Janet and I returned back to Nashville Sunday afternoon with the memory of seeing lots of wonderful people, some great Commanders, and with regrets of not being able to see everyone!
A respectful tip of the hat to Mike Adam for hosting the event at the Algonac Harbor Club; to Charlene Pike, for all of the OBVIOUS coordination and communications work that had to be done, and to make it look easy, and to do so with a positive touch of class; and to Chris Orphal, who presided over this event as the "Chief Commander" of the Commander Club. This was a wonderful event in so many ways.
(ABOVE) Charlene Pike, event co-host and coordinator! Photo by Don Endres (thanks Don ! )
We arrived Friday evening after dark, and stopped by to check out the Harbor Club. Within 5 minutes of arriving on site, we were talking to some friends and drinking one of Matt O'Donnell's cold beers.
We had to cut it short that eve due to the need to check into the Riverside Hotel, and get some food.
Arriving at the Riverside, we met someone in the parking lot who had just pulled in by car, a very nice Lady by the name of Fitzpatrick. I gave her a hand with her luggage and as soon as I heard her last name I said "are you related to Kevin Fitzpatrick" and she said "yes". It was Kevin's mom, so we knew Kevin wouldn't be far behind!
She said she just had the nicest pickerell fish dinner down the road, so we took her up on the tip and did the same. We were fortunate the waterfront restaurant stopped serving at 11:00 PM.
Saturday morning it was just bedlam for me. Janet knows how I behave at a boat show. I glaze over like a zombie, I don't listen to anything she says, I get this smile on my face and I just wander off! This was no exception. We met so many wonderful people, some old friends, some new friends we have corresponded with in the past here on the forum and elsewhere but never met in person, and some new friends we just met on the spot.
Saturday evening there was a nicely organized dinner and a nice history of the Chris Craft Commander series. An auction followed.
Sunday morning the local breakfast hot-spot was crawling with Commander owners and fans. Later in the morning people began packing up and departing one by one. As the motors of various boats fired up, I got some great videos and still photographs, of which I will post throughout the coming week. Late Sunday morning it began to rain. As the Commander fleet departed the Algonac Harbor (the exact site of the old Chris Craft plant) little did we know some of the boats would experience driving rain and six foot seas out in Lake Erie!
As Janet and I were about to board our Southwest flight back to Nashville, we got a call from Mark Weller, who reported that he just arrived safely with the fleet from Sandusky, and reported on the rough seas. We were glad to hear everyone got home safely.
There is way too much to tell in one posting, and I will be doing a special on several notable Commander owners, boats, events, during the upcoming week.
I took lots of notes, and many hundreds of photos and videos, some of which were on film and won't be available until later in the week.
Stay tuned !
Regards, Paul and Janet
Nashville
FXA-38-3004-R
added note: It's going to take days to add all the images and videos. Please check back to see if additonal photos are added to some of the existing postings, becuase I have yet to get two CDs back from the photo shop, which were taken with a 35mm film camera as a backup. In addition, if anyone has photos of their own, please feel free to post them here within the appropriate threads, or start a new one. The more the better!