The weather gods blessed this rendezvous with perfect sunny, high 70's to low 80 degree weather for the 3 or 4 days before and throughout the weekend, giving time for the cruise to and from.
Sunday late night, early Monday AM, much needed rain with thunder and lightning arrived (10 hours after "A-List" arrived at her home dock). With 27 boats and ten additional "walk-ins" attending, there was much socializing, boat examining and planning for next year: Same place, about the same time, hope for the same weather. Lots of awards: Tom Bidgood (who missed the award due to work )
got the best looking/preserved/as new for his 30' Family Cruiser "Bidgood", but the burgee went to Tom Talton for his 35 CB "Miss Cullen"; the oldest to attend was Dennis Ewing's 27 "Island Hopp'n"and he got some tools to keep it going; 13 years was the longest consecutive Albin ownership; another burgee (or hat?)went to a looper, name not noted; the VHF antenna and mount went to a deserving owner who acknowledged that his was looking poorly; and a poll of those attending showed their honesty or maintenance ability, no one acknowledging a desperate need for a new VHF with DSC, so it went to Dan Mann on "Get Aweigh" who did experience some transmission issues on the way from Tampa. And, of course, the gift basket for coming the furthest went to John Kispet who came all the way from Patrick Air Force Base (Melbourne) in his pristine 28 TE. That award would have gone to Fireman Bob who drove in from Daytona Beach because his old trawler would take 5 days just to get there, but he got a cap and a burgee anyhow! John Kays did a great job of arranging food, including a gourmet breakfast by Chef Piginoli, and after promising to join the Group, got a burgee! Check out the additional pictures on Google (if I can manage the technicalities). Thanks to all who participated, to John Collins for the Banner, hats, burgees and coolies, and lets get more boats in next year! Chuck
