 stars
  • Be Frank With Me – Julia Claiborne Johnson (January 2018) – 4.5 stars
  • Delaney’s People – Beth Duke (February 2018)
  • A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles (March 2018) – 4.8 stars
  • Butcher’s Crossing – John Williams (April 2018) – 4.5 stars
  • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – John Berendt (May 2018) – 4.75 stars
  • Never Cry Wolf – Farley Mowat (June 2018) – 4.9 stars
  • Lila – Marilyn Robinson (July 2018) – 3.5 stars
  • Hillbilly Elegy – JD Vance (August 2018) – 3.5 stars
  • Highwire Moon – Susan Straight (September 2018) – 3.75 stars
  • The Lonely Silver Rain – John D. MacDonald (October 2018) – 4.5 stars
  • 1984 – George Orwell (November 2018) – 4 stars
  • Holidays on Ice – David Sedaris (December 2018) – 2.75 stars
  • The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead (January 2019) – 4 stars
  • Valiant Ambition – Nathanial Philbrick (February 2019) – 4 stars
  • It All Comes Back to You – Beth Duke (March 2019) – 5 stars
  • The Human Stain – Philip Roth (April 2019) – 4.5 stars
  • Old Age: A Beginner’s Guide – by Michael Kinsley (May 2019) – 2 stars
  • Florida – by Lauren Groff (June 2019) – 3 stars
  • Rules of Civility – by Amor Towles (July 2019) – 4 stars
  • Endurance – by Alfred Lansing (August 2019) – 5 stars
  • The Alice Network – by Kate Quinn (September 2019) – 5 stars
  • Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (October 2019) – 4.75 stars
  • Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng (November 2019) – 5 stars
  • Snow Falling on Cedars – David Guterson (December 2019) – 4.9 stars
  • The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway (January 2020) – 4.75 stars
  • The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (February 2020) – 3 stars
  • Stormy Weather – Carl Hiaasen (March 2020) – 4 stars
  • Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens (April 2020) – 4.85 stars
  • Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov (May 2020) – 3 stars
  • The Huntress – Kate Quinn (June 2020) – 4 stars
  • Educated – Tara Westover (July 2020) – 4 stars
  • Nickle Boys – Colson Whitehead (August 2020) – 4.5 stars
  • Beneath A Scarlet Sky – Mark Sullivan (September 2020) – 4.75 stars

 

Annual Gala

2023

MAMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN!

The Great Mates are off to another record-breaking gala, taking guests at the BYC to Santorini & the Greek Islands on March 4, 2023, at 5:30 with a welcome drink, appetizers, and a four-course meal with a cash bar!  Individuals and sponsors are invited to come feast like Zeus, win a costume contest (optional) as gods & goddesses, the cast of Mama Mia, or traditional Greek folk dress, bid on silent & live auctions to music by Abba, and enjoy the humor of our celebrity auctioneer, Bob Harrigan, of Channel 7 Meteorology fame.  The Great Mates have been raising money all year for Children’s Guardian Fund (the fund Guardian ad Litem volunteers use exclusively and freely to help foster children they advocate for) and Scholarships for Manatee graduates through raffle tickets, gala attendance, and in-kind and cash donations.

Dress is business casual. BYC members reserve directly with the club with choice of entree and names of guests,  non-members by calling the club with entree choice and guest names but mailing a check for $100 per guest to The Great Mates, Inc.  P.O. Box 463, Palmetto, FL  34220 to guarantee a seat.  Questions or donations, please email Gail Henderson, Gala Chair at gailforceiii@aol.com. Thanks so much for helping us change lives in Manatee County! Please book early to avoid missing out on what promises again to be a great evening! 

2022

LORDS AND LADIES, PATRIOTS, PIRATES AND EVERYDAY-DRESSED HEROES CRUISED TO NEW ENGLAND FOR  THE 2022 GREAT MATES GALA  ON MARCH 5TH TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHILDREN’S GUARDIAN FUND AND MANATEE GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS.  WHAT A NIGHT IT WAS!  

WHILE ATTENDEES DINED ON “BEST OF NEW ENGLAND” FOODS INCLUDING MAINE LOBSTERS, GREAT MATES TOOK US BACK TO 1775-76 WITH A LOOK AT ORIGINAL PATRIOT’S LETTERS RECENTLY COLLECTED BY WAYNE RICKERT, AND A CLEVER SKIT REVOLVING AROUND LONGFELLOW’S POEM, “PAUL REVERE’S RIDE.”  BOB HARRIGAN, CH. 7’S CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, SHARED THE HUMOROUS FORECAST FOR HIS RIDE WITH CINDY RHATEGAN (REVERE’S WIFE)  AND BILL WHEELER AS CH. 7’S BREAKING NEWS REPORTER/ AKA LONGFELLOW QUOTED EXCERPTS FROM THE POEM ITSELF. THEN TOM GRUBB (REVERE) HELD US ABSOLUTELY SPELL-BOUND WITH HIS HUMOROUS HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED THAT FATEFUL NIGHT. 

THANKS TO BOB HARRIGAN, OUR  INCREDIBLE AUCTIONEER, WHO REGALED US WITH HIS HUMOR AND DREW RECORD-BREAKING LIVE AUCTIONS FROM THE CROWD.  HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EVENING: BOB’S HANDSTAND AND THE GENEROUS GALA BIDDING!  (THE PARKING SPOT WENT FOR $4K!).   TO TOP IT OFF, OUR GALA ACTUALLY MADE THE 11 O’CLOCK NEWS!  (SEE VIDEO). 

BUT BEST OF ALL, IT WAS A RECORD-BREAKING FUNDRAISER…$100K RAISED FOR TWO VERY WORTHY CAUSES!  THANK YOU SPONSORS, DONORS, AND ATTENDEES FOR MAKING THIS THE BIGGEST ONE YET!   THANK YOU, GALA COMMITTEE AND BYC STAFF ALSO FOR A FABULOUS EVENT.  

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 4TH FOR THE 2023 GALA!! HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE! 

 

 

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