board bios

Kevin Dykema

Kevin Dykema has lived in Michigan his whole life with the  exception of three years in Georgia when he was a child. He has spent  his entire working life in the newspaper business for the Kalamazoo  Gazette (11 years), the Grand Rapids Press (11 years) and the Bay  City Times 16 years).

Mr. Dykema has been a recreational sailor for 25 years  on lakes Michigan and Huron. In 1998 he formed the non- profit BaySail  organization in Bay City which then acquired the schooner Appledore  IV to do environmental education for school groups. In 2001 they acquired a second vessel, Appledore V and added a sail training program.

He have served  as the chairman of Tallship® Celebration Bay City which has hosted the  ASTA TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® series in Bay City in 2001, 2003 and 2006.

Mr. Dykema lives with his wife Betsy and has a 25 year old son Peter in Virginia Beach, and a recently graduated  22 year old daughter Jane in Ann Arbor.