Westsail Rendezvous * Chesapeake Bay * Maryland

September 15, 16, 17, 2023

Spring Cove Marina, 455 Lore Road, Solomons, MD 20688

Phone 410-326-2161     http://www.springcovemarina.com

Come join your fellow Westsailors for a weekend of fellowship, education, and fun! Our hosts this year are Susan & Jake Jarosz, Westsail #364 Pelagic, phone 703-675-9982 or email jake.jarosz@gmail.com

Solomons, MD on the Patuxent River is a boaters mecca known for its sheltered harbor, diverse restaurants, and festive atmosphere. 

If you are bringing your boat, call to make slip reservations under “Westsail Rendezvous”

Rates are $2.75/ft. weekdays; $3.25/ft. Fridays-Sundays.  $7 per 30-amp electric surcharge per night.  For those who anchor out, rendezvous participation is allowed, but marina facilities will then be limited.

For those driving the local lodgings are:

• -      Back Creek Inn (walking distance), 210 Alexander La, Solomons, MD 20688   410-326-2022
• -      Quality Inn (walking distance), 255 Lore Road, Solomons, MD 20688  410-326-6303
• -      Hilton Garden Inn (~3 minute drive), 13100 Dowell Road, Dowell, MD 20629  410-326-0303

Special cruise planned:

Harry Dingle, the owner of W42 #5 Sweet Dreams II in Baltimore, is organizing a cruise leaving from    Baltimore on Thursday, the 14th. to the rendezvous.  At least two W32 owners on their boats will join him, and any other Westsailors can tag along as they leisurely cruise down the Chesapeake. Harry can be reached at dingleprinting@gmail.com.

The planned agenda is as follows:

Friday September 15, 2023

Arrive at your own pace. Dinner and drinks will be poolside at the Spring Cove Marina’s Chessie’s Dock Bar and Grill.  Feel free to bring your own, but be aware no glass will be allowed poolside for safety reasons. Chessie’s stops serving food at 7 PM, but other Westsailors will keep a grill going until 10 PM.

Saturday & Sunday, September 16-17, 2023

It’s a busy weekend in Solomons, with a craft brewery festival, live music, Tiki Bar Social hours, and Pirate Day at the Calvert Marine Museum!  “What’s a Pirate’s favorite letter? Arrrgggggh.”

All day: Boat tours and lots of visiting and ogling of the boats and telling almost true sea stories. Bud Taplin will hold his infamous two-beer mini-surveys, answers questions and prowl the docks and boats with ideas and insults galore.  He will also have a surprise gift for all the owners if you can guess what it is.

We have several talks scheduled over the course of the weekend and the exact schedule is subject to change. Both days will include a sailors breakfast bar and talks from the following speakers:

• -        Bud Taplin. “Maintaining your Westsail Sailboat: The talk we’re all really here for”
• -        Jimmie Cockerill (The Rigging Company). “Basic Rig Inspections; Introduction to Downwind Standing Rigging.”
• -        Chuck O’Malley (Chesapeake Sailmakers). “Sail Design, Construction and Maintenance”
• -        Jake Jarosz. “Circumnavigation of the North Atlantic in a W32”

Speaker Profiles

• -        Bud Taplin, we all know Bud. Former Production Manager of Westsail, and now runs the Westsail Parts Company. 
• -        Jimmie Cockerill began actively pursuing the marine industry in 2004, working in various boatyards and apprenticeships around the Annapolis and Baltimore areas. In 2011, Jimmie co-founded The Rigging Company and has become a highly sought after rigger along the East Coast.
• -        Chuck O’Malleyis a lifelong cruiser and racer who was fortunate enough to turn his passion into a career. A former business major and CPA from LaSalle University in Philadelphia, Chuck started his sailmaking business in 2002, after working for a local sailmaker for a several years.  He has decades of experience building and repairing sails, but his best skill is listening to clients’ needs and working with them to create solutions that make their sailing safer and more enjoyable.
• -        Jake Jarosz has been the caretaker of Westsail Hull #364 since 2014. In 2019 he took her on a voyage around the North Atlantic via Newfoundland, Macaronesia, and the Caribbean. He hopes to take her farther afield very soon. After the 2019 voyage, Jake joined the maritime industry and now holds licenses/certifications as a USCG Master and ABYC Marine Electrician.

The more boats, owners/crews and wannabees the better.

See you there!