Rondak Romp.....June 22 - 24, 2001
by David Simon (Liqui-Fly)
Pictures courtesy of Rich Owen

The Rondak Romp took place on the Great Sacandaga Reservoir in Mayfield, NY June 22-24. I was busy throwing my motor together Friday morning at Miller’s Marina when I received a call that three bad outboards were in route…an hour ahead of schedule. So I threw the Fly together quick so I could meet Warren, Russ, and Brian at the North Hampton State Campsite. These guys traveled from Connecticut and were later accompanied by Rich Owen. Within hours Dave Domm (Techno) from Rochester, NY and Vinnie Jones (Fast Basser) from Alexandria Bay also arrived at the campsites.

Friday was windy and rainy and hard times fell upon Brian and Techno. Warren, Russ and I finally managed to find some calm water and I finally got to see my first Allison take flight. Warren was kind enough to take my Garmin 12 for a ride so 92 mph was present on my screen.

The rain finally let up just in time for sundown and the campers (those that weren’t in motels or at a bed and breakfast) sat around a fire and talked about boats for the rest of the evening and fed the mosquitoes. Saturday morning Brandon appeared at the campsites towing a beautiful V-king with a 225 PM. Gary Saperstein from Massachusettes also arrived with his STV Pro Comp at this time. The wind and rain turned Saturday morning into a logistical nightmare of sorts. The local folk were supposed to meet us at the other end of the lake so the 7 of us headed though some nasty chop to find no one there. I decided to be a little smarter and take everyone down the other shoreline on the way back to the campsites. Saturday brought more boaters from the region. Larry with his Cougar, Mac Hadden with his 21 Skater (as seen in F&PB) and his STV Euro which is for sale (clean boat, guys), Jim Thompson with his bright yellow Action as seen in F& PB also and is now the guest boat at IHR, and a big red Fountain…anybody get his name??

Late morning brought Mark Casper…anybody ever heard of him? Unfortunately he was unable to bring his Stream but Rich Owen provided a ride. My Dad finally showed up with his Stoker and my Big Brother with his V-King and two boys. By this time everyone was good and wet from the persistent rain……then a boost came along. Lenny Audette threw his bright red Action in and cracked the throttle a couple of times out in front of the beach. WOW…nasty nasty motor!! Lenny, Jim T., Rich O., Brian G., Warren E., and Russ J. are all members of N.E.O.D.A. (http://neoda.org) and race with others in that excellent organization throughout the New England area. Evening came and everyone called it quits and headed to the Sport Island Pub for dinner. Hopefully next year it will be more like a banquet. My apologies on that. Most of the travelers had decided that if Sunday brought more rain they were going to head back early. I awoke early (so I thought) to see Fast Basser was gone from the sight next to me, Brian pulling out, and Techno…well he had gone the day before. Man it couldn’t be over already. I pulled the Fly out quick to drain Saturdays rain out and took a ride down to the bridge to see if anyone was left. Gary, Warren, Russ, Brandon, Vinnie, and Rich were all putting in getting ready to ride up to the dam and they had spoken with Larry and were meeting him at the Bachelorville Bridge. We were ready for one more ride. Of course it was raining intermittently but the crew marched on. Well they were all kind enough to stay with the Fly on the way up but the boys were on a mission on the way back. Fast Basser allowed me the honor of bringing the Mrs. back to port while he ran big numbers with the crew. I’d like to thank Gary and Larry for hanging back with me and my pokey boat. When I got back to the launch most were on trailers ready to head home.

I learned a lot this year and believe this could become an annual event that everyone will be able to look forward to…especially after the long winters in the Great Northeast.