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Held the 2009 Rendezvous at Telegraph Harbour Marina on Thetis Island on July 24, 25 and 26. We had 20 boats and almost 60 people.

The Friday night registration Dock Party appetizers were laid out on tables along one side of the float. The trick became moving in to get an appetizer and then moving quickly back to one end or the other before the float began to sink! Our wine master, Pat Clarke, was sadly remiss in his winter wine making efforts compared to previous years and promised to shape up for next year. It was noted, however, that no one seemed to go dry.

The Saturday morning discussion included maintenance issues from the previous year, upgrades, questions, horror stories, and so on. The discussion included a presentation by Don & Nancy McEachern on how to increase the insulation around the iceboxes. They have done this on a number of the Nonsuches they have owned and dramatically reduced the ice consumed and electrical power required to keep things cold.


Dick Vest described how he learned about his fuel system in great detail during their first year owning 30C. Evidently the engine would start and run well for the first few hours and when hot would sputter and stop. After going through the fuel pump and filters he moved on to the fuel tank. He installed clean out openings on the tank and cleaned everything completely. With all this work done the problem persisted.

Eventually he found the problem was a wire on the fuel pump that moved very slightly when the pump was hot and broke the contact. He replaced the pump and soldered the connection on the original pump and kept it as a spare. He & Genny exhibited considerable humour given how frustrating this problem must have been to diagnose and solve.

The group went sailing on Saturday afternoon and in spite of all being keen and persistent . . . the wind decided to die completely before any of the boats finished the course. There was some debate about who actually started their engine first but it was clear that none of the boats were prepared to jeopardize the Open Boats cocktail hour so all headed in together.


Several new owners attended! Tim & Rosemary Lepard picked up their PEGASUS 30C 107 the day before and arrived enroute back to Eagle Harbour YC in West Vancouver. Tony Cain brought his LAVINIA 35 ?? up from Victoria. Carl Hosticka & Claudia Black brought their SAPPHIRE 33 20 all the way north from her homeport of Portland, Oregon.

The marina provided a great barbeque dinner and the teams were graded on their annual tests. Carl Hosticka spoke about sailing his boat down to Portland and back up to Victoria, Carl also answered questions about preparations for offshore sailing.

As the party was winding up we were treated to a spectacular sunset followed by a major league electrical storm. There was some debate about staying under cover in the dining pavilion (dry but under some large trees) or heading to the dock (wet but lots of tall metal masts). For a number of hours there was a great storm. Sunday morning had cleared to calm and sunny again.

The business meeting was held in the shuffleboard pitch while the Sunday market was set up in the Pavilion. The consensus was to book Telegraph Harbour Marina for 2010 and to explore a few other locations for future years. Telegraph Harbour Marina was felt to be fairly central and ideal for the purposes of a Rendezvous . . . aside from the lack of wind for sailing.

The Winter Social was discussed and it was agreed that Sidney BC, on Vancouver Island, was a good central location and that the use of the Quadrant Marine facility for the diesel engine seminar or any other seminars was a bonus. Royal Victoria YC hosted the 2009 Social to good reviews.

The 2010 Winter Social plan is to find some members willing to help organize to suggest some topics, speakers, or whatever might be of interest. Popular topics include maintenance, upgrades, safety, and cruising stories.

One thing that may alter the location. It has been suggested that we do a mast discussion day and one NNNW member has offered to let us pull their Nonsuch mast and use it for a the purposes of a seminar. More on this opportunity as we get closer.

2009 was another GREAT year . . . afloat and ashore !

Susan Kidd & Paul Shield

Nonsuch / Niagara North West

604-266-1646

svkidd@shaw.ca

paulshield@telus.net



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