CSR Rendezvous 2009 – Atlantic City NJ

Pardon my piss-poor video editing. There's definitely a learning curve...

Isn't it time that you finally get a Mac and join the civilized world?
 
I couldn’t imagine that a simple idea of getting a small group of friends can turn out to be such a huge and FANTASTIC event inspiring people to travel as far as over 200 miles each way. As Frank’s (fc3) countdown was getting closer to the date I’m sure that everyone was getting very excited. A great deal of planning, getting everything ready, fixing stuff, cooking specialty meals, etc. was rewarded by an overall PERFECT 4th of JULY WEEKEND!

As I looked out of the window on Friday morning I simply thanked God for giving us such awesome day, it couldn’t be any better. As we were making our way to the fuel dock just off Toms River we passed by our cruise director who was making his way to the convoy meeting place. A few minutes later I herd disturbing call that Lil Krissy has transmission light on. I could only imagine what was going through Ron’s mind, but by some reason I had confidence that having group of people with great deal of knowledge on the stand by the issue will be resolved one way or the other. As the tension was building up Dominic and Jon began troubleshooting over the radio. I’m sure these folks can chime in with more details, but I’ll just say that I was very happy to hear that when Jon got on board to assist few minutes later we heard that the trouble seams to be over and we’re ready to depart. This was the time when I remembered Ron’s phrase from one of my posts “Jon can fix anything”. Way to go Jon, what a remarkable job in such a crucial moment.

I think that due to weather conditions our preliminary plan was to have everyone to switch from Team ICW to Team Ocean, but our leader (Dominic) decided to play safe and made a wise decision to stay inside, just in case, and monitor Lil Krissy’s performance. We gathered quickly and began our voyage. The trip down south was a total breeze. I can’t make enough compliments to our leader Dominic on demonstrating such great leadership skills making the trip of very tricky route feel like a walk in the park. He was constantly giving very detailed instruction and was able to set everyone’s expectation. I felt that I could follow him cross Atlantic. As we finally went through LEI (by some reason it was a bit rough and many of us got pounded few times) we had a pleasure running on very calm ocean. The seas looked so welcoming that my crew made a decision to bailout from caravan pull over and jump in for a swim. The water was great and we also had an opportunity to see dolphins just as we were ready to continue on our course to Trump Marina. Upon arrival it was a great moment to see that everyone had arrived safely. After getting things settled the group had checked out the pool where kids had a great time and everyone else was able just to relax. As the beautiful evening was unfolding it was time for “CSR Rendezvous 2009 – Atlantic City” to officially begin. It was very nice to see how everyone was delivering their home made specialty dishes to the tables. After everything was settled, as someone had said “you don’t see so much great food on a wedding”, the party had began. I had a great pleasure to see that everyone was having an excellent time. Great people, great food, drinks, cigars, music……what more can one ask? After having few cigars and scotch (thanks to Mike turtle tone for sharing) later in the evening we had some dance party aboard Boat-A-Bing. The next day was just as awesome as previous one. Many people enjoyed pool, tennis courts, boardwalk, shopping, casinos. We had decided to head out and drop an anchor in one of the local coves and enjoy swimming in the salt water. Some time later we were accompanied by Vince and his family. Another beautiful day was complimented by nice dinner, spectacular fireworks, late show and another dance party. BTW, Eric and Rudy, you were the closest boats to us on either side….. I hope we didn’t make too much noise late at night disturbing your rest. If we did, I apologize.

Everyone has a good story to tell and great memories to share. Let me finish mine by saying that we had a great pleasure meeting everyone. I’m really glad that everything had worked out as planned and everyone had a great time. I can’t wait for another trip. I also had expressed my thanks to Fairly State Marina staff for providing great hospitality. I’m sure that everyone liked the marina as well. So, if you guys don’t mind we can make this a CSR 4th of July annual tradition. We already have many details worked out, we have cruise director, lead boat, and so on. Thus, all we need to do is comeback and have fun.

P.S. great pictures everyone. I’ll post mine as soon as I get a chance.

Cheers,
Alex.
 
Awesome weekend, awesome weather, awesome group of people, and an awesome time had by all.......did I forget to say it was awesome?

We had a really great time in Atlantic City. Thanks to Ron, Dom, Frank C. and all who worked so tirelessly (well maybe not that hard) for putting this together. It was great to see old friends and meet lots of new ones. We are already looking forward to next years get together and who knows, if fuel stays reasonable, we may make more than one. Thanks to the photographers for letting everyone see what fun this was.

The ocean was like a lake for our trip home. We anchored out at the "secret spot" and met some dockmates for the afternoon, then it was back to DCM to clean the boat and relax. Great time.......
 
OK... who the hell is the guy in the 480 DB with the swept back antennas?

Oops, I mean, yeah who the hell was that?

I actually keep meaning to fix that, but never get time. Maybe this week.

We had an exciting trip back home. Cruising along nicely, then the exhaust pitch changed a little bit. I thought it was odd so I throttled it back a little bit. All the parameters looked ok, so I kept going. Then I got a starboard exhaust overtemp alarm, so I went to idle speed and shut that engine down.

Then I got all kinds of Aft Bilge and Emergency Bilge pump alarms. I'm thinking holy crap... So I flipped on the bilge pump switches, radioed the coast guard, and turned and started heading towards the shore (I was a couple miles out). Had one of my guests go down and wake up my wife so she could drive the boat while I went down below to check on things.

When I opened the hatch there was 6-8" of water in the bilge and water pouring out of the port engine. I yelled up to her to shut down the port engine, and I closed the seacock. The bilge pumps got the water out pretty quickly, I just had to shopvac the water out from under the engine.

We then proceeded for a while on just the starboard engine.

When it cooled off a little bit down below, I went and figured out what had happened. The trans oil cooler bracket broke and the cooler came out of the heat exchanger. I was able to get it back in and zip tied it in place so I could use that engine to dock the boat.

But we had a great time in Atlantic City. Got to meet a bunch of great people. Can't wait for the next one.
 
Now that I've had a few hours of sleep.... 12... I loaded in some pics.

Thursday we woke up at 4:30am to get packed and ready to head out to the boat, I noticed Dom was already awake and posting on CSR.

Arrived at the boat, fueled up and was on the water by 9:15am. we were in for an interesting day. I called Vince and told him we were shoving off and we should be at sandy hook in a couple of hours... hopefully.

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I just couldn't mis any red blobs as much as I tried. They just handed me off from one to another.

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We barreled through hells gate and into the east river to see yet another dark cloud over the city, weeee.

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We got dumped on in the NYC harbor and for a brief moment, the skies cleared enough for my to see what laid ahead. I got on the phone and called Vince and asked if I was cruising into Hell.

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As I crossed the VZ Bridge, I was Throttling over 8' rollers thinking to myself... I may have as FC3 puts it "A go, no go, decision deficit disorder".

Vince informed me that he was heading out before his crew chummed the water and to catch up to him on the outside after I fueled up. I bounced into Sandy Hook, topped off and head to the outside to catch up to him.

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I caught up to Vince about an hour later.

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We jumped into the inlet and headed into the canal.

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I was very happy to be off the ocean.

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So was pig dog.

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We cruised through the bay and finally arrived at Dom's inlet.

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We got tied up and grabbed some beers.

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Dom and Linda were just fantastic. After we got settled in and had a chance to unwind, he fired up the grill while the dogs chased each other around the pool. I was still a little wobbly from the boat ride.

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So was Vince's crew.

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We had a fantastic meal, some more beers, cigars, port, more food. It was just great. Dom and Bobby Bacala hooked me up with a bunch of Jerry Cans and drove me to the gas station to top off my fuel for the run to AC the next day. The Turtle butt crew passed out for the night. We woke up the next day to Dom's smiling face. He already went for a jog, took a shower and packed the boat, I was still wearing the same clothes from the day before. I made some coffee, woke the crew and wandered around Dom's Marina. Not only does he have a great pool, BBQ, Dock, Fuel service, He also has a spare parts.

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All I can say is it was One Sweet Stay with One Sweet Day.

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End of Day 1
 
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Mike,

Great pictures, it was nice to meet you!


Dom

Love you landscaping but you could do some serious damage on Ebay with those wheels and that anchor. Ron and I would have had that stuff sold the moment it came off the boat!
 
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I know some guys from Brooklyn who'd gold-plate that kedge anchor and wear it around their necks.
 
Day 2 we followed Dom out to meet up with the rest of the convoy. Pig dog was checking the weather.

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We sat in the bay while Poky was fixing his boat. A few minutes later he was up and running and we headed out.

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With Dom leading the way, I handed the wheel over to the admiral while I sat back and enjoyed the view.

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She was having a little bit of a problem keeping the boat on plane at such a slow speed. We would be up, down, up, down. Finally Vince Jumps on the radio and tells my GF that she sucks at driving and if we could please get her off the wheel as she was causing a traffic jam behind us.

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We split up into two groups, The inside team and the outside team. I chose the inside as it was the first time in the area and I wanted to see the views.

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Bobby Bacala lead the inside team and when he punched those throttle, he took off like a rocket. I was happy to be able to pull my tabs up and actually plane. Gale Winds can fly.

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We fly through the channels with only a few close calls with the fishermen. AC was in our site.

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We all hung out and met each other. FC3 handed out name tags that looked AWESOME and helped in identifying everyone.

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Frank was trying to explain to Ron that Home Depot clamps and boats don't mix.

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I met Stan and he gave his famous burnt knuckle wave.

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Everyone was having a great time. The Table of Gods was incredible.

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Pig dog had to stay on the boat as there was just too much temptation with all of that food. She was not happy

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One thing I noticed was Stan can eat. He was at the table at least 8 times.

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Even Ron was amazed.

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Every time I turned around he was filling another plate.

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Look what we have here, future husband and wife boaters?

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The next day I hopped in the jittney and headed to the boardwalk. I picked up a new hat. Frank (impulse III) called it the Vietnamese apple pickers hat or something like that.

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Later that night, impulse III and Katina Elena crews went out to dinner at an Italian place in Harrah's, On the way back we saw Alex and crew going to the same place. mmmm tastey. We all met back at the dock for some more goofy juice and cigars and fireworks.

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Sunday, Vince and I head out early because we had a long haul ahead of us. We were supposed to leave with Frank and Mark, but they slept in so Vince and I untied and headed out. We were a little nervous about the West wind so we headed inside and picked up some cheap fuel. Frank and Mark finally woke up and headed out. As Vince and I were navigating though the bazillion boats on the inside, Frank and Mark were on the radio "wow, amazing, ohhhh dolphins, this is the best water ever, you guys on the inside are missing the most incredible day in the history of boating". etc...

Vince and I finally hit the inlet and headed out. All I can say is that Frank and Mark were right. The ocean was INCREDIBLE. We throttled up and just had a great time.

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We were lucky enough to even catch a pod of dolphins, is that what the call it? Anyway, The GF was pointing the camera the other way when they surfaced right in front of Vince's boat. Then the battery died before they surfaced again.

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The water was great so we decided to fuel up in sandy hook and continue on to Norwalk. It was one long ass day, 8 hours on the water. We pulled into the slip and I went below and took a 3 hour nap. I woke up, washed the boat and packed the truck and headed home.

What an incredible weekend. It was great meeting all of the people on CSR and making new REAL friends. I want to thank everyone that put this together. Ron and Alex for organizing everything. FC3 for name tags and the countdown clock, Dom for letting us dock at his house and leading the way for all of us, truly a great guy. Bobby Bacala for plowing the team through the inside without anyone grounding. Vince for leading the way to Dom's. Just had a great time. Looking forward to next year.
 
Sounds like a fantastic trip. Thanks to all of you guys that posted the pics and narrative.
Very cool.
 
You guys have blogged the heck out of this trip before I was able to set up a blog FOR the trip. I did get around to setting it up with barebones stuff. If any attendees want "permission" to post PM me with your email address. Here's the site...

http://searayrulz.blogspot.com/

If we're all blogged out on this topic, we'll just let it die.
 
This thread is getting tired. Don't you all have anything better to do that talk about great weather, boating, good food, happy kids, happy dogs and making new friends? Boating is a waste of money. Obama is going to find out and take it all away from you. You all have won the lottery of life and are rubbing it our faces. I would never do that to you guys. We need to get back on topic.

Where's jg300da? wingless?

(I'm stuck in Clearwater for a few days...)
 
Oh yeah... Greg... I told you to bring a bag of bolts for things that fall off the engines...

Now we'll never hear the end of it from those Cat Bastards.
 
This thread is getting tired. Don't you all have anything better to do that talk about great weather, boating, good food, happy kids, happy dogs and making new friends? Boating is a waste of money. Obama is going to find out and take it all away from you. You all have won the lottery of life and are rubbing it our faces. I would never do that to you guys. We need to get back on topic.

Where's jg300da? wingless?

(I'm stuck in Clearwater for a few days...)

Nope. Nothing better to do that boat, eat, drink, be merry, lose some money to "The Donald" at the casino. You are correct in that boating is a huge waste of money. But, Mr. Obama is gonna have to pry boating out of my OTHER cold, dead hand after he takes my gun from the first hand.

However, I think you're just jealous that your work got in the way of having some fun with all of us.

There will be another get together; maybe bigger, maybe better, maybe closer to Virginia! We'll hold a spot for you.

How's the weather in FL?
 
This was my first real boating trip with the wife and kids and I want to thank everyone for making it a great one. I think I have them hooked on boating :smt038 .

Everyone had a blast and it was a pleasure meeting everyone in the group. You couldn’t ask for a nicer group of people. Special thanks to Dominick and his wife for inviting us to stay at his place on Thursday and Bob from Gail Winds for leading us through the Atlantic City Bayou and Mike and Consuelo for the balloon, birthday card and gift for my daughter Kerri. :thumbsup:

My trip started on Thursday with a plan of meeting Mike (TurtleTone) at the tip of Sandy Hook so we could head south on the ocean together. Unfortunately, my wife and daughter got a little queasy when I was trolling for fish waiting for Mike to make it through the storm. I had to start my trip without him. He caught up with us about 1 hour into the trip. My son took a most of the pictures that follow.

This is the infamous Mantoloking train bridge. Mike is approaching it from the ocean.

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And he made it through.

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Here we are at "Marina Del Dom"

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It is a very nice place to stay, but you have to make reservations weeks in advance. But it was worth it.

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Friday morning waiting for the group to collect. Mike's dog Sara was doing a roll call.

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I believe this a family of osprey that create their nests out on the markers.

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My 2 captains. Ryan drives and Kerri tells him that he is doing it wrong.

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All settled in at the dock
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My wife Patricia and daughter Kerri. Kerri was 8 on July 4th :smt038

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My son Ryan with his "cool face" on..

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Ed, "A Little Bit Moor" heading out for a cruise. My friend was taking a nap after he spent the night hanging out until 4:00 AM with Chazz Palmiterri

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Turtle Tone cutting the corners
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When we got out to the Ocean, Mike figured it was safe to put up his new antenna. He said he going to try to call the planet Ork to see if he could arrange a pickup.



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These a few more pics of Mike on the way home up to Sandy Hook.

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Ok dumb question. Mike don't you get hot with your full canvas up??
 
Great pics Vince, tell Ryan I said THANKS dude!!!

Nah, I had the front and back open and plenty of air coming through. The admiral wanted the sides up so her hair wouldn't get too messy.
 
For a minute there I thought Gary and Jitts were flying in:
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