Date line, Rock Hall, Maryland:  Flash, the rumors of the death of classy, enjoyable and well attended events at the Rock Hall YC were greatly exaggerated!!!

This fact was up held once again, and just like the recently concluded and successful Oyster & Ham dinner, the RHYC Commodores’ Dinner proved the skeptics wrong.

The Club House dinning room was decorated to the hilt, with YC Burgees on most tables and Flag Officer Burgees on the remainder and colorful appointments around the room. A big “thank you” goes out to the Event volunteers, Sally Powell, Connie Ranney and Dawn Urbani for their effort to make the place look great!

All the Ladies in attendance looked very pretty; not to be out done, all the guys shaved and most even had a tie on (Blue Blazers must have been on sale, too).  Relative to what one would expect to see at the YC, everyone in attendance was “dressed to the nines” and having a great time.

What can one say about the meal?  Simply this: you could go to any fine dining establishment on the Eastern Shore and then maybe for twice the price, enjoy a meal that great.  A big thank you goes out to John Conley and his staff. 

And let’s not forget the entertainment, that erstwhile self described “Guitar Picker” Chris Cerino (rumor has it he actually works for the Sultana Project, but who ever believes musicians?) performed original music.  All the songs had something to do with experiences on the Eastern Shore, boy that Fire Alarm in Chestertown really has to go.  That segment of the evening was worth the total price of attendance. 

Then of course the Vice Commodore had to follow all of that and keep everyone away from the bar (which is a full time job by itself) while he gave out the Seasonal Club Racing awards.  Ken Noble, received 4^th place overall, with Lance Williams winning 3^rd  place. Then of course, we had a difficult time because, guess who (Chuck Parry and Dyer Harris) tied for 1^st place.  To break the tie the V/C was asked to flip a coin and the winner of the coin toss would get the top honors.  Of course the V/C’s wife never lets him go to the club with any money, so he did not have any coins.  Chuck Parry tried to tell everyone that he gave all his coins to some charitable donation bucket at the gas station; which no one believed.  And we knew that Dyer never carries pocket change, only big bills.  But the YC manger John Conley came to the rescue by stealing a quarter from the tip jar on the Bar and the coin toss was made.  Of course Chuck won but Dyer protested by stating that under the RRS no two headed coins were allowed; the protest committee will convene shortly to consider the matter, stay tuned for the results.

The evening concluded with the Commodore Dyer and former Commodore Chuck making RHYC’s Top Annual Awards.  The “T. Allan Stradley” Award for demonstrating the desire to compete was earned by Sarah Ranney for her perseverance in junior sailing over the last 6 years.  The “James S. Troutman” Award for the RHYC High-Point Junior Sailor went to Nate Ostrander.  The “Sportsmanship Award” one of the two top YC annual awards was made to Joe Manley for his contribution to the Club Sailing Program.  And the “70^th Anniversary Award” for all around contribution to the success of the YC went to Rick Marshall, for all the work he put in this year ranging from pouring concrete to manning the kitchen when there was an emergency need.

Congratulations to all those award winners, from the all of the Board and Flag Officers, well done!

The formal events of the evening concluded, everyone (well most) adjourned to the Bar to put more two headed quarters in the tip bucket.  A great time was had by all.