The world's largest gathering of
Chris Craft Commanders
is now history!
The following thread has all the photos for your viewing enjoyment!
Stay tuned, there are more on the way from various particpants,
and we'll showcase them all as they are received!
Well the 2008 Lake Erie Chris Craft Commander Rendezvous is history, and it lived up to the pre-event predictions of being the worlds largest gathering of Chris Craft Commanders, certainly within the last 15 years and perhaps ever. I believe there were 52 Commanders registered, and we’ll wait for the official accounting from Matt and Tim, which we’ll publish later in the coming week. We also have hundreds of photos to upload, taken by various individuals. A huge thanks goes out to Matt ODonnell and Tim Toth, who initiated this event and who did all of the heavy lifting and local coordination. Many of these images have allready been
beamed around the world to the many countries where our readership comes from.
Many of the initial photos you see posted on the web site so far came out of a hotel room at the event, and the hook-up speed was a little on the cumbersome side so we were limited with the volume we could upload at the time. You can tell by looking at the date of the posting, any photo posted before August 25 came out of the Rivers Edge Hotel!
To say the event was an unqualified success is an understatement. The group that responded to the Rendezvous is remarkable, well behaved, and without a bad apple in the bunch. The Huron Yacht Club management and staff is exemplary, and they set a new standard for yachting hospitality for an event like this, and they sure lived up to their motto as being the friendliest club on Lake Erie. The facilities were clean, new, well designed, very well staffed and managed. We can not thank them enough, for their kind hearted support of our group, and for opening their private club to our group. The rains stayed away all week-end until late Sunday afternoon, and it appears the ride home for everyone was a good one too.
One thing is certain, the overall quality of the boats is increasing. I have never seen so much new chrome, and so many gleaming hulls. People are taking immense pride in these old boats, and it is a true testament to the enduring style and overall build quality of a classic fiberglass Commander.
The following post was direct from Huron, and it is left as it was originally posted last week. Enjoy!
Regards to all,
Paul
The Chris Craft Commander Forum, Inc.
A formally registered not-for-profit education-based corporation.
http://www.chriscraftcommander.com
Here is the event as it was reported live, from Huron:
The big event is allready in the works and this place is simply the best venue I have ever seen for something like this.
Many thanks to Matt ODonnell and Tim Toth for setting this up, selecting this location, and for doing all the heavy lifting for the event.
The internet communications has brought people together in an amazing way. People who meet in person for the first time are allready friends, and it is really special.
Here are a few photos of the FUN we had last night, just sitting at the amphitheatre and cutting up, and as you may see, there were allready enough Commanders in the harbor for a Rendezvous.
Here are a couple night shots of the harbor, the one of the boats is a time exposure.
Here are some of the Commander Commanders who arrived by boat, enjoying a perfect cool breeze and good friendship right there at dockside last night. What great people, what great fun.
Mark Weller in action, showing off with his wireless connection!
The girls were especially well behaved, as allways.
More fun with the guys, from left to right, Matt, Tim, Paul, Mark
