Dinner Meetings

The New Hampshire Chapter sponsors six dinner programs each year, open to all members and friends. They are held around the state at various restaurants with banquet facilities. The programs feature speakers who talk and usually show slides of climbing adventures, canoe expeditions, biking tours, or some other highlighted excursion. Some programs feature an author or writer, an outstanding nature photographer, a park director, a wilderness guide, or occasionally one of our own members or trip leaders.

Our past programs have explored topics such as climbing Mt. Everest, climbing the highest peak on each of the seven continents, canoeing in the Northwest Territories, Waterfalls in the White Mountains and Forest and Crag (presented by the authors of these books), a 212-mile climbing adventure in the Cascade Mountains (by one of our own members), and a tour through Baxter State Park.

In addition, we hold one new-member meeting each year in May to introduce those who have just joined us, to the activities of the New Hampshire Chapter and explain how we are organized. This program is put on by the NH Chapter Executive Committee members.

May 31, 2008. Canterbury, NH

"Survival Story"

The New Hampshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club invites you to our Dinner Program on Saturday evening, May 31, 2008 at the Canterbury Woods Country Club, in Canterbury, NH.

Nationally acclaimed author Michael Tougias will present a spell-binding talk and slide presentation on his new national bestseller Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea.

Using slides from the actual storm and rescue, Tougias will recount one of the most remarkable survival stories ever recorded. Tougias will chronicle how in November of 1980, two fishing vessels, the Fair Wind and the Sea Fever, set out from Cape Cod to catch offshore lobsters at Georges Bank. The National Weather Service had forecast typical fall weather in the area for the next three days—even though the organization knew that its only weather buoy at Georges Bank was malfunctioning.

Soon after the boats reached the fishing ground, they were hit with hurricane force winds and massive, sixty-foot waves that battered the boats for hours. The captains and crews struggled heroically to keep their vessels afloat in the unrelenting storm. One monstrous wave of 90 to 100-feet soon capsized the Fair Wind, trapping the crew inside. Meanwhile, on the Sea Fever, Captain Peter Brown (whose father owned the Andrea Gail of Perfect Storm fame) did his best to ride out the storm, but a giant wave blew out one side of the pilothouse, sending a crewmember into the churning ocean.

Tougias will also discuss the court case against the National Weather Service that made the front page of newspapers across the country.

“Most of the fishermen,” says Tougias, “still live in New England, and they still go out to Georges Bank to fish. Unlike the perception of fishermen detailed in the Perfect Storm, these men are very bright and articulate. They are also made of tougher stuff than the rest of us.” Fatal Forecast has drawn praise from such publications as the Los Angeles Times which said the book was “breathtaking…the story is both marvelous and terrifying. And Boston Magazine wrote that Fatal Forecast is “a worthy successor to the Perfect Storm – a real page turner.”

The author’s other true adventure book, Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do in the Blizzard of 78, was selected by the American Library Association as one of the “Top Books of the Year” and described as “a white-knuckle read, the best book of its kind”. On a lighter note, Tougias chronicled his misadventures at his remote cabin in Vermont in his award-winning book There’s A Porcupine In My Outhouse: Misadventures of a Mountain Man Wanna-be. This book won the Independent Publishers Association Award for the “The Best Nature Book of the Year.”

After the program, Tougias will be available for questions and book-signing.

For questions or more information, call Janice Bremer, Hospitality Co-Chair, at 603-672-9626 (7PM to 9PM only).

The price for the dinner is $25 for members and $30 for non-members. The menu includes a fresh fruit platter, orange cinnamon pork roast, vegetable lasagna, caesar salad, vegetables, rice, rolls, coffee, tea, sodas and brownie hot fudge sundaes for dessert.

Time: The social hour, with cash bar and appetizers begins at 6:00 PM, with dinner to follow at 7:00 PM. The presentation follows dinner.

Please use the reservation form provided in Mountain Passages to register for the dinner and program. Or, print out the Registration Form below and send with check. The dinners are well attended so please send your reservation in early.

Payment in advance is required in order to attend; payment must be received BY May 24, 2008. All reservations are final and there are no refunds, as we are required to pay for all registered guests.

Reservations

Please make your check payable to:
NH Chapter, AMC ($25.00 per person-members and $30.00 per person non-members).
Send check with completed reservation form BY May 24, 2008 to:

Janice Bremer
50 Quarry circle
Milford, NH 03055

We look forward to seeing you at the dinner.
Please write the full name(s) of each person attending the dinner as everyone will receive a name tag.
You will not receive a confirmation. You will receive your name badge upon arrival and check-in.

2008 Dinner Meeting Programs

Date	Location	Speaker	Topic
May 31, 2008	Canterbury Woods Country Club, Canterbury, NH	Michael Tougias	Survival Story

NH Chapter Home | AMC Home

How to contact AMC .