Selene Rendezvous

The first East Coast Selene Rendezvous, sponsored by Ted Hood's Portsmouth Marine, started off in fine fashion with twelve of the expected 16 boats arriving a day early, on Thursday, 7/22 - including ourselves. In addition owners with on-order vessels began showing up, too. The Portsmouth Marine / Hinckley / Little Harbor site about five miles north of Newport, RI is a most impressive setting, and a perfect venue for the planned events. Here are some of the attendees:

Friday was the official opening with registration aboard Hood's own Twin Robin. By the end of the day, over 50 attendees were settled in. The afternoon was a time for visiting up and down the docks. Fifteen companies that provide everything from engines to electronics, stabilizers to service were represented in informal on-the-dock visits. Formal presentations were provided late in the afternoon. All were captivated by the energy and enthusiasm of Howard Chen, President of Jet Tern marine, the designers and builders of the entire Selene line of trawlers. When finished, the serious sessions morphed into most congenial social hour followed by an outstanding traditional New England Lobster Bake complete with all the clams, mussels, corn, chowder, and those weird but so tasty crustaceans that were the namesake of the meal.

A hard core of socializers continued the merriment on the docks until pumpkins started appearing where guests had once stood.

Saturday's weather was as perfect as Friday's. The fleet was readied, and at 1000 the dock was empty as the armada made its way north on Narraganset Bay. We cruised slowly, as a helicopter from boatpix.com buzzed the fleet, shooting a ton of film for the owners and the event. In Potters Cove, a few miles from our departure point, we anchored up as a group and spent some time doing what most of us came to do, that is talking about boating, cruising, and Selenes!

Celebrate had a full house! We were joined by Sandy and Bill, Tracey and Ken, and Chantal and Luc - all of whom were in their serious search for just the right trawler for their own cruising dreams. At the last instant - in fact I think the lines had been tossed off the dock, Howard Chen gracefully jumped aboard and added the extra energy that only the President of Jet Tern can provide. It was a pile of fun.

As lunch settled, we hoisted the anchor and made our way another couple of miles to Bristol, RI, where a field of moorings awaited us at the Herreshoff Museum. That was a wonderful treat because arrangements had been made for a tour of the America's Cup Hall of Fame as well as the Herreshoff Museum. That tour was conducted by Halsey Herreshoff himself, namesake of the famed designer and world class sailor himself. He has sailed in more America's Cup races than anyone on the planet. Ted Hood, a winning skipper himself (with HH on board as his navigator) provided the counterpoint to a spellbinding conversation between the two during the tour. It was historic.

After the tour, a delightful social hour and buffet dinner were served in the museum and enjoyed by all.

"Meeting the challenge of building a customer's dream"

That was Howard Chen's answer to my question about what he has enjoyed most in the time since Jet Tern was founded. Aboard Celebrate on Saturday, and at the reception Saturday evening, Howard dove into plans and layouts to sketch changes he signed off on to meet the needs of two Selene soon-to-be owners finalizing their layouts. Both were modifications of the 48, yet both were amazingly different. One even eliminated the second stateroom, installed a king-size berth and a tub instead, and perfectly met Ken and Tracey's needs.

It's hard to believe that Sunday could be the fourth day in a row of perfect weather, but it was. After the fleet departed the moorings in Bristol we returned to the Hinckley docks in Portsmouth, and quickly hopped aboard Morning Mist and Adagio for a pleasant one-hour run to Newport where we took the launch ashore and were welcomed at the New York Yacht Club's Newport Station for brunch and final farewells. We all looked forward to crossing paths again with the Selenes that attended and with the several owners of Selenes yet to be delivered.

The first east coast Selene Rendezvous was clearly a success that exceeded expectations, and will be a hard act to follow in 2006, but plans are already afoot for that. Thank you Ted Hood, John Clayman, Howard Chen, and Mary Ellen Spinelli for making all this possible.