Cedar Key

[Gordy Hill]

Graham just called me from Atsena Otie Key just off Cedar Key. Temp is supposed to top out today at 88 degrees with light winds of 8 - 10.

Graham helped Dale launch his boat and went for a sail with him, says Dale is a good sailer and currently out beating up on the Sea Pearls.

Word is that this year's showing is 50% bigger than last year. Lots of very interesting people.

I'm sitting at work just three hours away and I have to work tomorrow as well....

[Dale Niemann]

Yes, I did launch "Lively" at Cedar Key on Friday (FINALLY after 3 years building).

We launched her properly saying [To the Sea, to the sailors who went before us. To

[Designer]

I want to say how much we enjoyed the Cedar Key meet, it was my pleasure to take out "Lively" on her maiden sail. The weather was generally light but nice and warm.

I want to thank Ron Hoddinott for his hospitality and for putting on a great feast. They are proud of the fact that there is no organisation except for dinner, it works for me.

It was a special treat for me to meet some people that I have admired for a long time. Sven Lundin (Yrvind) whose exploits in small boats are legendary. Meade and Jan Gugeon who wrote the books on epoxy boat building. Meade and Jan particularly liked Southern Skimmer and I had a lot of fun watching such good sailors having fun sailing and tweaking her.

[Tom Lathrop]

Cedar Key proved an excellent place for a small boat gathering. For an event that bills itself as having no organization, this event seemed to work extremely well with the boats showing up were they were "supposed" to in good order. The Saturday evening feast was great and all were fed or overfed with fine food. The thunderstorm waited until we were packing up to leave on Sunday and was pretty mild even then. A great time was had by all.

Some veterans said that this year was a new record for number of boats. The town and everyone we met were very cordial and laid back, including the dock/ramp master who volunteered to go check on his boat while we did something a bit out of order with Southern Skimmer.

The launch ramp and parking area was a new experience on Saturday when we were inundated with more fishing boats than we could count beginning at about 5:00AM and continued for several hours.

Great opportunity to meet Matt Layden, Jan and Meade Gougeon and Sven Yrvind, the exploits of whom many of us have followed for years.

[Dale Niemann]

In another post Gordy asked for pictures.

Here are a few shots of "Lively" at Cedar Key.

Sorry, I do not have any of her sailing yet.

Dale

[Dale Niemann]

Hi everybody,

Here are the photos you all have been waiting for. The Cedar Key event was just fantastic.

Below is an email I just received from Ron Hoddinott founder of the West Coast Trailer Squadron. Check out the photos.

Dale

I just posted about 75 photos from the Cedar Key Small Boat Meet. This

event is becoming the largest gathering of small boats in the United

States, if it isn't already. We've never seen such a turnout as we had

this year! The variety of sailing craft just boggled the mind. The

creativity and craftmenship of the builders and sailors was just

overwhelming. The weather was great and the nearby offshore islands

make great gathering areas and destinations for small shallow draft

boats.

The guest speakers were great at the WCTSS cookout, and Tom's smoked

chicken and sausage was once again wonderful!

Here is the link to the first of three web pages of photos sent in my

those who attended: http://members. ij.net/wctss/ wctss/photo12. htm

I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you make your plans to attend next

year! My reservations are already made for Cedar Key 2008!

Ron Hoddinott

Founder ~ WCTSS ~

[Dale Niemann]

Sorry I tried the above site and it did not work. Lets try this.

It may only work if you are a member of the yahoo groups WCTSS.

http://members.ij.net/wctss/wctss/photo12.htm

Dale

[Dale Niemann]

You can also go directly to out club website.

http://members.ij.net/wctss/wctss/

Dale

[Travis Votaw]

Lively is beautiful, Dale. Looks like you did a superb job on her. Thanks also for the West Coast Trailersailor website.

I'd love to make the Cedar Key outing one of these days, take another Graham Byrnes design down there