Southwestern Rendezvous '95 Article in the Exploring Magazine
A very special thank you to Jan Johnson, the writer, and Doug Mazell, the photographer, for permission to electronicly publish this article.
	A Holiday Weekend At The Beach. . .? Yeah, Right! Forget The Turkey. These Sea Explorer Ships Spend Thanksgiving Weekend Battling For Top Honors In Feats of Skill and Seamanship. FOR MOST OF US, SCHOOL HOLIDAYS MEAN KICKING back and sleeping in. Not so for 250 Sea Explorers last Thanksgiving. It was a weekend of toil, not turkey; and studying, not stuffing. Instead of plopping down in an easy chair, they took turns being hoisted in a "chair" made from a sling. As an Explorer pulled a rope through a pulley attached to the ceiling, the chair rose from the gymnasium floor. the object, when all goes well, is for the person in the chair to ring a bell at the top and then slowly descend. No, it wasn't a new ride at an amusement park, but an event at the Southwestern Sea Explorer Rendezvous in Long Beach, Calif.. This rope-chair trick is called the "bos'n's chair lift" and was one of 17 optional team events at the rendezvous. What's it like going up? "You're not thinking, "Gee, here I am on the ceiling of the gym." said Anna States, bos'n (alternate spelling of boastswain, which more or less means "team boss") of the Odyssey ship from Berkeley, Calif.. You're thinking, 'How can you get up there fast, get down, and whip the rope around the next person so she can get up quickly?'" Every rendezvous has one mystery event chosen by the judges. In Long Beach, it was the "fire brigade". Each ship had to move water from a full 55 gallon barrel to an empty one which was "on fire" 20 feet away. the fire is "out" when the water in the first barrel sinks to a certain level. And every 1/4 inch of water spilled costs the team a 10 second penalty. The Orion ship from Long Beach began by forming a neat line and handing buckets to each other; they ended up grabbing buckets and scurrying from barrel to barrel in Keystone Cops fashion. Success! They qualified with no penalties for spilled water. A few feet away, the Islanders of West Los Angeles ran the obstacle course, displaying their individual style and charm. Team members scaled the six-foot wall, and "Spiderman" (otherwise known as Cliff Stewart) went flying over the finish line, while a nonparticipating Islander played a tape at full volume of the frenzied Dance of the Valkyries by Wagner. Down at the pier, water events unfolded in fog so thick that vision was linited to 100 feet. In hushed suspense, teams worked silently on written tests. they demonstrated rowing and sailing skills while watchful judges scribbled notes on score sheets. Each ship participates in as many rendezvous activities as possible, making sure to complete the required events such as ring buoy, heaving line, knots and navigation skills like compass and "relative bearing". This last one looks like a guy playing Twister by himself, as each Explorer hunts for the right places on a tarp to place two relative bearing cards in 45 seconds. Packing in all these events means starting early and catching the popular events when they aren't jammed. "We ended up with only one hour to spare," said Mariner bos'n Katrina Shieh. "Being bos'n of this rendezvous was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life." By Saturday at 3 P.M., the events were shut down. Ships with top scores in the drill competition gathered for a "drill-off", performing basic maneuvers and devising a new routine. Two minutes before Islander was to suppose to go on, they were still stumped for a new drill. Several of them knew the words to the crowd participation song, "Old Lady Leary", and since they had nothing else, they used it. "We didn't think we had a chance to win," said Cliff Stewart, "so we wanted to do a showstopper. When we got our scores we found out that we came within a few points of winning the drill-off." On Saturday night, the intensity leveled out with a luau by the pool, complete with DJ and limbo dancing. "It's more fun to goof off together after you've worked hard together all day." observed Sea Wolf Explorer Amanda Kellaher. "I've gotten along fine without TV." At the awards ceremony Sunday, ships found out which rank they acheived: Dinghy, Catboat, Sloop, Ketch, Schooner, Clipper, or Windjammer. The top scoring ship - the Dolphin's -won the Golden Windjammer for the third year. How tough is it to get Winjammer rank, which four ships achieved? Event chairman Bruce Williams said several years ago organizers wanted to make it easy to get high awards. "It's not a 'gimme' now. As crews get better, we have to keep making it harder." So, is sleeping in a tent and getting up early any way to spend Thanksgiving vacation? "I can't remember a thanksgiving weekend not doing this," said Mariner Derel Roess. "The weekend seems short. Everyone on the team is friends and you're with them three days straight. I'd rather be here than anywhere else." Fall 1996 Exploring We had a great time at Port Hueneme!