Aloha Brett,
Of course I only have data on AVA members, but I see only seventeen in all of California. Of those, only five are in SoCal (I put that as Santa Barbara to San Diego which is a lot of coastline, far more than Puget Sound). The rest are San Francisco area or North of there. One would think that with the huge boating population in the area there would be quite a few Vegas but we haven't heard from them.
By contrast, there are more than twice as many members in the Puget Sound area as in the entire state of California, and they are very active.
Because we are so spread out, with members from Hawaii to Maine, Rendezvous must be organized locally by volunteers. Of course, participation is not limited to AVA members, but that is the base of the communication network. Last year there was a Rendezvous held in Galveston Bay organized by an individual who is not a member. I hear it was a great success and I hope it becomes an annual event. I'd like to attend one day.
The bottom line is simply this: If you want to have a Rendezvous in your area, by all means, do so. I live in Hawaii and have no local knowledge of appropriate venues in your area so it would be impractical for me to organize an event there. What I can do is publish the date and place in the newsletter and help get the word out but with so few subscribers in the area it will take some legwork on the part of someone who lives there to make the event a success. That is how the Pacific Northwest event got started; a few energetic individuals, led by Brian Hofler, got the ball rolling and kept up the momentum to make it an annual event.
For my part, I would very much like to see annual or bi-annual rendezvous in the Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and Southeast corners of the continent and I will do everything I can to help.
The Northwest VEGAtarians have shown the way and the folks in the Galveston Bay area have demonstrated that they can do it too. Its a simple matter of making a few phone calls, choosing a place and time and getting the word out. The newsletter and the Yahoo group make getting the word out fairly simple but it helps to put flyers on every Vega you see in your local marinas to reach Vega owners who do not participate in either of these.
Choose a venue, Catalina may be a good place (I really don't know, just a suggestion). You could call around to marinas or your yacht club to see if they would be able to host the Rendezvous on a specific weekend then let us know so we can help get the word out.
Summer's just around the corner so now is the time to get started. I hope there will be another Galveston Bay Rendezvous this year and maybe someone will step up to the plate in the Northeast too.
Laura and I wll be at the Pacific Northwest VEGAtarian Rendezvous. Hope to see all of our old friends there.
Malama pono,
Chuck Rose
Lealea, V1860
Honolulu
Brett Goldstone brettgoldstone@... wrote: