2013 Allen Harbor 1 Rendezvous - Andrea Who?

[Ynot]

Andrea Who??
Allen Harbor 1 Rendezvous 2013

Where to start? Maybe with the weather...tropical storm Andrea, first named storm of 2013, decided to make her appearance on the eve of our Allen Harbor 1 rendezvous this year. The rendezvous captains Dan and Nancy (Y Not, and the authors of this report) kept 4 anxious eyes on the weather during the week leading up to the get-together, hoping that we would not have to cancel. After many consultations with the weather gurus in Providence, we decided to go ahead. We had a dozen sailors/boats who had RSVP'd and we were hopeful that they would remain the hardy sailors we know NE-TS members to be and that we could pull off at least 1 3/4 days of sailing. Good weather was projected from 9 am Saturday through Sunday.

Well, Friday was a monsoon. Only Al and Karen Hill (Karamal) were brave enough to bring their boat and spent the night in the Allen Harbor parking lot, fully rigged and ready to go. We stopped by Friday afternoon, took a couple pictures in the rain, then ran home to watch son, Justin, graduate High School in a stuffy gym along with 750 other cramped parents.

True enough, weather cleared Sat. am early and Y' Not arrived and was setting up when new member Jim Roosa arrived, sans boat. He is from Waterbury, CT and keeps his Mac on Candlewood Lake outside of Danbury. He was interested in getting to know some of our members and gaining new knowledge about our boats. At 10 am, the time scheduled for our captains' meeting on Sat, Jim, Dan, and Al were the only captains present. No sailing yet...besides which, Y' Not was having significant electrical issues which took the better part of the day to resolve. As Jim and I(Nancy) were leaving for the Burger King lunch run, new members Ken and Sue Boutiette arrived with their girl crew of Bailey, Grace, and Natalie in their Mac 25, Tsatz Sue (apologies if I didn't spell it right, Ken!!!) They were set up and launched very efficiently and anchored out with their new-to-them dinghy holding the anchoring spot. Tsatz Sue and Karamal went sailing, with Jim crewing on Karamal to gain Mac experience. Dan continued to work on the electrical problem, using Al's expertise to identify and fix the electrical problem. Y' Not was finally launched at around 4:15 pm. Just enough time to anchor out and dinghy back in to start the b-b-q! Tsatz Sue and Karamal had a wonderful daysail and returned around 6:00pm.

Although they were not able to bring their Macs this time, Paul and Millie Seeberg (Mildred Rose) and Andy Found (Over Easy), came to share in the happy hour and pot-luck. As usual, food was abundant, along with friendship and commaraderie. Later on in the evening, Steve Silvia (Puddlehopper) arrived without his Mac, but trailering his Hobie Cat "Bad Muma". Steve was a hit of the get-together with his stories of "hot wiring his jeep" and bringing Karen's (Silvia) taco salad to share with the group. Paul and Millie had to leave to get ready to sail the "big boat" on Sunday, but Andy and Steve spent the night in Karamal's cockpit enclosure.

Saturday night was calm and star-filled, and Sunday morning dawned a beautiful day. Andy was mysteriously missing as he had awoken very early and headed home. He did leave Nan an email as to his plans and we look forward to seeing Andy and Over Easy at upcoming rendezvous. Ed Fatinger (Up4Sail) also arrived, but without his boat. After a captain's meeting held in the parking lot while Steve rigged "Bad Muma", all went sailing for the day, with Ed crewing on Karamal. Wind was good at first, then died out, so the group gathered and rafted off of Sandy Beach on Prudence Island. Again, as a sailing group with an eating issue, we shared more food and some of the group went swimming/clamming(monster quahogs). Steve and Al found crabs with their toes which delighted the rest of the group. Upon the unrafting, Steve immediately decided to play bump with each boat in the raft as the winds had picked up and each crew aided in helping Steve to disembark. Then it was time to think about getting back to Allen Harbor to haul out. The wind had come up, so we sailed back in Y'Not most of the way, while many others motored as it was already close to 4pm.

Even though not everyone who RSVP'd attended, the group who did had a fabulous time! We were glad to welcome new members and re-aquaint with old friends. The new day-sailing/bar-b-que format for the first Allen Harbor rendezvous was a success in our estimation as it allowed for those whose boats were not available to join the group for a part of the time, and also a less overwhelming way to acclimate new members. We really think that we should revisit this again next year and possibly at other points during the sailing season.

Fair Winds,

Dan and Nancy Dobbins
S/V Y Not
Crew: Abigail (daschund)