It was a Grand Event
Rudy,
The rendezvous started Friday, June 15th, with many of the boats arriving throughout the day. I counted 13 boats this year, but I have also heard 16 as a grand total. Lengths from 27 to 41 feet were represented. Several owners appeared without boats or on friends boats. This year there was great suspense, created by one past event, The Weather, and by an educated guess, the Weather Forecast.
The Weather occurred last year by way of a winter storm that destroyed the guest docks at our favorite US venue, Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend, Washington. The repairs were coming along but the Port of Port Townsend would not commit to opening for Father's Day weekend until very late in all our planning timelines. This caused us all some headaches or heartache depending on how hard we were working on or looking forward to the event. The Marina did open right on time - Friday - and we got word that the power was available at 6 pm. There was no water for the weekend.
The Weather Forecast for the Father's Day weekend was not cruiser friendly - high winds predicted for the Strait of Juan de Fuca. And the forecast came true, pretty much. I listened to the wind reports on the weather frequencies and it was boisterous out there.
We had two events on Saturday, loosely organized (as per the Viking tradition - think Hagar the Horrible), but were successful. About 1:30 pm we had 6 boats go out for the sail-by of Port Townsend. There wasn't much wind at the beginning, about 5 knots, and by 3:00 or 3:30 it was up in the 10-13 knot range. Perfect timing.
The second event was the Potluck dinner in the Marina Room. We had around 35 people, including some viking recruits from non-Ericson boats who were lucky enough to be mixed up with us. This was fun, informative, and filling. Speakers were Shaun Wurzner and Sean Engle. Shaun Wurzner was this year's organizer and and the owner of an E38. He did a great job under trying circumstances. Passing out the Ordorlos waste tank treatment as party favors for everyone was inspired. Sean Engle is the owner of this website and has been doing yeoman service keeping our virtual meeting place moving forward. The group had a chance to give them both some good feedback, not to mention our gratitude for their caring and hard work.
After the clink of cutlery and smashing of glass quieted down, we had a "business interlude" before the serious desserts came out. We discussed ideas for improving the Rendezvous, with the venue, dates and potential events as topics. I hope someone wrote them down (scheduling a Boat Open House time is one I recall). We discussed the website, and Sean teased us a little with an update on the newly organized version of the website that he's preparing. We already have a new Forum called Lifestyle, that grew from that discussion and further online debate. Finally the 'Apple Pie' and chocolate came out, courtesy of Harold and Jessie, and the pandemonium resumed.
I was just kidding about the smashing of glass. There wasn't any mock combat this year either, no one brought any swords. But Tom Plummer and his wife brought the plush Viking hats and we bought one. Very sporty.
The remainder of Saturday evening was devoted to visiting boats. Always fun to get ideas from folks you visit or from those you invite aboard. Sunday morning, after a wet night, we awoke to partly cloudy skies and resumed the visiting and the boats started to depart. Checkout time was noon, and we left ourselves shortly afterward.
That is my recollection of the 2007 Rendezvous. Well worth 14 hours of motoring for us. We're sorry you couldn't make it this year. Someone will be opening the discussion of the 2008 event after the summer is over. We still have to decide on dates and a Canadian location. I believe both are up for discussion, so be sure to let us know what you think.
Best regards,
Maker
I will be bringing some Ericson hats with horns that my sister-in-law made. Wait until you see them, she even filled the horns with a flotation material so they won't sink.
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