This year my wife and I will be fleet captains for our boat club, in
charge of this summer's rendezvous(s?). I would like to introduce
some different activities from those we've done in the past. In the
past we've chipped floating golf balls into a floating ring; we've
gone on dinghy cruises; held volleyball tournaments, etc. So, I would
like to ask the members of the group with boat club rendezvous
experience about the activities you have participated in the past.
Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated. They CAN include
games involving alcohol, but it is not necessary since it figures
prominently in many of the things we do.

TIA

Keith

On Feb 23, 12:28�pm, k_mac wrote:
This year my wife and I will be fleet captains for our boat club, in
charge of this summer's rendezvous(s?). �I would like to introduce
some different activities from those we've done in the past. �In the
past we've chipped floating golf balls into a floating ring; we've
gone on dinghy cruises; held volleyball tournaments, etc. �So, I would
like to ask the members of the group with boat club rendezvous
experience about the activities you have participated in the past.
Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated. �They CAN include
games involving alcohol, but it is not necessary since it figures
prominently in many of the things we do.

TIA

Keith

I served as fleet captain for a yacht club several years ago.

Among the more memorable events:

"Crash and burn cruise" (The women docked the boats, the men made
dinner).

"Blindfold dinghy race" Rower is blindfolded and must listen to
instructions from passenger to navigate around. Putting a passenger of
the opposite sex in each dinghy adds to the merriment, but we learned
the hard way that it's better if the passenger isn't the spouse. :-)

"White Trash Cook Off" Somebody got a copy of a cookbook called the
White Trash (maybe it was Trailer Trash) Cookbook with all sorts of
bizarre recipes for stuff made with canned pork 'n beans, Wonder
bread, etc. Passed out a prize to the "winning" dish. As I recall, the
winner was a cake made with about 20 different kinds of alcohol....oh,
yeah, and a little flour to bind it all together.

Block Race: Requires a bit of advance prep. Somebody brings a batch
of wooden blocks, each painted red and then numbered one through
however many. The race official rows out 50 or 60 yards from the pier
and sets the blocks adrift, then the racers are allowed to set out.
Each dinghy is assigned a number before the race begins, and to win
the race the dinghy must row out to the floating blocks, find their
exact number, and then be first to row back to the pier. It's
considered fair to pick up other blocks without your number and toss
them off in some random direction. :-)

"Special Olympics": A takeoff on the blindfold dinghy race above.
The blindfolded archery event (using rubber tipped arrows and a toy
bow) was a hoot, as well as the three legged footrace, etc.

"Milk carton boat race" Each participant gets the following material:
a one gallon (could use half gallon) waxed cardboard milk carton. Two
rubber bands. Two tongue depressors. A cup hook. A 12' dowel. Four
carpet tacks. As much duct tape as you care to use. That's it. The
challenge is to build a model boat out of that material, and then
participate in a race. Experience proves that the best race course is
in an empty slip in a marina and the race should always be run
downwind. That particular club held this event for several years, and
the rivalries became as much fun as the boat race. Somebody would
always goof off and "cheat", showing up at the race course with some
sort of battery operated electric motor built into the milk carton
boat- Nobody ever seriously tried to get away with cheating and after
a good round of general ribbing and hee-haws the culprit would always
be
very loudly "disqualified". :-)

"Treasure map" Good for a summer afternoon. Fleet captain gets up
very early in the morning and buries a cheap styrofoam ice chest with
a chunk of dry ice and a few dozen bottles of beer. He then constructs
a goofy map, with puzzling clues, to help the treasure hunters find
the booty. After the motley crew of folks with clam guns, bandanas,
etc wander around the general area looking foolish the final clue
takes them to the spot on the beach where the beer is buried.
Just make sure you check the tide tables before burying the loot on
the beach.

Yep, I'm a Past Fleet Captain at our local Yacht Club.
We've had an Annual Wooden Boat race that's always been well attended.
It's for the old wooden luggers and trawlers (some 50-75 years old),
usually about 12-14 boats at our club, from 30' to 65' in length..
Since mostly the same boats race every year, we've been able to
handicap them pretty closely. We use our Committee Boat for the start
and modified sailing rules including the use of shapes and signals,
just like a sailing start. And we use a staggered start from directly
in front of our Clubhouse. It's usually a 10-20 mile race with the
finish line set up wherever the Club's rendevous happens to be that
weekend. So if our handicapping is right, they should all get to the
finish line at the same time. What a sight to see all those old putt
putts approaching the finish at the same time, engines screaming,
smoke stacks billowing, and in at least one case, on fire lol! There's
always a fleet of spectator boats (many of them racing sailboats)
waiting and cheering, as those same wooden boats are usually
spectating *them*.
It started out years ago as strictly a lark and a fun race but the
competition has seriously heated up over the years.

Unfortunately, our club is currently in transition from being boating
oriented to being strictly a social organization and the boat owners
are rapidly dropping out so I doubt our Club racing will continue much
longer (sailboat racing included). But some of those old Wooden Boat
Races over the years have been highlights of my years there.

Rick

On Sat, 23 Feb 08, k_mac wrote:
This year my wife and I will be fleet captains for our boat club, in
charge of this summer's rendezvous(s?). I would like to introduce
some different activities from those we've done in the past. In the
past we've chipped floating golf balls into a floating ring; we've
gone on dinghy cruises; held volleyball tournaments, etc. So, I would
like to ask the members of the group with boat club rendezvous
experience about the activities you have participated in the past.
Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated. They CAN include
games involving alcohol, but it is not necessary since it figures
prominently in many of the things we do.

TIA

Keith

Chuck / Rick -
Many thanks for the suggestions. I will run them by the missus and
the Commodore and see which ones they like.

Regards,

keith