THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607100130
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 57 lines
Motor yachts are going to get the same Portsmouth hospitality that has made the city a favorite among sailors who have participated in the Cock Island Race.
``Rendezvous, Mile Marker Zero,'' a three-day party with a Saturday morning rally on the Elizabeth River, is slated for Aug. 16-18.
Morton V. ``Mo'' Whitlow, the same guy who pushed for the Cock Island race, was part of the team that dreamed up the motor boat event.
``Rendezvous came up the same way Cock Island did,'' Whitlow said Tuesday. ``One winter morning Jimmy Spruill, Wayne Orton and I started talking up at Amory's Wharf (restaurant), and one idea led to another.''
Now a year and a half later the first Rendezvous is planned under the auspices of Ports Events, the non-profit organization that sponsors the city's entertainment events. The power yacht rally will be the only such event in Hampton Roads, Ports Events Director Linda Lamm said.
The Cock Island race started with a conversation among Whitlow, Jim Hawks and Johnny Ellis, a Portsmouth native who now lives in Virginia Beach. They had sailed together since their teen years.
``We were trying to find a way to get the sailors to come back to Portsmouth,'' said Whitlow, who added that it has been extremely successful. ``I think Rendezvous has the same kind of potential. The sailors and the motor yacht people are two entirely different groups.''
A power yacht rally, he added, ``is an excuse to get together to party.''
Randy Vaughan and Dan Griffin are co-chairmen of the first gathering. Both were out of the city this week.
Orton, who has retired as city manager of Portsmouth since the event's inception, Spruill and Whitlow all are working on the committee.
The Rendezvous will be limited to the first 200 yachts to register. The event will be headquartered at the Tidewater Yacht Marina on Crawford Bay at Olde Towne. The Rendezvous will be sponsored by InfoLine, The Virginian-Pilot and the radio station 94.9 The Point.
The boats will begin checking in at the marina at 3 p.m. on Friday, and the party will begin at 5 p.m., continuing into the night. The yacht rally is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday. A crab feast on the docks and a street dance with music by Bill Deal and Fat Ammon are planned for Saturday afternoon and night. A ceremony for the blessing of the fleet will be held at 9 a.m. Sunday, and the participants will have brunch before departing.
Minimum registration fee is $100 and will include a skipper's gift bag with a T-shirt and a poster, four invitations to a cocktail party and to the crab feast, and entry in the yacht rally. Higher levels of participation will include ``charter membership'' status that will guarantee space in all future ``Rendezvous, Zero Mile Marker'' events. MEMO: For more information about the motor yacht event, call Ports
Events at 393-9933. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Morton "Mo" Whitlow by CNB