Thanks for these excellent posts, Bob! --Craig ----- Original Message ----- From: "Holly" <bobeeg@earthlink.net> To: <Montgomery_Boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 12:32 AM Subject: Lyle Hess Fest part 3, Bob's perspective This was a great weekend. It really doesn't get much better than seeing old friends that you built a boat for in 1984, 20 years ago, and they tell you stories about some fantastic offshore voyages! First of all, the location was surreal. It was at Vera's White sands Marina (do a google search). Vera is in her 90s, when you meet her, its like being on the set of 'Sunset Blvd' and Vera is Norma Desmond. She is a kind, gentle lady. Here is a link: http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=6635 I arrived Friday night, had a great dinner at Pusser's in Annapolis. Saturday drove down 1.5 hours to Solomons, where Vera's place is. Being early I got to meet Some BCC (Bristol Channel Cutter) People and their Boats. Met Rod and his wife on ADUNA, very nice people. There was a BCC 26 (yes, a 26) build by Russell boats in South Carolina. They only built about 6 of these before going broke. A couple lived full time on this boat. Big for a 26 footer, but noticeably smaller than the BCC 28. (2 feet makes a big difference). 5 Nor'Sea owners arrived; boat owners of Nor'Seas that I had built. They all had stories of adventures and voyages to share; they had photo albums, and kept buying me beer. (s). These boats were from 1984, 1986, 1989, 1993 and 1995. Not counting the Kristina, a 1978 boat or Queen of Hearts another 1978 boat. There were 8 Nor'Sea owners. The dock was soon occupied with BCC 28 boats. Kate arrived on Aloha, other people who I had only known on the BCC list server arrived. These BCCs are beautiful and salty looking. ! The newest owner of a BCC named Mark who bought a 2004 BCC28 for almost $280,000 and actually sailed it from California Thru Panama, the Carribean and home to the Chesapeake Bay. What a nice guy! Here is his story; a good read and fabulous adventure: http://www.sail-salute.org/ Soon other Nor'Seas arrived. Then one by one, the Montgomery sailboat people started to arrive. Clarence Andrews on a boat I built in 2001 (?) sailed in with his beautiful wife. Gary and Al sailed in. Tod Mills arrived, Howard sailed in, John Edwards was next, someone on a older M23 arrived (forgot the name), Abby arrived by car, a M_15 arrived with Doug Kelch. More people who I hadn't met showed up. Steve Cherry, who just joined this list came by. (nice guy, hope he finds a good used boat). It was good to see Clarence; last I saw him was at Oshkosh Wisconson during the EAA Flyin a few years ago. (Clarence is a pilot as well) I had some friends, Wayne and Kristina Carpenter, who had sailed their Nor'Sea 27 Kristina on a 15,000 mile voyage; then wrote a book called "The Voyage of Kristina" Wayne and I had worked together at several boatshows in the 1980s. He would sit below on our boats (we usually had an Aft cabin and and Aft cockpit boat on display). While people were going below Wayne would sell them his book. He sold thousands of these books. I had called Wayne and invited him and Kristina to attend; they accepted and had a chance to visit their old Nor'Sea. What fun.! By this time Wayne's daughters had grown and he was a Grandpa. The only problem was he didn't have any copies of his book to give to his grandkids. One person I know found one on EBAY for $50. I had several un-opened, brand new copies that I brought out for him as a gift. He now has 3 new copies to sign and give to his grandkids.......(Ya, he bought me a glass of wine) All the boats were tied up on an old dock, on Saturday. We all climbed on these lovely Lyle Hess boats, talked about different ideas, traded stories; had lots of fun. As the evening arrived we all walked up to Vera's place. I handed out free T-Shirts to the M_boat people. It was happy hour and Rogue Wave yacht sales was paying.....*smile* We talked about Lyle Hess; Told stories about him, talked good things about Jerry Montgomery as well. Jerry's old boats still looked great. Thats what happens when you build in quality. We toasted Jerry. About 70 to 100 people had a Buffet Dinner. Good food, good drink and lots of laughter and stories. The next morning Abby cleaned out every donut at some donut shop and we all met on the dock for continued visits and chatting. Took some photos of the M boat people with their new T-shirts. Nice. Tod spent some time rowing one of our 6-8 dinks that Clarence tows behind Carpe Ventum. (his M_17) I really enjoyed seeing some storage ideas; Clarence has a type of Sea Swing stove that mounts on either side of the cockpit bulkhead for cooking. I thought that was neat. A big deal was meeting Tod Mills. He had joked (I thought it was a joke anyway) about buying me a beer in a Frosted Mug when we met. Guess what? He pulled a Frosted Mug out of his boat, poured the beer and it tasted GREAT. (It was Hot and somewhat muggy, the weather not the beer) Thanks Tod...! (I have a photo of all of us sitting in his M-17 to prove it; email me and I will send it...!) That was one of the best beers I had in a long time. I want to thank Kate and Bernie from RogueWaveYachtSales.com for hosting this event. Last year (april) we had the same type of event at the Oakland Yacht Club, during Pacific Sail Expo; Kate flew out for this event and I had told her I would fly out to the east coast for her event. It was worth it. We will have a Lyle Hess Fest this next April on the West coast; please come. It will be at the Oakland yacht club. I will keep everyone informed. Nor'Seas, Montgomery's and BCCs. All good people. This was a quick trip for me. Out on Friday, back on Sunday. Fast but fun. I usually bring Sharon with me to these events; we have 2 foster kids (age 2 and 5) and with my 15 and 7 year old daughters (Holly and Natalie) as well, we really couldn't get organized enough to get away. But we will this April. See you there.! Fair winds Bob Eeg (949) 489-8227 www.montgomeryboats.com www.norseayachts.com Boat Builder