Where Have All the Rendezvous Gone

[jimh]

Perhaps as an artifact of the pandemic years, 2024 seems like a low-water mark for Boston Whaler rendezvous--at least for ones organized on continuousWave. I suspect there might be more organized get-togethers initiated by owners who participate at Facebook. I don't have an account there, and I don't participate in Facebook in any way, mainly because most resources on Facebook require you to register and create an account to access them, and in some cases apply to join a special group to get access. Also, information posted on Facebook seems like it scrolls off in a day or two, never to be seen or read again. But, hey, if some people love Facebook, that is great for them, and particularly great for Mark Zuckerburg--who as you know is a fellow boater, or perhaps more correctly one of a very few ultra-wealthy mega-yacht owners--who will be data-mining all of their habits, personal data, and so on, and selling it to his actual customers, people who want to sell you something.

One inevitable circumstance that may be a factor in there being fewer in-person meetings among participants of continuousWave is we are all getting older.

For example, in 2003 my wife and I I thought nothing about taking off three weeks of work, driving 4,500-miles to northern Washington (state) and back, hauling our boat on a trailer, and coastal cruising British Columbia for about 13-nights and covering maybe 800-miles in our then 20-foot boat, and sleeping aboard. Now, in 2024, a bit of old-age seems to have crept in, and so far this summer the longest trailering has been three one-mile trips to the local launch ramp, and getting in two boat rides of maybe 45-minutes each, no farther offshore than maybe 100-yards. The other launch was just to rent a slip for a few days so I could work on the trailer.

We did have a plan for a four-night or perhaps five-night cruise around northern Lake Michigan with very good friends who remain about the only boaters in what was once a cruising group of five or more boats that got together every summer for years. But that other boat had a family emergency that scuttled their plan, and Chris and I decided we just did not want to go to all the trouble of cruising by ourselves, as hanging out with friends is part of the real fun of those cruises, and some really lousy weather pushed us to also cancel. Plus, everywhere we were planning to go we had already been there several times in recent years, so there was not much adventure left.

We do have one planned get-together later this month, but the funny thing is several of the formerly steadfast cruising companions will attend without bringing a boat.

Also, Boston Whaler seems to have stopped supporting their dealer-sponsored events, and there used to be at least one every year here in northern Michigan by one Boston Whaler dealer or another. Those were always fun weekends. Maybe when selling $500,00 boats the way to attract customers is not a weekend rendezvous at a local dealer with a bunch of 30-year-old trailer boaters.

As for us, we do have that one remaining in-person rendezvous to attend, and we will bring our boat.

[Phil T]

[The on-person rendezvous are organized] on Facebook. There were two large private-owner events this summer in Charleston, SC and Lake St. Clair.

Two years ago I attended Algonac, Michigan, Lake Norman, North Carolina, and Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.

Boston Whaler dealers have not sponsored events in many years. Boston Whaler corporate only does their Bimini event.

Unless the boat price is figures or more--Montauk 210 or larger--they don't care.

Jim - you need to use a VPN and create a dummy username/credential and join FB.

[jimh]

Re joining Facebook, I just don't have the time for that. Now that I am completely retired, it seems like there is never enough time for big projects.

Recently I finally created an InstaGram account, but I only did that because I wanted to monitor the progress of a very interesting presenter (AlluringArctic) who was sailing West to East in the Northwest Passage this summer in a 50-foot aluminum cutter and was using InstaGram for his short-form updates and photographs . This content creator uses youTube for his longer-form presentations about the cruise. The process of finding a passage through the icy water at 70-degree North latitude was so demanding that he could not devote the necessary time to create his usual youTube ten to 20-minute presentations, so in order to keep up with his progress, I followed him on InstaGram, adding another time-sink to my daily on-line reading.

[fno]

I agree with JimH, where have they gone? I used to organize the annual Homosassa rendezvous with Nick Manukas (Toshgib, BiggieFL) for many years until it became too large and too hard to manage. He (we) lost interest also because we had numerous complaints from mostly hangers on that we were trying to make money off the rendezvous vis a vis a 50-50 raffle that basically paid for the keg of beer provided for the days events. Nobody seemed to mind the Boston Whaler swag that we begged, borrowed, or bought for the raffle either. At the end of the day, the Homosassa event cost the two of us a few bucks on top of travel and hotel and it was OK till the moaning and groaning started at the last few events. I would still like to see the core group of Whaler people gather again in Homosassa but it will be by invitation only if it ever happens again.

[jimh]

I would still like to see the core group of Whaler people gather again in Homosassa but it will be by invitation only if it ever happens again.

That is similar to what happened to one of our annual formerly open rendezvous. It became a bit too much to handle, and it is now done by invitation by the hosting couple.

[GoldenDaze]

The Smith Mountain Lake event last year was fun (edit: actually 2 years ago, how time flies). Phil, we should plan another in 2025! There's another whole branch of the lake to visit. Of course, we'll need to open it up just a bit to "boats where Bob Dougherty was at some point the chief designer."

[jimh]

...we'll need to open it up just a bit to "boats where Bob Dougherty was at some point the chief designer."

I think you are suggesting a rendezvous to include some early Edgewater boats.

[GoldenDaze]

I think you are suggesting a rendezvous to include some early Edgewater boats.

Well, by "at some point" I'm fine with all Edgewater and Everglades. :-)