Northeast gathering

[Barry Cohen]

How far in advance are locations chosen? Was any consideration given to a location north of the Cape Cod Canal, such as Salem, MA?

 

[knotflying]

Barry,
We vote on the next year location at our business meeting during the Rendezvous. The Salem location was definitely on the table among other locations and was discussed among everyone. There are participants that come from the south of Connecticut as well as those that come from the north. All in all after much discussion it was voted on to go to Mystic Connecticut. There is a fantastic ramp in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. It is right off 95 and is not far from Mystic for those who choose to trailer rather than travel by boat. Hence the beauty of being able to trailer our boats. There are some participants that come without their boats and join in the activities. Hopefully you will be able to make next year's Rendezvous. We are all anxious to see your custom upgrades.

Mike Rizzo

 

[Mystical]

I will be putting together a list of Boat ramps in the area as well as activities both for older and younger. We are going to encourage all to join even if your family has children. That was also a consideration in the choosing of the location. We have heard from the dealers that they have sold several boats to younger families with children and we need to try to accommodate them as well. The Seaport offers many activities on site for all ages. For those planning on coming by land, we will have a complete list of places to stay and transportation options as well.

Brian

 

[swillmerchant]

Hi Brian,
We are one of the non-typical tug owners: 20 years from retirement with a young child. While we appreciate that the group considered facilitating ways for families such as ours to attend next year's rendezvous, consideration should also be given to the distance that such families would have to travel to attend. To get to Mystic next year, we'd have to steam ~250 miles round trip, which would take us about 2 days steaming time each way at average cruising speeds. This would stretch the limits of even the most durable and patient children. Accordingly, we will not be attending next year's rendezvous by boat.

I know the Northeast is a broad geographic area (I manage fisheries from Maine to North Carolina as a profession). I don't know where previous rendezvous have been held, but to have 2 back-to-back ~25 miles apart does not make it easy for those living outside of the Long Island Sound region to attend. It's great to have rendezvous held in a central location, which I presume was the rationale for picking these locations, but consideration should be given to rotating the location of future rendezvous so that everyone from the greater Northeast can have a better chance of attending. Otherwise, we'll be limited to attending by car rather than by our beloved tug. I don't mind driving to a few if it increases the odds that I can attend a few by boat - one of the perks of this Tugnut community.

I wish I could have attended this year's rendezvous in my old collegiate stomping grounds, but we had other commitments. I appreciate your consideration of families for future rendezvous, and hope you further consider my recommendations herein, in future deliberations.
Thanks,
Doug

 

[Barry Cohen]

Thanks Doug. I believe you got to the route of my previous reply above. Among other things, driving to the site, with or without YOLO, defeats the purpose of taking advantage of all YOLO has to offer.

I too hope future considerations will bring the rendezvous north of Long Island Sound and the Cape Cod Canal.

 

[Mystical]

We certainly would love for you to join in as well. There are many factors to chosing locations. The biggest is choosing a facitility that can accomidate everyone and most importantly, keep us together as a group. Some other factors are a location for events and seminars. Needs to be a location that has a facility to use with protection from the rliments in case of bad weather. Another consideration is our donors. Currently we have two dealets that sponsor the event and we need to stay in an area that we would not loose them either.
You also need the people to corridinate everything. In the past Mike Rizzo and Carol have done that. I have taken over Carols role for the upcoming year. I am sure if you guys further up north would like to orginize something near your area, we could do that. Just understand, its not just picking a location and seeing what happens when people show up. We are only a few days past the last rendevous, and have already put time in everyday for next years

 

[John Shea Jr.]

To my fellow Boston area Tugnuts,
I have attended all three rendezvous and I have had a great time at each. I sailed to Essex in '11 and trailered my boat in '12 and '13. I too would hope that we will have future rendezvous in the Boston area. BUT, we decide on our next year's location by consensus of those present at the event. Hopefully, we will have the '14 event in Mystic as that was the location selected by the majority of the '13 participants. My suggestion to those in the Boston area is to plan and attend the 2014 rendezvous. It would be great if you could attend by boat and stay for the entire event. If time does not allow, come by car and stay for a night or the whole event. The more people that attend and express an interest in the Boston area, the better chance we have of making it happen. Those that have attended have tried to put together an event that all attendees will enjoy. Hope to see all previous attendees and a bunch of new folks next August.

 

[swillmerchant]

Understood about facilities, but I would hope that there would be several places that could accommodate groups such as this with sufficient advanced planning/booking. There are trade-offs with everything, and no location will meet everyone's needs. To accommodate other members of this community who are interested, but perhaps less capable of making such a long steam, Barry and I are considering organizing an informal New England (North of the Cape) rendezvous next summer. I'll try to make it to Mystic, but sadly it will be by car. :cry: