Picture of Fred .... kinda

[John Nantz]

The World's very first ever Hunter Rendezvous took place at Port Ludlow in 1989 and Fred Ficarra and significant other was there! Well,.... they were there somewhere.Attached is a picture of the dinner prior to the awards ceromony where they took first place in the World's first-ever Hunter Rendezvous Race. So make that the First First Place!Now if Fred could just point out where he is - and not say the guy with the white hat! I forgot what his prize was - a horseshoe or MOB device?The dealer gave out caps to everyone who participated with 1989 in hot pink which have taken on something of a status symbol among those who have attended subsequent HAPS (Hunter Association of Puget Sound).

 

[Terry Cox]

Hi John, hey I can see Fred...the one with...

no hair and a mustach. Terry

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Terry, I'll get you for that!

Yep, I'm wearing a white hat. Or were they pink? We are easy to find. We are at the upper left. The blond lady in red is Linda. I'm the guy next to her. I still have that coat but lost some hair. And that's our son, Jereme next to me. When our award was called out, he went forward and accepted on behalf of the crew. It was a Life-sling with hoisting tackle. I already had one but WM let me exchange it. Let's see, what else? Oh, the race was run under 'gentleman rules' No luffing or any other defensive tactic when being overtaken. We started last and were in first place before the last mark to the turn for the finish. The first Vision was there. It was crewed by the dealers employees. It DNFd because it was so slow. That boat was a pure cat rig. I can still recall the crew cussing when they motored in.  Thanks for the picture John. It's saved on my machine. I haven't seen it since the Boat Show at least 10 years ago. How did you come to have it?

 

[John Nantz]

We have the negatives (somewhere)

The date is 15 July, 1989 in Puget Sound. Note the grey skies. In the previous picture please note that everybody is wearing JACKETS over SWEATERS (can't see the sweaters because they're covered).Trying to read the numbers in the picture, left to right, it looks like: H40, H32 (vision), H34 #69415, H37.5, ? to lee of the 37.5, H40?, H33. There were other boats ahead of this pack that were not in the picture.The picture was taken from our boat as we were headed toward the start line). Fred just thought he was the last boat to start but this picture proves otherwise (note the end of my boom). I didn't start for quite some time. The dealer also had a 37.5 demo boat in the race and it wouldn't surprise me if it's the one Fred is about to go over the top of.Lesson learned: Don't be off in the back 40 when the start gun goes off!Let's see if this photo can get attached - the pixel width is >500.

 

[Alan]

I had no idea......

...that Hunter had rendezvous that far back. I went to Hunter in '92 as a rep of our HSA and asked them to help sponser an east coast rendezvous. They came through in '93 with a get together in Mystic, Conn. We won the Hunter Cup that year and where presented with the Hunter Cup by Warren Luhrs, CEO of Hunter. Our Prize for the 1st place was an all expences paid charter in the BVI's on a brand new 40.5 for a week. We took the trip in the winter of '94. An experience that I will never forget.My congrats to Fred for winning the very first Hunter Rendevous Cup Regatta. For all these years I thought it was me.

 

[John Nantz]

Alan - WOW! We got ripped!

Can't believe it! All expenses paid in a 40.5 for a week? What a deal!!!We get pratically nothin' from Hunter out here! As I remember it, the hats and the prizes we got were from the dealer, not Hunter. What did you sail, your 35.5? Maybe I shouldn't ask this but I'll do it anyway - not to take away from Fred's accomplishment, but did you beat any H-34s? (just currious)Come to think of it, ya know... in a way, that's actually just like national politics.... I call DC "little washington" but, frankly, we all know the truth. That's where all the money is. Same with the government employees and military, that's where all the high-ranking staff is. Oh well, I guess.Picture attached is of the fleet. The ones you see wearing those yellow rain slickers don't know it's really summer!

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Thanks men, but, hey, we were just-in-the-right-

place-at-the-right-time. Sorry, I don't know how to punctuate a cliché. Like lotsa stuff, I guess, these things start small. I'm sure Hunter didn't even know about it. Alan, congratulations! Now THAT is a REAL accomplishment! Also, on my web site I make disparaging remarks about the poor work our dealer did when commissioning our boat. Terry, seems one of those remarks is about the poor wiring being re-done by that balding skipper. The rendezvous was put on buy a NEW dealer. Great folks. The jerks who did the poor work to our boat gave up the franchise just before the rendezvous.P.S. John, you post 'em, I save 'em. Thanks again.P.S. again. John 49415 is me.

 

[Alan]

'93 Regatta

To be honest, we did all the leg work of putting that rendezvous together and Hunter kicked in with some financial assistance. They were able, however, to get the other sponsors to put up some of the give-aways. CYOA donated the BVI cruise and it was used as a 1st place prize. It was a total shock to everyone, including me. They decided the following year, to raffle everything off, otherwise there might have been real blood spilled on the race course.John, yes we sailed the 35.5 that year. She was brand new to me. Had only been in the water about 8 weeks. We beat the entire fleet, from 27 to 54ft, to the finish line. There were (3) 34's in the race. Finishing 2nd was a P42, 3rd an L43, and 4th a 34. The 54, which should have been first, finished in 6th place. Total in fleet was 32 boats.