The trawler lifestyle attracts a wide variety of people. Most are in the later stages of a full life and seek some adventure and want to embrace the freedom to explore while they’re still able.

It’s true that most well-built trawler brands have a loyal following, and the Selene owners are no exception. I’ve attended several Selene rendezvous in the last couple of years and each one seems to be better than the last. The capital and energy injected by Selene Americas, the title sponsor for these events, has really helped to build up the camaraderie.

The 2025 East Coast Selene rendezvous was held at the Baltimore Inner Harbor and timed to coincide with the Trawlerfest that followed. I arrived early and met with Troy Irwin aboard his new to him Selene 57, Excalibur, a trawler that I had helped he and his wife, Debbi purchase in a private sale through JMYS a few weeks prior. We did a short jaunt from their home marina a mile or so away and arrived at the event greeted by the staff who tied us up. We went over to check in and see many new and old friends as the gathering began.

JMYS has been a proud sponsor for the last few Selene rendezvous, but the real stars of the show were the boats and the people. It is an enormous feat to organize 25 trawlers and 10 visiting boat owners to convene at one location to celebrate the Selene brand. I would like to acknowledge and thank the two chairpersons, Glenda Groome and Robin Newland, who along with their spouses have done an incredible job organizing this event for the last couple of years. There were many highlights this year, our most notable dignitary was the founder of Jet Tern Marine, Howard Chen the builder of Selene. Howard along with his brother Michael Chen and the dynamic team of Wayne Goldman and Paul Cifka, are the driving force behind Selene Americas and they have done an incredible job of bringing the Selene brand back into prominence.

Selene Americas really has impressive marketing, advertising and promotional skills. Several new Selenes are on order and the owners of the current Selenes are thrilled to have the support of Selene Americas – knowing that they can get parts, have questions answered, and all of this works to improve their resale value.

Several group discussions were held in the large dock tent; many included the Selene Americas team. Everyone loves to hear Howard Chen present, he is such a brilliant person, very personable with a sense of humor – I enjoy when I get a chance to talk trawlers with him.

Thursday was the official start and welcome day and lunch was served. I did a Dock Walk with the Selene Americas film crew (thanks Brandt and Seth) that included a fly-by videobombing of my friend Scott Berg’s seminar on Marine Corrosion. If you aren’t already a subscriber to the Selene Americas YouTube channel you should be here is a link to their channel = https://www.youtube.com/@SeleneAmericas

Here is a link to that dock walk video I filmed called “15 Selene’s in 10 minutes”:

Day one wrapped up with two well attended “Lesson’s Learned” round table discussions that were a lot of fun. Interesting it was divided into male and female sessions, and I sat in on the women’s group – thank you ladies!

Every day had donuts and coffee to start, catered lunch and dinner – really a spectacularly well-organized event!

On Friday morning, I gave a presentation to the group that featured a collection of photos of good ideas I have witnessed on many Selene’s I’ve be aboard. These are mostly simple ideas that can easily be adopted by most of the boat owners present. Called “Seen on Selene” it generated a lively discussion with banter back-and-forth, and many other additional ideas were shared from the Selene owners in the audience. This presentation is now available on the Selene Owners forum.

Other speakers included Mark Tilden, the founder of the Selene Owners association who gave an update on what is happening (a lot) and also did an excellent presentation on cruising in Alaska. Raffa Invrea from CMC Marine discussed active fin stabilization. We then had a group photo which was a blast. Friday night it was dinner on your own.

Getting everyone together under the tent for meals and out on the docks getting a board the boats creates a bond in friendship that is difficult to replicate without being in person.

Saturday was another fun filled and action-packed day. Stick and CJ Higginbotham talked about anchoring legislation and Bill Brandon from Washburn’s talked about Lithium battery conversions. A lot of great information was shared, one of the great reasons to attend these rendezvous.

At some point during the event I snuck away with Tom and Pat to get aboard their Selene 53, Slip Away for a tour:

I also filmed a tour aboard the Selene 57 Excalibur with Troy (I wish Debbi had joined us, but these events pull people in different directions). Here is the #TrawlAboard 20 I did with Troy:

Speaking of Excalibur, I’d like to direct you to a Selene Americas interview Troy and Debbi did that has been incredibly popular – talking about their lack of experience and jumping into the deep end and having a marvelous time:

Saturday after lunch it was a trawler crawl with many of the boats doing an open house and more camaraderie amongst the clan!

If you are interested in the Selene brand and would like to see several different Selene models in one location, it is amazing to think that at this type of event exists where you can not only meet with happy owners of the boats, but have the opportunity to step aboard some different size models to “try them on for size“.

The energy enthusiasm for the Selene brand continues to snowball, it has been an incredible couple of years watching the Selene America’s team rebuild brand awareness, and I’m looking forward to more Selene events in 2026.