[J24 ListSrv] When Dave Rappath met the fleet

Fri May 20 10:03:31 CDT 2016

Dear Sean,

Thanks for supplying the great memories about Dave Rappath’s beginning in Bayfield on Silver Bullet! He was a wonderful guy, and obviously found a home sailing in Bayfield. We were lucky to have him sail with us on Usual Suspects last year as well, and really enjoyed his efforts on the J24.

It seems like he found his way into the hearts of sailors at WYC! He will be missed by many. 

RIP David Rappath! 

Dave B

From: J24 [mailto:j24-bounces at lists.wyc.org] On Behalf Of sean delaney via J24
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 4:28 PM
To: WYC List J24 <j24 at lists.wyc.org>
Cc: John Norton <johnnorton_4 at hotmail.com>
Subject: [J24 ListSrv] When Dave Rappath met the fleet

Dear all,

Before I say goodbye to Dave Rappath this weekend, I would like to say how he said 'Hello'. I was the fortunate guy to have first met Dave and invited him to the club and J/24 fleet 1. His memorial is in Bayfield, which is appropriate, for that is where we met for the start of Race Week on Dave Breitner's Farr 40 Quicksilver.

"Aussie" John Norton and I were passengers in Tammy Faiola's Bimmer, excitedly driving Route 2's long hill, approaching the sharp turn at the river, when we get a call from Dave Breitner, "We've been kicked out of the condo, you need to find housing." Our epic Race Week on the fastest newest boat with great housing just fell halfway through.

Tammy mentioned something about looking around for some 'Dave' fresh from Michigan, he had sent an email saying he'd moved out and was hoping to race.

We soon met Dave Rappath; it's a small town and we were a pretty good trio of ambassadors. Dave, while probably shocked by our enthusiasm, seemed happy to meet us as well. We eventually told him that we, along with most of the rest of the 12-person crew, were homeless. He quickly offered, "I have a place across from the harbor, you can stay with me." Housing for 4th of July Race Week is booked often a year in advance, so he had ended up with this Crows Nest apartment above the Isaac Wing B & B for himself, which was funny, but immensely helpful for the team. 

Fortunately, we were able to tell everybody of the good news, without ever having to tell the bad. We turned around, moved upstairs, found a blender and spent the sunset on the deck getting to know Dave and him getting to know us. We laughed frequently that night, we were terribly appreciative and I think he might have been secretly happy he was already an integral part of the team. It was a meeting I will always cherish on that deck across from the Greatest Lake.

After a half hour of making introductions and hearing people struggle with his last name, I anointed him "Rapp".

He was a unique guy joining a uniquely strange group, who had come together from disparate places, to create this fresh team, for a boat that hadn't performed quite up to expectations. The next day, we went out for the first time together and set a new record in the Around the Islands Race. It was basically a day sail, where probably for everyone of us, we got the unique experience, of starting the party all on our own.

The rest of the week, I made a couple bad calls, not covering some of the competition, so we didn't quite win Race Week, but it went right to the end and we made a big impression. I gladly told Rapp I would get him on a boat in the J/24 fleet. He soon settled on Hellfire for a good while before finally finishing out last year back with Dave Breitner on Usual Suspects, who I think was happy to have this now well-proven, hard-core foredeck. He ended where it had all begun; they went on to win the entire Thursday evening series last year. 

It was a great journey to know Dave, he will forever be in some of my fondest memories, of which this is just one.

Sincerely

Sean Delaney

Fleet Captain

J/24 Fleet #1

WYC

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