2011 Rendezvous - June 23 - 25

The 2011 GLANTOA Rendezvous was held in St. Ignace, MI at the Municipal Marina on Thursday June 23, Friday June 24, and Saturday June 25, 2011 beginning with Registration and cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at Wednesday evening.

Sixteen Nordic Tugs and two owner couples attended the event. We were fortunate to have Paul Johnson, General Manager of Nordic Tug at the event for the three days.

We had an exciting program this year with topics ranging from "The Joys of Gunkholing" to maintaining our Nordic Tug's appearance. The highlight of the agenda was a program for the the female members of our crews, "Boat Handling for the Admirals," which covered both land and water-based instruction (provided by Ryan Valerio of Bay Breeze Yacht Sales). This culminated in docking a Nordic tug in a slip.

In addition, we had a team from Cummins Bridgeway on Thursday and Friday to perform maintenance on our Cummins diesels at the dock. This was a great opportunity to get high quality work at a reasonable cost.

We also had our stalwart supporters, Torre the Fuel Doctor, Caroline Hough of About the Home, and Mark Nugent of Manitou Boatworks available during the event to give advice.

Presentations during the three days included:

George Wilson - "The Joys of Gunkholing"

Pam Stanley (Global Marine Insurance), one of our sponsors - "Insuring Your Nordic Tug"

Dave Jones - "Taking Better Photographs"

Ed Hislop/Paul Slotsema/Dan Zammitt (Cummins Marine) - "Maintaining Your Diesel"

Lewis Butler (First Mate Yacht Care) - "Caring for Your Nordic Tug's Appearance"

Billy Mueller (US CGA) - "Safety on the Water"

As in 2010, the Mackinac Grill provided our cocktails/hors d'oevres, breakfasts, lunches and our Friday Reception and Dinner and outperformed themselves.

Each afternoon, Jim Ellis of the USPS, provided Vessel Safety Inspections, diesel maintenance continued, and boats were open for tours.

The event concluded with a Pot Luck dinner on the dock and a sunset cruise under the Mackinac Bridge.