 Our organization was founded in 1990 when Mike Creedon and Pete Donnelly co-owners of a Marine Trader 36 recruited other Marine Trader owners to form a club “just for fellow Marine Trader Owners”. BOAT US published an announcement and very soon Marine Trader Owners Association was off and running with 20 members.
By the time of the first anniversary, the 100th member had joined. Early ideas and benefits include many that are still serving our club today: newsletters, regional chapters, a burgee with a turtle as our mascot, port captains, and rendezvous.
MTOA continued to grow by about 100 new members every year. The first newsletters were incredibly successful with Bob Smith, our 21st member and the man who marinized the Ford Lehman, providing his mechanical expertise for all members. The first Rendezvous was held at the Baltimore Yacht Club in 1991 with 43 attending on 27 vessels. Just seven years later, in 1998 the Rendezvous in Crisfield, Maryland brought a record setting 102 boats and 327 people.
It didn’t take long for boat owners of other trawler type vessels to join. The members began to refer to themselves as MTOA, but it wasn’t until 2005, by the time half our members owned boats other than Marine Traders, that we officially became Marine Trawler Owners Association.
By the early 2000’s, MTOA had a website, a forum, over 1000 paid members and we had become active in legislative affairs like anchoring rights. Our Turtle Pin Program continued to expand, with George Kay the founder and long serving Pin Chair at the helm. Jim Healy began writing his expert Engineering Corner articles for our Magazine and continues to this day.
Rendezvous were held twice a year in Florida in the spring and in the Chesapeake Bay in the fall. In recent years, we have changed to one National Rendezvous a year, alternating sites. Our National Rendezvous are low cost, lots of fun and learning and draw over 100 members every time.
Since our members live all over the country, Regional Group gatherings and Rendezvous provide our members with gatherings that include lunches and multiday group cruises. One of our most successful Regional Rendezvous is the Annual Northeast Rendezvous in Long Island Sound.
In recent years, MTOA has continued to thrive. Our members and our leaders have proven to be talented and dedicated to our all volunteer association.
|