July 17, 2009

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Rendezvous Photos






Here's a few more miscellaneous photos from the rendezvous.

Lake Champlain 12



Friday 7-17-09
We had a pitch-in dinner last night around a campfire on Burton Island. (In between rain showers.) I think the mosquitoes viewed it as a great feast as well. Everyone brought a dish, and Herb on "Lady Jane" cooked some tasty chicken and burgers over a wood fire.
It was sad leaving our new Rosborough friends this morning, but our time has expired.
There were 16 boats that showed up (plus Pete "Sooner" who drove up to visit). The states represented included Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Indiana, as well as Ontario, and Quebec.
Jan and Steve on "Jessie M." left about 6:30 am this morning, and we left an hour later. The forecast was for wind from the south with varying speed predictions--anywhere from 10 to 20 mph. Since we had to go south for about 70 miles, the difference between 10 and 20 is a huge one. When we first left Burton Island, it was blowing about 12. After we crossed the inland sea, and passed through The Gut (that's really what they call it--look it up on a chart) the wind died down some. The further we went, the calmer it got. The lake was actually very smooth most of the way. It was our best day on the water.
There lots of ferries on Lake Champlain. We tried to go between two on the trip today, but they closed the gap too quickly.

We arrived at Fort Ti about 2:00 pm. An hour after "Jessie M." It was an uneventful trip for both of us. We cruised the first half at 12 mph, and then slowed to 10 mph for the second half.
After we arrived, we went around the corner from the dock and looked at the fort from the water.

At the dock where we plan to spend the night, there was a bAss tournament going on. There was about 30 boats pulling out, and everyone was weighing fish in garbage bags. I imagine they'll be back before the sun comes up tomorrow.
Just to keep the streak intact, it rained today after we were tied to the dock. It rained EVERY day we were here. Never all day, but every day saw some showers. Don't want to sound too negative, because both Vermont and New York are beautiful states, with great people. We really enjoyed being here. Sorry to see it end.
T & P

July 16, 2009

Lake Champlain 11

Made it into Burton Island-- a Vermont State park.
We finally got to all dock in a row. Here's a rare sight - 11 Rosboroughs together.

Lake Champlain 10



Thursday, 7-16-09
On our way to Burton Island. We stopped for an hour at Hero's Welcome on North Hero Island.
An old general store and post office.

As you can see in the photos, it's another beautiful day here in Vermont.
T & P

July 15, 2009

Fw: Lake Champlain 9

7-15-09
I forgot to mention that Reed and Judy on "Filamingo" finally joined the group yesterday at Burlington. They lost a wheel on their trailer, which slowed them down, but the big delay was trying to find orange juice with extra pulp for Daniel on "ONDAS".
Left Burlington this morning about 10 am.
After seeing us with our jackets on all the time, my pal Rich emailed me to ask which day was summer in Burlington. I checked with the locals, and they said that summer this year was from about 3 pm until 5 pm on July 3rd. There were no clouds, and it got up to 67 degrees. What a day !
We're anchored tonight near the NW corner of Valcour island. It's another picturesque setting.

Some of the participants have had to leave today, but it's still quite a sight to see 11 boats anchored in one place.
Everyone either anchored and backed into the beach, or took their dinghy ashore. We recently upgraded our dinghy to one that doesn't leak. (My inflatable doll) However, this trip our motor is acting up. It's been very reliable until now. We have oars. They're back in the truck at Fort Ti. I have one paddle, but we just keep going around in circles.

There was talk of a campfire on the beach tonight, so Jan from "Jessie M." found firewood.

Ballew from "Cloud Nine" took Craig for a kayak ride.

Tomorrow we go on to Burton Island. That will be our last night with the group. We'll head back down to Fort Ti Friday and start the drive home Saturday. (Assuming we're able to make the entire run back on Friday.)
T & P

Fw: Lake Champlain 8




Stayed the night at Burlington, VT last night. Walked up to Church St. and visited the interesting shops and saw an eclectic mix of people.
We were at the end of the dock, and our view from the cockpit was great.

In Burlington, we found these guys hanging out on the roof.

And we had another encounter with "Champ".

T & P

July 14, 2009

Fw: Lake Champlain 7


7-14-09
This morning, while sipping our coffee in our quite cove anchorage, we turned around and saw the fleet heading out. We quickly weighed anchor and jumped in line. Along the way, we saw a small weekend cottage that Tammi says was built for someone named Vanderbilt.

Herb on Lady Jane provided us all a treat as his marina. A pump-out is not exactly the same treat as ice cream, but I think the fleet appreciated it more than ice cream.

We arrived in Burlington about noon, and after some confusion about slip assignments, everyone got settled in.

This guy has a slip in the middle of our group.

T&P

Fw: Lake Champlain 6

Monday, July 13, 09

If you've tried to post a comment and couldn't.....I fixed the problem. Comments are now accepted. Thanks Pete.
Since Don Argay is about the only person I know from New York, I never held the state in high regard. However, the state is beautiful, and the people they let stay here are very friendly. The same can be said for Vermont.
Today, Daniel on ONDAS ferried all of us to one side of the creek so we could get a group photo. While trying to set up a tripod, and figuring out timers etc. a couple pulled up and parked their car nearby to go for a walk. Immediately, Tammi (cruise director) grabbed them and asked if they minded taking our photo. Little did they know when they agreed that there were 15 cameras. But they did it and didn't run for their car with 15 new cameras.
We motored back out otter creek this morning, and toured around the lake.

Since Tammi's phone had no reception, and mine did, I was assigned the task of communicating with Reed from NC, who is still on the road trying to get here. He called today, still 5 hours away, and asked if anyone wanted any provisions from Wal-Mart. I radioed the group on the VHF, and asked. Mike on Hawkeye requested some kind of sandwich buns, and Daniel on ONDAS requested orange juice with extra pulp. So I called Reed back on the cell phone. Poor Reed had to go to several Wal-Mart's to find the extra pulp, and did not arrive in time to launch today. Daniel couldn't drink his rum without extra pulp, but Dave on Lobstertales had a small amount of orange juice on board to which we added seaweed to make it pulpier. Don't tell Daniel about the seaweed.
The scenery is quite stunning, however, I've finally found a place with more clouds than Indiana.

There is one thing here that we don't have in Indiana. While touring the lake, I thought I saw an extremely large fish. Or something.
I got the camera, and caught a photo of it. Looks like we encountered "Champ" the Lake Champlain sea monster. This is an actual photo of a creature rarely seen by sober people.

T & P

July 12, 2009

Fw: Lake Champlain 5





More boats joined us today. We are now a fleet of 14, and expect one more yet. Reed from NC is still on the way. (We hope)

We have had a "drive-in" attendees. Pete and Sean from "Sooner" drove up to say hi to the group.
The Rosborough factory even sent potential customers Woody and Donna from Ithaca, NY to see so many boats in one place.

T & P

Fw: Lake Champlain 4






Sunday, 7-12-09
Another day in Vergennes, Vt. It appears our time travels are over, and we're back to today.
Last night, we we were pleasantly surprised when they turned on the lights illuminating the water falls. The photo is not good, but you get the idea. The colors changed like the color wheel for an aluminum Christmas tree my parents had.

We had a little rain last night, but it didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits. As a matter of fact, I think the spirits were flowing freely on some boats.
Today, Cruise Director Tammi arranged transportation for all of us to get to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. She and Craig had to track down the only taxi in town, and explain how half of us had to picked up on one side of the creek, and the rest across the creek.
It took two trips to the museum, but we made it. A great museum with a lot of American history you might not have studied in school. There were several Revolutionary War battles on Lake Champlain, and the hero of them was none other than Benedict Arnold. (Before that other thing you might have heard about him.)

We were able to have lunch with some of the group at a nice spot across the street from the museum.

T & P