In September 2024, Jeff flew to Baltimore, Maryland for a two-week residency that started with the Selene rendezvous and ended with the Baltimore Trawlerfest. There are two Selene rendezvous events held annually in the United States – the West Coast event, held in May 2024 at Roche Harbor, Washington, and the East Coast rendezvous in Baltimore.
The Selene East Coast rendezvous was a spectacularly organized and very well attended extravaganza with current owners, future owners, and others wanting to celebrate this wonderful brand with likeminded individuals. The Selene Owners Association is very well-connected and supportive. Selene Americas was the event sponsor, and JMYS was proud to contribute and support this event.
The Baltimore inner harbor is a vibrant seaside community, with several marinas and many locations ashore to eat, drink and be merry. These are familiar waters to JMYS as the last few Baltimore Trawlerfests’ were held at this same venue.
The dockside tent in the middle of the marina was the primary gathering site for meals, gatherings, and discussions. Many Selene owners were in attendance; the majority arrived by boat and filled the marina with a wide variety of sizes; and a number of owners traveled to the event without their boats – it didn’t matter, the attitude and energy was shared by all.
The four founders of Selene Yachts Americas;, Michael Chen, Howard Chen, Wayne Goldman, and Paul Cifka opened the event off with a welcoming presentation. Their update on the resurgence of the brand brought excitement to the attendees and the energy was contagious for the rest of the weekend. The event kick off also included the official announcement that Jeff Merrill is joining the Selene Americas team to help with new build sales after being an advisor to the brand for the past year. JMYS will continue to operate separately as a trawler brokerage, but the opportunity to help assist with new orders is something Jeff is really looking forward to.
The official announcement can be found in the YouTube video linked below.
The rendezvous program of talks, visits, and meals was outstanding and on the last day, Saturday, Jeff started things off with a presentation called Pride of Ownership, which merged very well with the theme of Selene pride that was being promoted throughout the event.
On Sunday morning, the fleet of Selenes present gathered together for a formation to officially end the weekend. Those watching from shore got some wonderful photos and videos of the scene and those aboard listening to the VHF conversation had some entertainment of their own.
Too many names to thank and mention, but I’d like to publicly thank Glenda Groome (Selene 53) and Robin Newland (Selene 43) the rendezvous chairs who did an extraordinary job of hosting and organizing.
We have included some photos from the rendezvous in the gallery below.
There are also many great Selene videos on the Selene Americas YouTube channel. We recommend you subscribe, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/@SeleneAmericas
