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Sabre Rendezvous - 40th
Anniversary - Boothbay Harbor -
2010
Photos & Video Coming Soon!
Sabre's 40th
Anniversary Party was held in Boothbay Harbor over the
weekend of July 9 - 11, 2010. This was perfect
timing for us. Although we weren't planning a
Maine cruise this year because of the Newport-Bermuda
Race, we reasoned it would be pretty simple to simply
return from Bermuda directly to Boothbay, rather than
going in to Newport.
As it turned out, it
wasn't all that simple, as US Customs required us to
check in in Portland first. In this post-9-11 era
we weren't inclined to mess with the system, so we went
to DiMillo's and cleared customs there, which actually
turned out to be very simple and quick. I rented a
car to drive our delivery guests Andrea and Barry home,
and to pick up PEPPER! who we hadn't seen in almost
three weeks. That was fun! Then back to
Portland to stock the boat and head to Boothbay.
Dress Ship
Sabre activities were at Wottons Wharf, but as we hadn't
made a reservation early enough, we headed to a mooring
at Tugboat Inn, which was just fine. First order
of business was to go up the rig to install the spreader
halyard, and also replace a spreader boot that had come
free. This exercise was decidedly amusing to our
neighbors who enjoyed the show. Next up: dress
ship. This also amused our neighbors, and inspired
them to dig out all their festive flags and create their
own show. Good spirit! (They were not part
of the rendezvous.) As I couldn't find an
appropriate weight to tie down the B flag under the bow,
I hauled out a half-empty Mt. Gay bottle and strung that
to the flag. This was particularly amusing to our
new friends, and I cautioned them that the bottle--and
its contents--better be there in the morning!
Registration
After dressing ship we dinghied over to Wottons to
register. We were greeted by all our friendly
Sabre pals: Brenda & Bentley, Heidi, Tucker, et al.
Met Aaron, the new COO, for the first time, and his wife
Sarah. All very nice. We picked up our bag
of goodies and wandered the docks chatting with owners
and guests and inspecting all the Sabre sail and motor
boats, and Back Coves as well. It was a good
turnout, and in fact, there were participants scattered
throughout the Boothbay area, including on moorings with
us and at the various marinas. Very good show for
Sabre.
Cocktails
at Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club We dinghied over to
the yacht club, Pepper in tow, for cocktails.
Awards were given out for best-dressed yacht, which we
didn't win, in spite of our rum bottle! Dinner was
planned as grill-your-own at Wottons. We returned
with our dinner to do just that, but it was getting
late, and cold, and foggy, so we decided to return to
the boat to have our own private BBQ. The
grass-fed rib-eyes from Whole Foods were delicious:
Bruce and Pepper were in a little bit of heaven!
Yacht Parade
The planned activity for Saturday afternoon was a yacht
parade through the harbor, and some sort of nautical
challenge that Bentley had been scheming all morning.
Unfortunately, as the 2:00 pm start time approached, so
did a cold front showing ominous rain on the plotter.
I made a last-minute decision to take down our flags, as
I didn't know how much wind was in the front and I
didn't really want to pack up a bag full of soggy flags.
We headed out, but unfortunately, most of the fleet
stayed at their moorings or dock, so the parade was much
downsized from what it might have been. I felt
badly for the Sabre gang that had planned the whole
thing, and Bruce and I were a little cranky at all the
folks who didn't participate. The front, as it
turned out, broke up as it approached the coast, and
although their was a little rain, it wasn't bad. I
felt badly that I had taken down all the flags...but at
least we participated! It was fun, and a special
treat to follow Roger & Charlie Hewson in their 36.
Billy Black was there doing photography, so we're
looking forward to seeing his material.
Shore Dinner & Awards
Saturday night was the big party under a tent at Wottons.
Cocktails, chowder, lobster (wow, was the lobster
great!!), steak, DJ for music and dancing. It was
really fun. Bruce and I received the Sabre Sword
award for having traveled farthest to attend. We
got credit for Newport to Bermuda to Portland to
Boothbay, about 1700 miles! Bentley said some
really nice things, which was touching, and we got a
great applause from the crowd. Really fun!
Blueberry Pancake Breakfast
Sunday morning brought the traditional pancake
breakfast, served up by the Sabre crew on hand.
Roger Hewson was making these HUGE, FAT pancakes: wow!
Fun (and filling)!
It was a fun weekend:
thank you, Sabre, for throwing a party!
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