Attendance List, NE AOG Rendezvous

[zinbaad]

Just called Essex, Mahalo will be bringing Cathy & I to the Marina sometime Friday afternoon til Sunday or Monday. I better get packing.

[Jack28]

FYI a very expensive wedding is taking place up river across from Deep River and they are having fireworks on the river on Saturday night ( Barge is on the Deep River side )

[RicM]

The NE group is having a great time. The rain yesterday did not wash out the dock party that raged from 3 until about 10 last night. Miss K & I went into Old Saybrook for an top shelf dinner at Liv's Oyster Bar. Pricey, head and shoulders over the venerable "Griz" although the entertainment (rich people shaking their jewelry) was not as amusing as the Griswold sing-a-longs. Today promises to be hot and steamy, temps in the 90's. We have 16 boats, depending on how you count them. Pot luck and passing out of the swag tonight. Will post pics. Anybody in Chesapeake that would like to attempt a webcam hookup tonight I have a good connection on my ATT card and can put a video feed up on my website that anyone can watch. I use OOVOO, it's similar to Skype and the app is free. Works on PC's or Mac's.

[jcollins]

Ric,
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that everyone is having a good time. If you "go live" send me a link or information. I have both. (oovoo and skype)
We'll put our T-Shirts on!

Sorry we can't be there.

[RicM]

John,

We'll definitely put a live cam up. How about at 6?

[jcollins]

Looking forward to it. 6:00.

[RicM]

Saturday at EIM was steamy,

so a contingent headed for Hamburg Cove for a raftup, swimming and hot dogs served on "Mahalo".




(the co-ordinator took a nice nap in the AC back at EIM)
(Continued in next post)

[RicM]

(Continued from previous post)
Afternoon thunderboomers chased the rafters back to the dock just in time for cocktails and the convocation at "The Deck"




Sawzall Dave was voted an honorary "Albineer" and got a T-shirt:

Lionell & Lynn on "Together won an AOG hat for the greatest distance traveled (Florida!)
and Tracy and John on "HomeInstead" won a burgee for newest owners (1 week!)


The food was excellent and copius, the wine and talk flowed freely and a good time was had by all!


For the full Gallery of downloadable pics:
http://artlibrary.smugmug.com/Other/NE- ... 4175_m5szg

[DougSea]

Ric,

Thanks so much for organizing the rendezvous! I was sorry to have to leave early but very glad to get a chance to reconnect with some of the Block Island group and meet a bunch of new friends...especially kindred spirits Matt and Rob! And Rob, tell Erika thanks again for dinner!

Hope everyone had a safe and uneventful ride home and I'm looking forward to seeing you all next year, if not sooner!

[RobS]

The crews of TOY-RIFIC and DOGHOUSE just returned to port yesterday. After 4 nights at Essex, we spent a superb week at American Wharf and Mystic Seaport. A 200 mile trip in all. Janet even managed to make a very nice withdrawal from the Bank of Mohegan Sun.

Yesterday's 70 mile run home from Mystic really iced the cake with nothing but calm seas and clear skies. Here's DOGHOUSE in the Sound

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And offshore

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Capt. Zinbaad, I thought of you as I motored out into the LI Sound on Monday and headed east into a tough following sea, knowing it was gonna be in your face for hours.

Doug, you're very welcome for the dinner from Erika, as many of us know, you don't go hungry when my First Mate is on board. Always a pleasure meeting a fellow Capt that enjoys working on the boat as much (or almost as much) as heading out to sea..

As anticipated, the Essex Rendezvous was another success and it was a pleasure meeting many new members, although the members who did not return from last year were certainly missed.

It's good to see Faithful Dave does not travel without his trusted Sawzall.

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My daughters especially enjoyed meeting the wonderful girls from HomeInstead, Laura & Drew.

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Ric, thanks for coordinating, you did a fine job, especially that the standard was set high.

On Sunday night we had an unofficial official flag folding ceremony and it was handed off to next years coordinator…

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[RicM]

Great pics Rob, I didn't realize you were doing the whole week aboard. How was American Wharf? Is it a contender for next years' gathering?

[RobS]

American Wharf (AW) is a contender, some pros and some cons at AW compared to EIM.

They can fit the group without a problem. There is limited bbq area compared to EIM. The Deck at EIM will surely be missed. However, AW has a large party tent setup with tables and chairs. As long as there is no wedding, catered event, etc. then that would be a fine substitute.

The somewhat depressed city of Norwich is far from the quaint village of Essex. There is a Dunkin Donuts within a several block walk in Norwich, and that's about it. However, AW has a shuttle van that runs quite often to the casinos and Mohegan Sun is not even 15 minutes away, so there you will have the casino, shops and restaurants galore. The shuttle van will even take you to other close by locations other than the casinos.

AW has a bar/restaurant (lunch and dinner, no bk) on location, overlooking the harbor and the boats which is a nice bonus. There is also a swimming pool, but no game room. There is a very good marine store right across the street from AW.

AW is almost $2 a foot cheaper than EIM and they said that if we have the Rend there they should be able to discount the dockage rates. They also have a deal for 20 cents off fuel with a multinight stay. We paid $2.90/gallon. There is a pumpout boat docked there as well as a pumpout station at the fuel dock you can motor over to.

Some feel the 10 mile or so run up the Thames is too far. I've been up to AW twice and enjoy the river ride. It's cruising speed almost the entire length so it's not much longer than the ride up the CT Rvr to EIM.

Maybe we'll do a poll. I'll leave it up to next year's coordinator..

[jcollins]

Next year's coordinator has some big shoes to fill. But, I'm sure he will do a great job. My only question is - how close is the Amtrak station? Sharon and I, and possibly others, will be there.

[RicM]

Good point John, that is one of the great things about ANY Connecticut location, Amtrak is not far from the coast at any point. While I loved walking around Essex the first time I went, I did not get into town at all except to go to the hardware store to get lag bolts to secure my water heater on this trip. That repair seems to have done the trick BTW, and thanks to Matt for swapping a spare check valve for beer! I still owe you. I kind of felt that I could not stray far on Friday or Sunday, due to my co-ordinating duties, and will look forward to exploring the next locale a little more. The Indian Connection is a mixed blessing, I am not much of a gambler myself, although Miss K has taught me a bit about the dice. The up side is the girls could take a trip up there for an afternoon and leave the menfolk (at least me) to my afternoon siesta. Of course I like Block Island. If booked early enough I imagine there's a shot at getting in there, depending on the economy. There's lot's to see and do there, and the fishing is generally awesome from the middle of June on. September is our favorite time to go there. The week after Labor Day the crowds are gone and the marinas are glad to see you. We liked Greenport on LI when we were there, it's got a good funky vibe, easy to walk to stuff in town, and the town docks there seem to be pretty open. Truth be told, Miss K & I will probably show up anywhere within a 100 mile perimeter, so I don't know what I'm blathering on about.

[gerygarcia]

It was great to see everyone again at this years rendezvous! Sorry for the lat posting. Finally able to dowload and resize from my wife's camera (I forgot mine at home, I wasn't as picture crazy as last year)
Here are some pics we took from the raftup




Some picts of Home Instead on the way out






Next years possible contender?

Up the river Thames to Americas Wharf





We hope to attend next year. It all depends on a couple things, but if we can't make it by boat, we hope to attend by car. More on that later

Thanks everyone for making it a great time. I think the highlight of the trip for me was the raftup.