2011 Fleet Rendezvous
June 18, 2011
The Fleet returned to Herrington Harbor South for its annual rendezvous on Saturday, June 18. Five Alerions, their owners and guests enjoyed a perfect afternoon of casual racing on Herring Bay followed by an awards presentation and dinner at the marina. Bob and Deirdre Bradway were our hosts for the weekend, assisted by Bob Spann who organized the racing.
The two boats based at Herrington Harbor, Starry Night (Bob Bradway) and Resilient (Bob Spann and Beth Whiteley), were joined by three boats from further north on the western shore, Patriot (Casey and Renee Brennan), Blue Moon (Dan Attridge) and Skimmer (Jack and Marti Detweiler). Guests Tom Killiany, Donna Loop and Gene O'Brien, Paul Rohrkemper and Jim Attridge crewed on Starry Night, Resilient, Patriot and Blue Moon, respectively.
After Friday night's violent storm that knocked out power at the marina for 12 hours, Saturday dawned dry and still. By the time of the captain's meeting at noon, a southerly sea breeze was starting to rustle the downed leaves. Bob Spann set a short windward, leeward, windward course that would allow the fleet to get in two or three races even in lighter airs. Out on the course, the wind had steadied from the southwest at 7 to 10 knots.
In the first race of the day, Patriot took the start, lost the lead to Blue Moon on the downwind leg but overtook her on the windward leg for the horn. In the second race, it became obvious that Dan's use of his son Jim as crew on Blue Moon was more than just an homage to Father's Day and that Jim's t-shirt with the legend "Dartmouth Sailing Team" was more than a college bookstore purchase. Blue Moon sailed a tactically perfect race in the building breeze, winning by a comfortable margin. In the finest collegiate tradition, Jim surrendered the helm to his father at the finish and jumped overboard in celebration.
Just before the starting gun of the third race, the wind slacked off, causing a traffic jam at the favored end of the line. While Blue Moon got off to a slow start, by the leeward mark, she was back in the lead and could not be caught. With a 2-1-1 record, Blue Moon was the overall winner followed by Starry Night with a 3-2-3 record.
After returning to the marina and changing into party clothes, the racers reconvened on Paul Rohrkemper's motor boat for solid and liquid refreshments. Joining them were David Gantz and Cate Fagan, owners of Orion, and spouses Deirdre Bradway, Missy Attridge and Susan Rohrkemper. Once the party of twenty was seated at Mango's restaurant, Bob Bradway presented Dan, Jim and Missy Attridge with their trophies as winners of the 2011 Rendezvous regatta. Join us for the next Rendezvous and put your AE28's name on the perpetual trophy.
