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News & Features
Eager for a get-together, Pilot owners take matters into their own hands
By Beth Cumber Billik
For Points East
The decision to postpone the Hinckley Pilot 50th Anniversary celebration by the Hinckley Company did not deter seven Pilot owners from attending their own rendezvous this summer.
Buzz Billik, responsible for the newly formed Hinckley Pilot Associates (HPA), put out the last-minute call to Pilot owners and planned a private festivity.
"Being aboard my boat in Maine each summer is a highlight for me, and I had planned my vacation around the Hinckley rendezvous," says Billik. "When the letter arrived announcing the postponement I couldn't let it alter my plans. It gave me the push to start the association and bring some Pilot owners together".
The irony of the event is that back in 1987 Billik purchased his neglected Pilot in California and had it trucked to Maine for restoration. When advice on where to begin was sought from a friend and fellow Pilot owner (and rendezvous attendee who shall remain unnamed), it was suggested that he "drill holes in her and sink her or get a couple chain saws and make as many paperweights as he likes."
Luckily, he did not take his friend's advice. He saw the beauty in Glory's pure bones and slowly brought her back to life. Had he not done so, the event would not have happened.
The town dock in Rockland Harbor was the meeting point Aug. 18 for Pilots from near and far. Bob and Erline Chasse of Bucksport, Maine, came on Simplicity; Turner and Margie Hansel with their daughter, Kalley, of North Yarmouth on Sandpiper; Bill and Anna Clark of Bremen, with guests Russ and Diana Williams, on Sunshine (on her way home from a month of cruising points east on the St. John River); Gus and Carol MacDonald of South Freeport on Panacea; and Johnny Correa from Southwest Harbor, with brother Tony and friend Susan Martin on Acapella .
The long-haulers included Peter and Michelle Mackay on Due II, who traveled down from New Brunswick, Canada, and Buzz, his wife Beth, and three sons, Britton, Cameron and Cole, on Glory, from Stonington, Conn. The Billiks rent a home locally in Round Pond, where the boat is moored each summer, and so technically only the Mackays came across the Maine line. The Clarks had a chance to meet and spend time with the Mackays while cruising in Canada.
Harbormaster Ed Glasser was proud to have the group and made sure the beloved classics received the white-glove treatment. Being on the dock allowed for owners to boat hop and see how fellow "Piloteers" had solved the many issues that inevitably crop up on an old yacht.
With the exception of Sandpiper's crew (who sailed into Rockland on the following morning), the group secured themselves on the dock Friday afternoon, freshened up in the lovely $2 town dock showers, then shuttled en masse to the nearby Samoset Resort for dinner. Upon return to the dock (following a dinner check untangling fiasco and reports of crouton poaching at the Resort), a call for an "8:30 a.m. skippers meeting" was the last exchange of the evening.
Johnny Correa's Acapella was the setting under blue skies for the morning meeting. Informally, a racecourse was laid out to the next destination, Tenants Harbor. Hopes were pinned on the light winds to strengthen as the Pilots headed out to the start. Without a committee boat for the planned "race" it was decided to establish a "Jack Rabbit" start at the mouth of the harbor, with Acapella acting as the "rabbit". When she started, the fleet would follow. "Monitor channel 12," the racers were told.
After the first instructions from "Jack Rabbit" came over the VHF, everyone had a good laugh when some local lobstermen monitoring the same channel asked if it was indeed their old buddy "Jack Abbot" out and about and "where the heck" had he been?
Then things got spicy, as Jack Rabbit seemed to drop down a hole. No one could reach Acapella for clarification of how it all worked. Hand gestures ensued. Turns out Johnny (Master Jack Rabbit) had unknowingly switched channels. Clarity came when Acapella's sails were suddenly trimmed and off the fleet went behind her.
As predicted, the wind freshened and provided a bounty of rail dipping reaches all the way around Two Bush Island and into Tenants Harbor. Seeing seven Pilots under sail was spectacular. Sandpiper dashed across the line first with Due II and Panacea neck and neck in a photo finish to take 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.
The Georgetown harbormaster working Tenants Harbor helped greatly by guiding the group to available moorings. Procuring a mooring in Tenants can be a challenge in August. Britton Billik of Glory clung to the last available mooring in a dingy awaiting the arrival of Simplicity, who opted to pleasure sail rather than to race. Bob and Erline were all smiles, grateful for not having to conduct a late afternoon hunt.
A festive, casual dinner on the dock at Cod End put a close to the first Hinckley Pilot Association rendezvous, with talk of plans for 2007. One of the highlights of the evening came when fellow cruisers recognized our celebrity skipper, Gus MacDonald. Gus won First Overall with Panacea in the 2005 Marion to Bermuda race. His fans even requested an autograph.
To say that the Hinckley Pilot is the ideal boat for all families would be a stretch. The Billiks had a mutiny aboard Glory Saturday night as teen-ager Cameron opted to sleep in their car on shore because the boat was feeling " a little tight" for his sleeping comfort.
Although skippers and crew hailed from different ports and interests ranged from strawberry farming to bridge engineering, a common love of the water and a very special boat provided the atmosphere for new and lasting friendships. Offers of a guest mooring in unexplored coastal reaches was just a bonus of the event.
Typical of Maine's August atmospheric temperament, Sunday morning brought grey skies and rain, as Simplicity was the first to slip out in the fog. She circled each boat to bid farewell and express what each captain and crew seemed to wholeheartedly embrace – "until 2007."
For more information on the HPA, contact Buzz Billik at . A website is in the works. (The HPA is in no way affiliated with the Hinckley Company.)
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